‘It’s a very strong deal. Nobody knows what it is’: Trump completes transformation from Master of the Deal to Great Equivocator

When the U.S. and Iran reached a tentative agreement to end the war, President Donald Trump managed to both trumpet the deal and raise questions about its viability, all in the same answer. “It’s a very strong deal,” he said. “Nobody knows what it is. But it’s very strong.” It was the kind of mixed signal the president frequently sends: He’ll seem to commit to one side of a major issue, then the opposite — only to subsequently suggest he’s not actually decided and may not be wed one way or the other. Just as Ronald Reagan was the “Great Communicator” and George W. Bush declared himself “The Decider,” Trump increasingly seems comfortable as the “Great Equivocator,” oscillating between contradictions in what he says on one subject or multiple times in a single online post. Taking so many positions means the president can’t be fully wrong while letting the public fix on different, albeit often conflicting, statements that can reinforce their own beliefs. It differs from Trump’s propensity for falsehoods, which can be part of a concentrated effort to cloud the facts for his own political benefit. “Trump is, generally, all over the map,” said Daniel Immerwahr, a historian at Northwestern University and author of “How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States.” “His friends forgive him, and his enemies hate it.” Those close to Trump say it’s strategic White House spokesperson Kush Desai dismissed questions about the president’s shifting positions as an “asinine obsession with splitting hairs.” “President Trump’s results speak for themselves,” Desai said, noting the ceasefire agreement, a resulting decline in energy prices and administration efforts to lower prescription drug prices among the “many other victories for the American people.” Aides from Trump’s first administration say the president likes to lean on the business concept of “optionality,” or staying flexible enough to have always multiple choices availa