MS Now-Trump's attention span is a huge problem for his Iran crisis

[LetMyPeopleVote]

Trump’s attention span is a huge problem for his Iran crisis

'Trump’s attention span is a huge problem for his Iran crisis', www.ms.now/opinion/trum...

— Ohio Bikedude (@rholt.bsky.social) 2026-06-02T20:17:29.270Z

https://www.ms.now/opinion/trump-iran-war-tehran-peace-talks

During an interview with President Donald Trump on Monday, CNBC reporter Eamon Javers inquired about the state of U.S. talks with Iran, asking the president, “Do you think the negotiations are over now, or is this a bluff?” The question came in light of reports that Iran is pausing peace talks with the U.S. because of Israel’s attacks on Lebanon.

“I don’t care if they’re over, honestly,” Trump replied. “I really don’t care. I couldn’t care less. If they’re over, they’re over. If they’re not, you know, I think they took too much time. Frankly, I thought they started to get very boring. They were giving us what we needed, but I think I think they handled the negotiations poorly. It took too long.”

It’s a good summary of why Trump is uniquely ill suited to execute the peace deal he so desperately needs — and how his short attention span constantly bungles his political aspirations.....

Trump is saying aloud what reporters from The New York Times and The Atlantic have been documenting in interviews with his inner circle: The negotiations are testing his short attention span. That’s an ominous sign for any future peace deal.

Diplomatic negotiations to end wars are inherently tedious, exhausting exercises. They require patience, attentiveness to details, the ability to wait out an adversary’s bluffing, and a constantly evolving assessment of the other party’s interests and power. In this case, it also requires the U.S. to rein in Israel, which has political and geostrategic interests distinct from those of the U.S., and seems to have an endless appetite for dropping bombs in the region.

President Barack Obama’s 2015 nuclear deal with Iran took 20 months of negotiations. Trump’s negotiation process for ending the war and coming to an agreement on Iran’s nuclear program kicked off less than two months ago. And there are a number of reasons to think it won’t be particularly swift — Tehran mistrusts Washington more than ever as it has now twice been the victim of U.S.-Israeli bombing campaigns in the middle of negotiations over its nuclear program. And Trump has killed off the people in Iran’s government who would have been most amenable to constructive negotiations, as well as made its power structure more decentralized and slower-moving. If he’s already bored with the process, that’s a deeply troubling sign.....

Trump has mastered — and has been rewarded by — the attention economy throughout his political career, and his political identity as an entertainer was key to his rise. But those same qualities also make him worse at getting things done. Tearing systems apart, bullying people with lawsuits and reconfiguring federal agencies is not the same as accomplishing lasting legislation or negotiating extensive international peace deals. The war with Iran is Trump’s biggest test yet. And his proven lack of focus, interest and patience is a weakness the global community can ill afford.

[Lovie777]

1. It's a huge problem for the USA as well................

[rsdsharp]

2. He's got the attention span of a doorknob.

[hibbing]

6. Hehe

[LetMyPeopleVote]

3. MaddowBlog-Trump's self-declared reputation as a world-class dealmaker continues to collapse

As Iran backed away from the negotiating table, one longtime observer raised an underappreciated point: “Trump is perhaps the world’s worst negotiator.”

As Iran backs away from the negotiating table, it seems like a good time to highlight an underappreciated fact:

Trump is a spectacularly bad negotiator and dealmaker - and has been for years - Republican hype notwithstanding.
www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...

— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2026-06-02T18:05:39.412Z

https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/trump-deals-iran-negotiations-really-dont-care-very-boring

Nearly two weeks after Donald Trump boasted that a “peace” agreement with Iran had been “largely negotiated,” and the world could expect to learn more about the breakthrough deal “shortly,” officials from Tehran effectively walked away from the negotiating table. The American president with a notoriously short attention span told CNBC, “I really don’t care. I couldn’t care less,” adding that he thought the protracted talks had become “very boring.”....

It led Joe Cirincione, the vice chair of the Center for International Policy and a longtime expert on nuclear policy, to highlight an underappreciated observation: “Trump is perhaps the world’s worst negotiator.”....

But has anyone seen any evidence at all that Trump has had any success as a political dealmaker? The hype is certainly obvious and ubiquitous — I could retire if I had a dollar for every Republican who has referred to the president’s ghostwritten “Art of the Deal” — but proof that bolsters the partisan assumptions is elusive.

As The Atlantic’s David Graham explained last week:

Donald Trump’s reputation and political career were built on his dealmaking prowess, yet the president keeps demonstrating that he is a terrible negotiator.

Repeatedly over the past nine years, Trump has gotten rolled by counterparts during high-stakes exchanges. North Korea, Russia, Russia again, China, and China again have gotten the better of the United States. Trump has had to slink back to Washington without much to show except empty talk about friendship with whatever dictator has just run circles around him. He’s had some success in brokering agreements when acting as a third party (though not nearly as much as he pretends) but much less luck when his own government is a participant.

Unfortunately, the problem isn’t limited to foreign affairs and international diplomacy. As a candidate in 2016, Trump told Fox News, “The problem with Washington, they don’t make deals; it’s all gridlock. And then you have a president that signs executive orders because he can’t get anything done. I’ll get everybody together.”.....

But the evidence of Trump actually succeeding on this front does not exist. There were literally zero instances in which he successfully brought Democratic and Republican leaders together and negotiated a major legislative breakthrough during his first term. Indeed, after a few years in the White House, Trump largely gave up on even trying to make deals with Congress, and in his second term, we’ve seen more of the same.

The Washington Post reported in August 2020, “The president who pitched himself to voters as the consummate negotiator and ultimate dealmaker has repeatedly found his strategies flummoxed by the complexities and pressures of Washington lawmaking.” In a related Post column, Jackson Diehl explained, in reference to Trump, “He’s not up to serious negotiation. He can’t be expected to seriously weigh costs and benefits, or make complex trade-offs. He’s good at bluster, hype and showy gestures, but little else. In short, he may be the worst presidential deal maker in modern history.”

trump is a horrible negotiator and gets bored too quickly to make a deal.

[republianmushroom]

4. It would not surprise me if the next Democrat President

ends this was.

[struggle4progress]

5. It almost seems like he's a self-absorbed halfwit with no conscience but very interested in napping

[Norrrm]

7. "...that President Obama will attack Iran because of his inability to negotiate properly -- not skilled!"

Mr. Trump, 2013: “Remember that I predicted a long time ago that President Obama will attack Iran because of his inability to negotiate properly — not skilled!”

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100221058284