General Discussion

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.