"TRUMP'S PRESIDENCY: PROFIT OVER PEOPLE"

The business mindset may have made Donald Trump a wealthy man, but it also makes him a terrible leader. A country is not a product to be sold.

In the realm of business, there’s only one cardinal rule: win at any cost. The more you extract, the better you do, and the lower you keep your costs, the more profit you make. It’s as simple as that. It’s economics 101. A businessman is, by nature, programmed to keep the cycle of acquisition, profit, and expense reduction running at all costs. So, when a self-proclaimed billionaire turns around and claims he’s ready to lead a country as complex and diverse as the United States, the question must be asked: What makes a businessman, someone who thrives on winning and squeezing every last dollar, an effective president?

Let’s start with a figure you know well, Donald J. Trump. Before he ran for president, Trump made a name for himself by turning opportunistic business deals into empires. Take, for example, his purchase of 40 Wall Street in 1995. It was a fire sale, bought at a fraction of its original value, and yet Trump spun it into his so-called "crown jewel." He saw the opportunity to snatch it up on the cheap and, as always, turned the focus toward making the most money with the least amount of effort. Mar-a-Lago? Another opportunistic deal, this time playing on the backs of distressed sellers and the allure of Palm Beach real estate to cement his brand.

This, is business! It's about winning, exploiting opportunities, and positioning yourself for maximum financial gain. But can these traits translate to the complex and often messy world of international diplomacy? Spoiler alert: not even close.

Business thrives on the fundamental premise of creating winners and losers. It’s about negotiation, extracting value, and knowing when to walk away from a deal if the terms don’t meet your criteria. That’s fine when you're trying to close a multi-million-dollar real estate deal, but diplomacy? That’s an entirely different game. The stakes are higher than just money; countries, lives, and global stability are all on the line.

One of the glaring issues with a businessman in office is the mindset that drives him. The goal is always to dominate, to create winners at the expense of others, and to keep your costs low. This translates into aggressive tactics, deals that benefit one party at the expense of another, and short-term strategies that overlook the long-term consequences. Do you see where I’m going with this? And yet, when it comes to international relations, you cannot afford to view the world through the same, myopic lens of "us versus them." You have to think beyond your own borders and consider the delicate web of alliances, trade deals, and agreements that keep the world from descending into chaos. Trump’s "America First" rhetoric exemplified this exact mentality. His administration’s approach wasn’t about building consensus or maintaining alliances; it was about throwing punches to get the best deal; every time.

A great example of this mentality came when Trump pulled the U.S. out of the Paris Climate Agreement. The decision was based on the idea that America could "win" by stepping away from the global effort to combat climate change. Never mind the fact that other nations would continue to participate, or that the global temperature was ticking upward with every decision he made. The notion that you can simply abandon your allies and leave them holding the bag for a planet-wide problem is not only reckless; it’s the businessman's mindset run amok in the political arena.

But let’s not just stop at the climate. How about the Kluge estate or Seven Springs? These aren’t just deals where Trump looked for a quick payday. They are emblematic of his whole approach: Opportunistic, opportunistic, opportunistic. He didn’t just buy these estates; he saw an opportunity to profit off their acquisition. But try applying that same zero-sum game to negotiations with Canada, China, Russia, or even our NATO allies. That’s the point where business and diplomacy go their separate ways. In business, it’s absolutely ok to walk away from a deal. In politics, when you walk away from a deal, the world feels it; whether it’s in the form of tariffs, trade wars, or the unraveling of years of diplomatic friendships.

Trump’s policies, fundamentally misunderstand that international relations require mutual respect. They require listening and compromise. When you’re making deals in the business world, you’re not thinking about the other side’s needs. You’re focused on cutting costs and maximizing returns for yourself and your company. In the political world, however, you can’t just keep cutting costs without thinking about the blowback; the damage to the other side. And, when you do, allies become wary of your unpredictability, and adversaries take advantage of the vacuum left by your absence.

We see this daily in the Oval Office when Trump’s foreign policies alienate long-standing allies. The lack of diplomatic finesse, the denigration, the inclination to "win" at any cost, creates cracks in relationships that had been years in the making. From tariffs with Canada, Mexico and China to tearing apart the Iran nuclear deal to alienating European leaders, Trump’s method of handling international relations mirrors that of a businessman trying to sell a property he doesn’t care about; aggressive, short-sighted, and lacking any sense of the long game.

And perhaps this is the most damning flaw in thinking a businessman can be an effective leader. I will say it again…business is about profit. Politics is about people. While it’s great to rake in billions from savvy deals and opportunistic acquisitions, leading a country requires a whole lot more; it requires empathy, patience, and an ability to recognize that not every situation is a negotiation table for winning.

The business mindset may have made Donald Trump a wealthy man, but it also makes him a terrible leader. A country is not a product to be sold. It’s not a pair of gaudy sneakers or an NFT or a gold watch; it’s a collective entity to be nurtured. And no amount of business acumen can mask the cold, transactional approach that’s doomed to fail when you’re trying to bring nations together.

So, to those members of the GOP, to MAGA supporters or any one of the 77 million Americans who voted Trump 2024, know this. The idea of electing a billionaire businessman as a leader may sound enticing, powerful, successful, and full of high-stakes deals. But the truth is, as we are sadly witnessing, in politics, the best leaders don’t just think about profits; they think about people. And that, my friends, is where business and diplomacy truly part ways.

(Kindly consider supporting this platform and all independent journalists here on Substack. Plus, the first 240 Founding Members to this platform receive a rare, signed, numbered edition of my NYT Bestseller “Revenge, How Donald Trump weaponized The US Department Of Justice Against His Critics.” Join now!)