A businessman in the White House

One of the arguments many on the right used to support Trump's campaign was that he was a successful businessman and that his business skills would mean he would finally be able to get something done in Washington.

To begin, let's review what has been done.

• Tax breaks have benefited the shareholding class and inflated the national debt by $1t
• No deal with China on IP and only a face saving one on ag products
• NAFTA II was already in the works under Obama so no real contribution there
• Nothing on health care
• No Middle East peace (and moving the embassy has made it less likely)
• No deal with North Korea on its nuclear program
• No progress on Iraq, other than withdrawing from the JCPOA and Iraq restarting enrichment
• Weakening relationships with Europe
• One of the worst records on covid-19 of any industrialized country 
• No serious effort to prevent election interference
• Conservative justices  

With the exception of the appointment of conservative judges, it's a list of failed efforts and not exactly the kind of list that one would want to add to ones CV.

So what does this suggest?  It means either that business skills are not well suited to getting things done in the Washington. Or it means that Trump had no business skills in the first place. (Or it could mean both). There seems to be ample evidence that the second is the bigger factor. Here are some things successful managers don't do.

Hiring people based on loyalty rather then ability.

• Family (Ivanka, Kushner...)
• Donors and sycophants with inappropriate skill sets (e.g., DeJoy, Sondeland, Gorka...  )

Not listening to expert advice.

• Fucci, CDC, etc

Appearing more concerned with optics than substance.

• Mask wearing ("not a good look")
• The China deal
• Meetings with Kim Jong Un, Putin
• Resumption of covid-19 task force briefings "because it had good ratings"     

For those in the reality based universe and not the alt-right Tumpiverse, that's pretty compelling evidence.