I don't know where to jump in, so I will just present my two cents worth. In all this discussion of whether or not there is a plan (and to think there isn't, in the face of all the preparatory moves), no one has mentioned the art of aikido. It is a Japanese martial art and, while I may be speaking in some ignorance, my understanding is that a key principle is anti-resistance. By this, I mean the following: Ordinarily, if someone comes at you, you will brace and resist, and their force and power will be directed to overcome your resistance. In aikido, the opposite is the case. Someone comes at you, prepared to exert lots of force against expected resistance---and you do not resist...in fact, you augment your opponent's motion and force, jerking him off balance and plunging him into a collision or a stumble. I cannot help but wonder if that is part of Trump's method with the Creatures of the Deep Lagoon.

This also resonates with the way a bullfighter taunts and leads a charging bull.

Or the rope-a-dope strategy in boxing. Never forget that Trump's favorate game of conflict is...boxing.