Bob Schwartz

Analogies can be effective teaching tools, for the smart and the stupid. Sometimes complex ideas can be introduced by an apt analogy, followed up by more sophisticated analysis. Sometimes ideas are simple.

The European leaders at yesterday’s meeting about Ukraine concluded that perhaps Trump didn’t really understand what it meant for Russia, who invaded Ukraine, to be awarded territory in a peace deal, including territory Russia did not fight for and does not yet control.

So they tried an analogy. What if the eastern part of Florida was just given away? Would that be right?

Reports are that maybe that had some impact on Trump.

Maybe. If there was ever an accurate assessment of Trump’s intelligence and knowledge, that seems no longer possible. The only evidence we have of Trump’s thinking is what he says and does. The European leaders are, as are so many others, unsure of his intelligence and knowledge. So they dumbed down a basic concept of fairness, confident he wouldn’t notice he was being condescended to.

The European leaders, like so many others, find themselves in uncharted territory, and will try anything to get inside Trump’s head. We wish them and ourselves good luck.