Running for Your Life: Schooling Trump

Looking for an angle on the best way of handling Trump? Look north. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s got the right idea.

Trudeau started by outmatching Trump during the president’s bully handshake encounter, then he played the pal card by giving him the tools to gracefully accept a change in a negotiating position.

That’s how you handle a bully, of course. You coax him, do your best Jiminy Cricket imitation, as in, “Here’s how you should think about this, sir” kinda thing, and then allow him (the bully) to take credit for the idea.

Here’s how Justin puts in a recent cover piece in Bloomberg Businessweek:

“I’ve learned that (Trump) listens. He is a little bit unlike many politicians. That might be enough. Leave that sentence right there. As politicians, we’re very, very much trained to say something and stick with it.

Whereas (Trump) has shown that if he says one thing and then actually hears good counterarguments or good reasons why he should shift his position, he will take a different position, if it’s a better one, if the arguments win him over.

There’s a challenge in that for electors. But there’s also an opportunity for people who engage with him to try and work to achieve a beneficial outcome.”

Here’s a suggested daily political diet for the rest of the summer.

Read two stories about Trump, then one story about Trudeau.

Next, get to the beach and read a novel.

Next: Running for Your Life: On Vacation