TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP BUSINESS: “If you read Donald Trump’s ‘The Art of the Deal,’ substituting ‘contractors’ for ‘conservatives,’ the president’s ultimatum to House Republicans on health care is not at all surprising. ‘You have to be very rough and very tough with most contractors or they’ll take the shirt right off your back,’ Trump wrote in the 1987 business classic.
As a businessman, Trump bragged about his ability to drive a hard bargain to win favorable terms and make lots of money. ‘I also protect myself by being flexible,’ he explained. ‘I never get too attached to one deal or one approach. … I keep a lot of balls in the air, because most deals fall out, no matter how promising they seem at first.’
One theme he kept coming back to is that you’ve got to be willing to walk away or, more precisely, convince the people you’re negotiating with that you are. Trump recalled a 1981 meeting with the attorney general and the head of gaming enforcement for New Jersey in which he threatened to walk away from Atlantic City – despite already making huge investments on the Boardwalk there – if he didn’t get certain concessions.”
-James Hohmann, “The Daily 202: Trump’s health care ultimatum is straight out of ‘The Art of the Deal.’ It just might work.,” The Washington Post online, March 24, 2017