For all you complaining about Trumps interview tonighta 2 part series on an article on him:
Part 1 of 2
How Trump Uses China’s Ancient ‘Art of War’ Strategies Against It
In 2018, artist Kanye West shocked the world when he tweeted that he and US President Donald Trump were “brothers” who both had “dragon energy”. It seemed like a strange choice of words to use, but as time goes on it appears Mr. West’s intuition might have been better than what he was given credit for.
It’s no secret that Trump has long criticized how previous US leaders handled negotiations and trade deals, especially negotiations and trade deals with China. If you listen to any Trump speech over the last decade, you are bound to hear at least one soundbite lamenting China and how they’ve ostensibly gotten away with unfair trade practices for years while America’s leaders were asleep at the wheel.
His grievances against China have been so prevalent in his rhetoric that they’ve become a meme in and of themselves. Ask anyone around the world in any language one thing they know about Trump’s policies, and his stance on China will surely be the most cited. And if recent polling around the globe is any indication, it is indeed his most popular stance across the world.
Given his longstanding rivalry with China’s leaders and his emphasis on putting America first, you could be forgiven for thinking Trump would be above implementing and applying anything remotely resembling China’s philosophies in his methods. On the contrary, nobody on Earth embodies the traditional wisdom of ancient China than Donald J. Trump.
The Trump And I
On a superficial level, you can see the respect Trump and his family have towards China. As much as he seems to criticize China, listen closely and you’ll realize more often than not he is actually praising China’s business savvy while decrying the relative naivety of Western leaders. And in the backdrop of all this, his own granddaughter is learning Mandarin and even personally sang to China’s Xi Jinping in his native tongue in an unprecedented heartwarming diplomatic move.
And when you look just beneath the surface, you will find that perhaps there is more to these superficialities than meets the eye. Indeed, beneath the surface Trump has been influenced by ancient Chinese ways more than you might think. Specifically, he seems to have taken a lot of notes out of the most famous of China’s ancient playbooks, none other than Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu’s classic The Art of War.
Right away the title might sound familiar even for those who have never heard of it. Donald Trump apparently took enough inspiration from the book that he reworded it into the title of his first bestseller The Art of the Deal.
But how does Trump implement lessons from Sun Tzu’s manuscript into his own style on both a professional and personal level? Well, let’s take a look at just a few examples by comparing strategies from The Art of War to Trump’s own behavior.
‘The Art of War’ Meets ‘The Art of the Deal’
“In the midst of chaos, there is also opportunity.”
Sun Tzu, The Art of War
Perhaps no other quote better encapsulates Trump’s style than this. It seems that wherever Trump goes, he cannot help but to cause chaos. His supporters are often frustrated at how the media at large generally spins everything Trump says and does, even if it is positive, into a negative. This does have disadvantages, of course, but in a cost/benefit analysis, you’ll notice that Trump often secures a victory and walks away relatively unscathed while distracted pundits and politicians alike squabble over his latest soundbite. Years ago he conditioned the media to go into a frenzy over his every little word, and now they are so wound up they act in a predictably chaotic manner; therein lies his opportunity to weaken their credibility and the public’s trust in them.
“Engage people with what they expect; it is what they are able to discern and confirms their projections. It settles them into predictable patterns of response, occupying their minds while you wait for the extraordinary moment — that which they cannot anticipate.”
Sun Tzu, The Art of War
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