The art of deal with lies and threats by Marja Heikkinen

Someone should tell Donald Trump that the art of the deal is supposed to involve persuasion, leverage and strategy; not a steady diet of exaggeration, misinformation and threats that flirt with the language of catastrophe.

The mythology surrounding Trump often assumes that disruption itself is evidence of strength. But disruption is not a strategy. Chaos is not competence. Repeating falsehoods loudly enough does not transform them into facts, no matter how often political movements attempt to prove otherwise. A deal built on misinformation is not a deal at all. It is merely an attempt to manipulate reality until reality refuses to cooperate.

What is particularly troubling is the casual manner in which extreme rhetoric has become normalized. Threats that once would have generated bipartisan outrage are now absorbed into the daily political cycle, processed for a few hours, and then forgotten beneath the next controversy. Language matters. When powerful figures speak recklessly about violence, destruction, or the collective punishment of populations, those words do not float harmlessly into the air. They shape public attitudes. They lower moral barriers. They make the previously unthinkable seem acceptable.

The most successful negotiators in history understood something Trump often appears unwilling to acknowledge, sustainable agreements require trust. Not friendship, necessarily. Not affection. But trust. The other side must believe that facts matter that commitments mean something, and that today's agreement will still exist tomorrow. Threatening entire populations or indulging rhetoric that hints at devastation does not create trust. It creates fear, resentment, and instability.

There is also a deeper irony at work. Trump frequently presents himself as a champion of strength, yet strength is often confused with volume. Real strength is restraint. It is knowing when not to escalate. It is understanding that every conflict does not require a theatrical performance. The loudest person in the room is not automatically the strongest one. More often, the loudest person is simply demanding attention.

Politics has always contained exaggeration, ambition, and ego. Those qualities are hardly unique to Trump. What distinguishes the current moment is the degree to which factual accuracy and moral responsibility are sometimes treated as optional accessories rather than essential requirements. Leaders are not judged solely by the enemies they threaten. They are judged by the consequences of their words and the standards they establish for everyone else.

If Trump truly wishes to be remembered as a great dealmaker, he might consider a forgotten principle of negotiation: lasting victories do not come from intimidating the world into submission. They come from convincing people that cooperation is preferable to conflict. The art of the deal was never supposed to be the art of the threat.