The idea you presented above...
I would like to expand on that idea since I noticed this happens quite often when Trump had meetings with other adversaries behind closed doors and they also change their attitude towards him after the meetings.
Perhaps, Trump's public persona is far different than the man they meet behind closed doors.
Perhaps, that public persona which causes his adversaries to
underestimate him which gives them the opportunity to constantly ridicule him in public.
And, that is something he uses to his advantage and when they meet him behind closed doors, they are surprised by a very different man.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/underestimate
: to think of (
someone or something)
as being lower in ability, influence, or value
than that person or thing
actually is.
I base this idea, on a personal experience I had years ago.
When four "trailer park" housewives battled two Mobile-home Park Owners when the our City dropped rent control.
The park owners sent out paperwork raising our rents. A $400.00 increase in a four month time period.
Then they sent out paperwork that they were changing our family park to an adult park. Which would have devalued of our homes.
The City forced us into mediation. The park owners
underestimated how prepared we were to prove rent control should be reinstated.
They were so unprepared that the mediator was trying to help them against us.
Our local newspaper interviewed us. Mediation failed.
We went to City Hall to do research on the park. We found the conditional use permit, which they violated.
They put in a permit for an adult park and violated that permit by opening up the new park as a family park.
We filled the City Hall seats, before giving our speeches, We asked the people sitting in the seats to stand if they wanted rent control reinstated.
Everyone in the room stood up.
The park owners
underestimated us> plus we had the advantage over them based on the fact that when you fill City Hall with potential unsatisfied voters..
And, have gone to every Mobile-Home park in the City and had all of those voters sign petitions in favor of rent control... The Elected Officials take notice!
To make a long story short, rent control was reinstated and is still in place to this day.
Roseann