The Art of the Fix

Donald Trump is one smart guy.  Obviously, you don’t have that much business success by being stupid.  One of the techniques for the successful outcome of a deal is to stack as many cards in your favor as you can before the dealings begin.

            We have heard over and over again how Hillary is cramming diligently for tonight’s first debate while Donald takes a more casual approach mainly having conversations with aides and eschewing debate rehearsals.  Her strategy is predictable just because she has been in the spotlight so long and his strategy is intentional, aided and abetted by the press.

            The media has become obsessed with the term “setting the bar.”  Applied to Hillary that means she faces a “high bar” and is expected to be super informed on just about everything, ultra calm, controlled and, well, dull.

            Trump, on the other hand is mainly known as a tv personality, flamboyant, shoot-from-the-hipper who, buy his own admission, likes to be unpredictable.  So now the “media” which he pretends to loathe, is playing right into his hands by declaring he faces a “low bar.” 

            In addition, Trump is already setting up the Moderator, Lester Holt, as the potential fall guy.  (Remember Trump said Holt is a registered Democrat which he is not.)  Ironically, the media, which is now helping him by setting “the low bar” will be blamed for attacking him if he flops.

            So let’s look at the potential outcomes.   Trump’s braggadocio about not really preparing for the debates (which I do not believe for a minute) is to make him look really good if he “wins” but not so bad if he “loses.”  While Hillary has such high expectations placed on her that if she “wins” the Trump camp will say Holt was mean to Donald, it was all liberal press bias, and all she did was study a lot of briefing books did not address the needs of the American people.  If she bombs, the Trump camp can then gloat and say, see our guy is really brilliant and didn’t even need debate preparation. 

            Of course if he loses his cool and calls Hillary a “fat pig” in front of 100 million people (which I think a lot of Hillary backers are secretly hoping) then all Trump bets are off.

            One thing I can tell you for sure, I have set my own bar for the debates and it is well stocked with the ingredients for several Manhattans on the Rocks.

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