To the Editor:

Re “Trump Foreign Policy: One-Up Obama,” by Thomas L. Friedman (column, June 19):

I’m not so sure that President Trump wants to one-up Barack Obama as much as prove to everyone that he is a “master negotiator” who truly commands “the art of the deal” and knows more, and better, than anyone else.

But Iran, North Korea and China are not small contractors and suppliers from his real estate days, those people he could bully, squeeze and, when it served his purposes, walk out on. The leaders of those countries are savvy, crafty and seasoned politicians who have learned how to survive and thrive in environments far more complicated, competitive and nasty than real estate. To them, Mr. Trump is a dilettante, nothing more.

Mr. Trump is clearly out of his league, but his overinflated ego and self-image will never allow him to admit it. As a result, he surrounds himself with sycophants, ignores competent advisers and resorts to basking in the adulation of his supporters at rallies in which he can boast and posture and lie.

John Dilyard

Brooklyn