"F___ You!" Trump's strategy when he lobbied to negotiate arms control with the Soviet Union
From a Washington Post editorial:
The North Koreans actually have this in common with Trump, who also likes to use threats to walk away as a negotiating tactic. Many years ago Trump reportedly tried to get the George H.W. Bush administration to send him to negotiate arms control with the Soviet Union, saying that his brilliant tactic would be to welcome the Soviet delegation, then shout “F––– you!” and leave the room. The Bush administration for some reason felt that sensitive negotiations should be done by experienced diplomats and not blowhard real-estate developers, so it declined his help.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2018/05/16/on-north-korea-trump-is-getting-played-by-both-sides/
Here's the short article from Robin Wright at The New Yorker:
For years, a story circulated in Washington about Donald Trump’s attempt to nab a job leading nuclear negotiations with the Soviet Union in the nineteen-eighties. His book “The Art of the Deal” had been on the Times best-seller list for forty-eight weeks. Trump apparently thought that he could do a deal one-upping anybody—and wanted to prove it. He lobbied quite hard, I was told, with the George H. W. Bush Administration. The White House instead appointed Richard Burt, the U.S. Ambassador to West Germany during the run-up to the fall of the Berlin Wall and a longtime expert on nuclear-arms talks.
Shortly thereafter, by coincidence, Trump and Burt attended the same society wedding in New York. At the reception, Trump walked up to Burt—whom he didn’t know—and said, “So you’re the guy?”
Burt, who confirmed the story to me, acknowledged his new position. Trump then said, “Let me tell you what I would have done if I’d been appointed.” He explained that he would have welcomed—very warmly—the Soviet delegation. He would have made sure the country’s envoys were comfortable—very comfortable—at the table.
Then, Trump told Burt, he would have stood up, shouted “Fuck you!,” and left the room. (The White House did not respond to a request for comment.)
https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/for-trump-diplomacy-is-quite-literally-a-four-letter-word
