Unless you live in a swing state, your best strategy is to vote for Gary Johnson. If you live in, for example, California there is no way your vote is going to help or hurt Hillary.

I kind of got out of the gulch for a while. There are a lot of people on both sides of the question with whom I otherwise agree with.

I was Cruz all the way (cause I think he cares about the constitution), but Its over now and I think it is important to keep HC from becoming president. I am going to hold my nose and vote republican yet once again! Maybe I should say he is not that bad compared to the last two republicans presidential candidates that I voted for. Who knows, he might even win.

Best strategy I can come up with at the moment. Vote for the maximum payoff I can get, even though it is not the maximum payoff I hoped to get. Compromising sucks!

Same thing just a different package. Without a person who reasserts the the Constitution to limit government aggression, curtail spending, and remove the leftist influence. DT isn't that guy, we're screwed.

There are two choices to executive leadership: either you act unilaterally to the fullest extent of your powers to implement your vision or you make deals with other branches to pass the laws to implement your vision.

I prefer making deals to being a dictatorship.

The caution I feel toward DT is that he's all about the "deal." I want a Constitutional Conservative, not the next PT Barnum or deal seeking Jerry Springer. I do not see DT as man of principles and that is something this country desperately needs in government and society - a definitive right and wrong. I do see him as a product of these times - a say anything opportunist. My concern is that his interests will not always align with the best interests of this nation, that he'll appoint "deal oriented" SCOTUS and screw this country up for decades.I have no doubt when interests collide DT will put himself first, even if its to pass a piece of coveted legislation (what would he not deal???).

All that said, I suspect his "say anything" will lose to HC's "committed" communism. Too many in America just don't care enough anymore to gather more info than a 12 second sound-byte. Worse HC are even more delusionally rabid that the DT supporters (each thoroughly repulsive in their Alinsky tactics).

Yeah!

If you wanted to play the "madman strategy" you could say that you were considering secretly issuing a "shoot to kill" order for illegal border crossings.

That statement would be a deterrent if given by Trump, who could say if he really meant it? I know that is a pretty contrived example of the advantage of being unpredictable, but it would also be far cheaper than building a wall.

For some reason, Trump makes a lot more sense to me than he does to a lot of people. I see him through the glass of "the deal". He literally wrote the book on it and prides himself on being a deal maker.

No one approaching a negotiation reveals what he will settle for and usually asks for something he knows the other side is unwilling to give, just to get them moving in his direction.

You also don't, as he explicitly says, let your opponent know that you are determined to come to an agreement -- this gives him all the power. The Obama administration was obviously determined to get a deal with Iran. Didn't work out so well.

So, is Mexico going to write a check for the wall? Probably not, but they may wind up paying for it one way or another. Trump has mentioned the amount of money flowing over the border in unbalanced trade. It obviously reflects an opportunity to collect sufficient funds to pay for a border wall.

Yes, and I think we all play this type of "game" in our interactions, especially in business. It's part of human nature.

Nice find, Rob. This article is a very accurate portrayal of Trump's strategies to get exactly what he wants. Like selfishness, cunning has gained a negative connotation, when it doesn't always mean that. Trump fits the first two definitions of cunning from Merriam-Webster's dictionary. The typical use of cunning is definition 3.

Full Definition of cunning
1: dexterous or crafty in the use of special resources (as skill or knowledge) or in attaining an end
2: displaying keen insight
3: characterized by wiliness and trickery
4: prettily appealing : cute