Trump’s game theory strategies
How can we understand Trump’s election strategies through game theory? In the article “Here’s how game theory helps explain Donald Trump’s strategies”, Professor Steven Brams from NYU offers a rational analysis of Trump’s ambiguous and provocative strategies using game theory.
Game theory is applied to “situations in which decision-makers interact with one another,” and each player’s payoff depends not only on his or her decisions but also on the decisions made by others (Easley and Kleinberg). Brams introduces two more specific principles in game theory that may be used to interpret Trump’s strategies in a complicated context like the presidential election.
The first principle is unpredictability. In a game where interests clash, each player may want to wait to see opponents’ move and then come up with the best response. Under such circumstances, being unpredictable can be an efficient way to prevent opponents from outguessing what your next step is. During the election, Trump often gave random speeches and delivered ambiguous messages to the public. His unpredictability made it difficult for the Democrats to prepare their future election strategies. Trump’s uncertainty also exhausted his opponents and forced them to enter policy debates that may serve his interests.
The second one is irrationality. Acting irrationally such as being outraged can be a rational strategy to raise fear in opponents’ heart and therefore distract opponents. Sometimes, when you show your opponents that you are willing to accept any dreadful costs that may seem “crazy”, you opponents may turn to analyze your “craziness”, instead of focusing on how to expand their strengths. In addition, if your opponents evaluate the risks of certain issues to be unacceptable, they would choose to step back or re-enter the negotiation. Trump brought up discussions about nuclear weapons, controversial laws that against Mexican immigrants. All those disturbing and irrational topics drew people’s attention and drove his opponents to respond to these discussions.