Playing Hard Ball: Surviving and Thriving in Trump 2.0’s World
One of the best reads I’ve had to understand this new world of operating. Counter to everything I’ve learned and practiced in my 26 years here in America. We really are entering a brand new world. Frank Rotman of QED Investors wrote an observant tweet early March:
“The Zero Sum Society
Our society seems to be moving in the direction of embracing a troubling premise: That one person's gain must come at another's expense. The disturbing willingness for an individual to profit a little by causing the masses to lose a lot reflects a profound moral disconnect. It feels like people are increasingly comfortable playing a PvE (player vs. everyone) game regardless of the net impact on the collective. You see this in politics. You see this in crypto. You see this in human rights. You see this everywhere.
Speculation About How We Got Here
• The hyper-financialization and broadcasting of everything
• Growing inequality creating separate realities where the suffering of others becomes invisible or normalized especially when personal profit is involved
• Increasing social isolation and declining community ties, making it easier to harm faceless "others"
• The widening physical and psychological distance between decision-makers and those affected by their decisions
• Structures that diffuse moral responsibility, allowing no individual to feel accountable for collective harm
• A cultural shift from "citizen" to "consumer" as primary identity, narrowing our perspective to personal benefit
• Social media algorithms that reward outrage and tribalism over empathy and nuance
• The rise of "optimization" as a value that prioritizes efficiency over human well-being
• Short-term incentive structures that reward immediate gains over sustainable outcomes” (Source: https://x.com/fintechjunkie/status/1897101926078042521)
Explains a lot. Explains why everyone is so on edge and stressed. We are living in the new Hunger Games now. Especially in America.
I also read Kairon’s newsletter religiously. I don’t agree with his politics but he has excellent insights on the world. Here is what he wrote about Trump's negotiation style which seems super relevant in this new winner take all world.
“This is perhaps the biggest obstacle when it comes to Trump. People don’t understand how the name calling, crassness and blustering on Social Media can result in competent foreign policy. For people who took political establishment/corporate training like myself, Trump is antithetical to everything you’ve ever known.
Every convention, every rule, every norm must be tossed aside to understand and deal with him.
He is a different kind of Statesman, (some would say not one at all); one who will press the advantage when he knows he holds the winning hand, grace isn’t apart of Trump’s winning rhetoric. If he can win and take 80% he will do so. If he can push and get 100% and some of your winnings, he will do so.
Because he expects everyone else to do the same.
Why is he suggesting buying Greenland again, is he going to conquer half the World?
What is it with 25-200% tariffs, is he serious?
Why does everything around him look like chaos?
Trump grew up during the time where sales and negotiation was hardball. Every inch won, is hard-won and Trump has taken that to heart. If he asks for the moon, a rocket doesn’t seem so bad. Many in the institutional class won’t know this, but this is what every poor man knows now as: the Facebook Marketplace Negotiation. Or what everyone in the 80’s just referred to as sales.
Everything is a bargaining tool for Trump, nothing is off the table. The polite society Neo-Liberal “tit for tat”, arguing over “table-stakes” percentages is over. Tariffs are a bargaining tool. Retaliatory and Reciprocal Tarriffs are the same reasoning. (Trump also knows and views Subsidies as “Reverse Tariffs”)
Why did Canada and Mexico acquiesced to demands immediately, because Trump’s final demands were “reasonable”. But Tariffs are still on the table if they don’t follow through.” (Source: https://mercurial.substack.com/p/understanding-trump)
I’m known for being very direct, sometimes harsh but it comes from caring. I’ve always tried to be fair and reasonable. I’ve always tried to do the right thing albeit with lapses. I’ve always tried to be generous with my time and help. Overall, I think it’s done me and my reputation well here in Silicon Valley and around the world. But I sometimes wonder if this is outdated in this new world order.
I’m tired of seeing so many awful people get ahead in the world. I wonder if I should not be more selfish, ruthless and hard- edged in this world. Maybe it’s time to be more assertive and less tolerant. To be more selfish and transactional. “To get the bag” as they say. To push back and retaliate more. As always, more food for thought personally. We shall see.