Weekend New York City WABC talk radio listeners had the timely good fortune of hearing "The Larry Kudlow Show" Saturday, December 23. The contrast between Trump and Biden was emphasized during a discussion about Biden groveling to Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador in an under-the-radar-maneuver to get Mexico to prevent trespassers from entering The United States -- Por favor.  Kudlow’s guest, WOR talk show host Mark Simone, described Trump’s ability to negotiate as always finding leverage over the opposition. Trump has perfected a classic Carrot and Stick style of making bold threats while also finding incentives for the other guy. Trump’s talent for finding leverage, communicating consequences, and still establishing rapport comes from his unique ability to conceive of positive outcomes in the first place.  

The Trump Presidency would make an invaluable university curriculum and fill a dire gap in the promotion of free thinking and love of democracy for students and faculty alike. Trump lessons cover many subjects. Mediation and arbitration trainings teach the incentives vs consequences combo that Trump uses. Much of Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) includes learning how to balance the innate human tendency to move towards immediate pleasure and away from pain. Business classes teach persuasion and closing techniques that rely on achieving a result where each party comes away with something desired gained. Professionals in various industries rely on negotiation. 

To start developing the curriculum, one could create a chart with various examples of Trump’s negotiations during his presidency. Columns within the chart would include Status Quo, Stakes, Parties, Previous Attempts, and then the Trump Approach, along with outcomes. Such a chart would offer readers an opportunity to see the progression of Trump’s work order from conflict to resolution. There is a potential for a university class for business, psychology, and law. A business class would target the results, the compromise. A psychology class would focus on the thought-based motivations and the conditioned behaviors that promote familiar choices. A law class would do litigation exercises to perfect delivery and practice a Trump style of consistency, strength, and humor. 

With Trump’s résumé of negotiations as president, there are also the history and media majors to consider. The main chart would have companion charts for history and media. The companion chart, history would include historical precedence from previous presidents, the formation of each conflict, previous attempts at resolution, and finally the Trump approach, outcomes, and historical significance. The companion chart, media would include historical coverage of each conflict, current coverage, and shifts, along with an emphasis on delivery style and media persona.

Instead of looking at the high-stakes negotiations playing out in front of us all daily, students and faculty are parroting permissible pundits -- often during class. The potential for learning, perfecting, and developing as better people is halted and in its place is an endless drone of tweet critics and social justice martyrs. Perhaps, for a social-science class, there could also be a chart tracking the recent self-destructive maneuvers of media and decision makers including but not limited to government, medicine, and academia. There would be a column for each Trump trial, each accusation, and implications for our country moving forward.  

Image: Michael Vadon