I agree partly with SA. Except for “Brilliant guy”, I’d substitute “Bullshit showman”. And I disagree with the contention that Trump is widely lauded in the business world. I understand that the structure of his deals changed markedly after his first bankruptcy in the early 1990s. He was once a developer. Over time he evolved into a showman. Hey, it’s a living and a pretty good one.
I do disagree with the contention that Trump is a skilled businessman:
What if somebody said that Trump was brilliant at sales? I think that could be argued objectively.
Given the number of his investments that have gone south, I doubt whether Trump is all that good at divine prescience. I’m guessing that he has a decent sense of his ability to improvise: the downside of alienating most of Latin America is manageable, if not necessarily optimal. I would also speculate that Trump knows very well that no battle plan survives contact with the enemy. So you work with decision trees (implicitly) not fixed plans.
But yeah: not a fool, dolt or idiot: he only appears that way. And his persona is shaped with intent. And moving beyond his rapist comments rather than clarifying or backpeddling serves his goals I assume.