Senate GOP aide complains Trump is relying on ‘C-list talent’ as White House struggles to strike a stimulus deal

Writing for NBC News this Tuesday, Sahil Kapur contends that President Trump's "master negotiator" persona is all just a ruse, as evidenced by the recent breakdown in coronavirus relief talks.

"Not only is the president detached from the nitty-gritty of policy, he has shown a knack for delegating the task of negotiation to hard-liners with a limited grasp of how Democrats think, aides in both parties bemoan," Kapur writes.

Trump will invariably blame Democrats for his failures to secure deals, but Democrats -- and some Republicans -- blame Trump's choices when it comes to the people he surrounds himself with.

"A senior Senate Republican aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity to speak candidly, said the dearth of good negotiators around Trump is 'indicative of the fact that, with a few exceptions, he is dealing with C-list talent in his administration,'" writes Kapur.

Trump will continue to say Democrats are the problem, but the struggle to reach meaningful agreements "spans issues from health care to infrastructure to immigration and challenges the personal brand of a president who once said, 'Deals are my art form,'" writes Kapur.

Read the full op-ed over at NBC News.