There Will Be Grift: Jeffrey Sonnenfeld Reveals Trump’s 'Mad King' Playbook

Trump isn’t impulsive. He’s not “just winging it.” According to Jeffrey Sonnenfeld and his new book Trump's Ten Commandments: Strategic Lessons from the Trump Leadership Toolbox, Donald Trump operates on a repeatable, deliberate playbook—ten core behaviors he’s used for decades. What looks like chaos is actually strategy. What feels like a meltdown is often the move itself. In this episode, Rick Wilson and Yale Business School Professor Jeffrey Sonnenfeld break down Trump’s pattern of power: the same tactics, the same outcomes, over and over again. Once you see the playbook, you can’t unsee it.•••••Jeffrey Sonnenfeld is on X at @JeffSonnenfeld, and his new book, ,’Trump's Ten Commandments: Strategic Lessons from the Trump Leadership Toolbox,’ is available now, wherever fine books are sold. Rick Wilson is on X at @TheRickWilson, on Bluesky at @TheRickWilson.bsky.social, and you can check out Rick's Substack at therickwilson.substack.com. You can check out more of LP's work at www.lincolnproject.us and on X at @ProjectLincoln. #Trump #TrumpStrategy #JeffreySonnenfeld #TrumpPlaybook #PoliticalAnalysis #LincolnProject #RickWilson #TrumpTactics #BreakingNews #USPolitics #Election2026 #Trump2026 #MAGA #PoliticalPodcast #NewsAnalysis #CurrentEvents #TrumpChaos #PoliticalStrategy