Donald Trump’s Strengths and Weaknesses as seen by Game Theory
As discussed in class, the prisoner dilemma is the result of coaxing two suspected accomplices into confessing with the promise of decreased jail time. The game turns into a tournament when prisoners are faced with the dilemma again and again. The winner of one modeled tournament was called “Tit for Tat.” Its strategy was as follows: If an opponent turned it in, it would retaliate and turn them in in the next round. If an opponent stayed quiet, Tit for Tat would return the favor and wouldn’t turn them in in the next round.
This is the exact tactic Donald Trump has been using throughout his campaign. He is quick to return compliments to those who compliment him and is even quicker to denounce those who denounce him. Despite a lot of his comments seemingly coming from left field, he follows a very simple pattern (a four line computer program really). Although he’s been successful in his campaign having received the Republican nomination, his predictability brings flaws as a President. Foreign leaders must merely publicly praise Trump while undercutting American interests under the table or publicly provoke him to start needless fights or wars.
“Tit for Tat” is still a winning strategy, one that will be hard for Hillary Clinton to beat. If Hillary tries to take the high road and ignore Trump’s onslaught of insults, she’ll be defined by Trump’s caricature of her as weak and meager much like the fate of Jeb(!) Bush. Rolling Stone predicted that Hillary would select a VP to do the mud-slinging for her while she kept her hands clean but since the publishing of this article, Hillary has selected Tim Kaine as her vice presidential nominee. The best insult of Trump Kaine could muster was an unfunny impersonation at the Democratic National Convention. With Trump’s game strategy known, Hillary loses with the “high road” strategy. The best response is to play hard ball. Although candidates have tried and failed time and time again to beat Trump at his own insulting game, maybe Hillary will pull it off. Only time and 240 million votes will tell.
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/what-game-theory-tells-us-about-donald-trump-20160511