Donald Trump can't make a deal

Why our vaunted dealmaker-in-chief just can't close the deal

President Trump.
(Image credit: Illustrated | Image courtesy AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

President Trump makes deals. He's a dealmaker, someone who deals in deals, who knows the deal and does the deal. Have you read The Art of the Deal? He's a deal guy, is what I'm saying.

Perhaps that was why he thought that as president, he could do better than any politician. After all, isn't politics just a lot of dealmaking? You sit down with Congress or the Chinese or whoever, you do a little posturing, you give and you take, and you've got yourself a deal. Then before you know it, all the deals have created so much winning we're all tired of winning.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Paul Waldman

Paul Waldman is a senior writer with The American Prospect magazine and a blogger for The Washington Post. His writing has appeared in dozens of newspapers, magazines, and web sites, and he is the author or co-author of four books on media and politics.