New Thoughts on Trump

For most of my career I was a negotiator of contracts. It was not the only thing I did; but, it was an important aspect of my career and I enjoyed it. I enjoyed the give and take and the mental chess game that it involves. I also enjoyed public speaking and I have often heard that that is most people's biggest fear. I think I am just twisted. Negotiations involve a lot of pressure when done up close and in real time, they require you to be fast on your feet. I was.

When making business deals I have certain beliefs. Firstly, you can never lie. Not to anyone. If you lie to your wife, I cannot trust that you will not lie to me. If you cheat people in your personal life or business, I cannot trust that you will not cheat me. Sometimes you have to deal with people that lie and cheat; but, you cannot trust them and must understand they will cheat or lie to you. If you want a real association, a long term situation, it is only possible if both sides stay constant and honest with one another. I can absolutely say that people that hated me personally trusted that when I said something, I meant it. I have people that have personally tried to cheat me in my career come to me and ask for help for the good of the organization and I helped them.

I have to add a caveat to what I have been writing. Look, there are times when you and the person that you are negotiating with have interests that are different. That happens in life and business. In those situations you have to make it clear what your interests are to the other. That can be tough to do and there are times when certain things will prevent that from occurring because of responsibilities. Everybody understands this; but, if you cannot say anything you still don't get to lie to a partner. Let them know that you are not free to discuss an issue or just don't talk to them at all. I was negotiating with someone once and we were at odds, it was unclear if our partnership would continue and they had lied to me. I was friends with a couple of this persons associates and they had to not talk to me while things worked themselves out. I didn't get mad at them for avoiding me, I preferred it to their lying to me. In the end things worked out and we were all able to be friends again.

Boy, this is a long and boring lead up to a thought on Donald Trump, lol. I was reading some things that Trump had said, he understand negotiations. Trump is not stupid and can think on his feet. I have read stories about how Trump inherited 20 or 30 million dollars and that is why he has money now. No, in fact many people have inherited money and failed to increase it. Trump is not some trust fund baby living like a sleaze as many  of them do. Trump risked it all and not just once, that takes courage. He didn't need to increase the money he inherited, he could have lived off it. He wanted to prove himself and he did.

I am not for throwing out all illegal aliens, at least not the Mexicans. I like Mexicans and California used to be theirs, we stole it from them, Texas too. Read your history, we stole it. Let's look at history. We paid for Louisiana  and Alaska, we stole Hawaii, we previously stole California and Texas from Mexico. My disagreeing with someone does not mean that I cease to see them for who they are or understand them. Everyone that disagrees with me is not an idiot, not even when they are wrong. Trump is smart and that is the one thing that no writer is talking about.