It was nearly 40 years ago that Donald Trump wrote The Art of the Deal. Which means that the way the publishing world works, it’s probably done its time in the remainder bins and church jumble sales. Never mind. It’s today’s book.So my wife and I got one.Here’s what a much younger Donald Trump had to say in 1987 about how to negotiate.“I like thinking big. I always have. To me, it’s very simple: if you’re going to be thinking anyway, you might as well think big.” However, he adds, you always have a backup plan that’s good enough. “The worst thing you can do in a deal is seem desperate to make it. That makes the other guy smell blood, and then you’re dead.”“I’ve always done things a little differently, I don’t mind controversy, and my deals tend to be somewhat ambitious.”“Much as it pays to emphasize the positive, there are times when the only choice is confrontation. In most cases, I’m very easy to get along with. But when people treat me badly or unfairly or try to take advantage of me, my general attitude, all my life, has been to fight back very hard…. My experience is that if you’re fighting for something you believe in — even if it means alienating some people along the way — things usually work out for the best in the end.”And, “Money was never a big motivation for me, except as a way to keep score. The real excitement is playing the game…. If you ask me exactly what the deals I’m about to describe add up to in the end, I’m not sure I have a very good answer. Except that I’ve had a very good time making them.”In 2025, it looks like he’s still having a good time. Thinking big, he’s put out a chit on Greenland, the Panama Canal and pitched Canada as a possible 51st State. ‘Controversial’ and ’somewhat ambitious,’ indeed.Are the Danes, the Panamanians and Mr. Trudeau sounding a little desperate? Apparently, the Panamanians have already yielded on the matter of the Chinese running the canal.We shall see how the Danes respond. However, the substance of that ‘outrageous demand’ is to be found here, where Trump explainer Steve Bannon explains the significance of a newly-accessible, and resource-rich Arctic. .WATCH: Steve Bannon warns of ‘new great game’ for Arctic resources.The US doesn’t need to own Greenland. Trump recognizes the importance however of unrestricted access for the US military and even more, the need to deny access to the Russians, the Chinese or anybody else. There is a deal there.Which brings us back to Canada, where Mr. Trudeau has sniggered at Trump behind his back at a NATO meeting. Trump therefore considers him ‘two-faced,’ and it would not be lost upon the self-made Trump, that the (also occasionally black-faced) Canadian prime minister was born with a silver spoon in his mouth and really amounted to nothing until a desperate Liberal party drafted him as a ‘name’ to defeat Harper.What does the book have to say about that?First, that Canada’s disadvantage is that with an election in the offing, the Liberals are 'desperate for a deal.' Trump therefore, in addition to personal animus towards Trudeau, has enormous leverage over him. Under Trudeau’s administration, Canada has also become delinquent in defence and border security. It is outrageous that such a rebuke can be credibly laid against the Government of Canada by any foreign leader, never mind the president of our closest ally.Second, Trudeau is hating this, but Trump is just 'having a good time.' As a country boy in southern Alberta told me, “If you wrestle with a hog, you both get dirty but the hog enjoys it.”I’m not suggesting Trump is a hog. Actually, what I can know of him, I like. But my first and last thoughts are that Mr. Trudeau is simply out of his league. He's about to get rolled. Which means that Canadians are about to get rolled — unless somebody in Ottawa figures out how the game is being played, and somebody else pays attention to them.Trump doesn't want or need Canada. But he'll take it if it's available cheap and easy, in order to get what he does want and need, which is northern security. It doesn't have to be cheap or easy. But when I listen to Mr. Trudeau trying to rally Canadians to take a stand by giving up Florida orange juice, I hear only the voice of inadequacy.There really needs to be an election now and a credible government installed in Ottawa. Whoever wins, read Chapter Two of 'The Art of the Deal' before we’re looking at Volume Two, ‘The Art of the Steal.’
It was nearly 40 years ago that Donald Trump wrote The Art of the Deal. Which means that the way the publishing world works, it’s probably done its time in the remainder bins and church jumble sales. Never mind. It’s today’s book.So my wife and I got one.Here’s what a much younger Donald Trump had to say in 1987 about how to negotiate.“I like thinking big. I always have. To me, it’s very simple: if you’re going to be thinking anyway, you might as well think big.” However, he adds, you always have a backup plan that’s good enough. “The worst thing you can do in a deal is seem desperate to make it. That makes the other guy smell blood, and then you’re dead.”“I’ve always done things a little differently, I don’t mind controversy, and my deals tend to be somewhat ambitious.”“Much as it pays to emphasize the positive, there are times when the only choice is confrontation. In most cases, I’m very easy to get along with. But when people treat me badly or unfairly or try to take advantage of me, my general attitude, all my life, has been to fight back very hard…. My experience is that if you’re fighting for something you believe in — even if it means alienating some people along the way — things usually work out for the best in the end.”And, “Money was never a big motivation for me, except as a way to keep score. The real excitement is playing the game…. If you ask me exactly what the deals I’m about to describe add up to in the end, I’m not sure I have a very good answer. Except that I’ve had a very good time making them.”In 2025, it looks like he’s still having a good time. Thinking big, he’s put out a chit on Greenland, the Panama Canal and pitched Canada as a possible 51st State. ‘Controversial’ and ’somewhat ambitious,’ indeed.Are the Danes, the Panamanians and Mr. Trudeau sounding a little desperate? Apparently, the Panamanians have already yielded on the matter of the Chinese running the canal.We shall see how the Danes respond. However, the substance of that ‘outrageous demand’ is to be found here, where Trump explainer Steve Bannon explains the significance of a newly-accessible, and resource-rich Arctic. .WATCH: Steve Bannon warns of ‘new great game’ for Arctic resources.The US doesn’t need to own Greenland. Trump recognizes the importance however of unrestricted access for the US military and even more, the need to deny access to the Russians, the Chinese or anybody else. There is a deal there.Which brings us back to Canada, where Mr. Trudeau has sniggered at Trump behind his back at a NATO meeting. Trump therefore considers him ‘two-faced,’ and it would not be lost upon the self-made Trump, that the (also occasionally black-faced) Canadian prime minister was born with a silver spoon in his mouth and really amounted to nothing until a desperate Liberal party drafted him as a ‘name’ to defeat Harper.What does the book have to say about that?First, that Canada’s disadvantage is that with an election in the offing, the Liberals are 'desperate for a deal.' Trump therefore, in addition to personal animus towards Trudeau, has enormous leverage over him. Under Trudeau’s administration, Canada has also become delinquent in defence and border security. It is outrageous that such a rebuke can be credibly laid against the Government of Canada by any foreign leader, never mind the president of our closest ally.Second, Trudeau is hating this, but Trump is just 'having a good time.' As a country boy in southern Alberta told me, “If you wrestle with a hog, you both get dirty but the hog enjoys it.”I’m not suggesting Trump is a hog. Actually, what I can know of him, I like. But my first and last thoughts are that Mr. Trudeau is simply out of his league. He's about to get rolled. Which means that Canadians are about to get rolled — unless somebody in Ottawa figures out how the game is being played, and somebody else pays attention to them.Trump doesn't want or need Canada. But he'll take it if it's available cheap and easy, in order to get what he does want and need, which is northern security. It doesn't have to be cheap or easy. But when I listen to Mr. Trudeau trying to rally Canadians to take a stand by giving up Florida orange juice, I hear only the voice of inadequacy.There really needs to be an election now and a credible government installed in Ottawa. Whoever wins, read Chapter Two of 'The Art of the Deal' before we’re looking at Volume Two, ‘The Art of the Steal.’
