Bluffer-in-Chief D.J. Trump?

 I'm still working my way through Steven Pinker's "The Better Angels of Our Nature," and found this:

A subtype of self-serving bias is "positive illusions," considered a bargaining tactic, or a credible bluff.

"In recruiting an ally to support you in a risky venture, in bargaining for the best deal, or in intimidating an adversary into backing down, you stand to gain if you credibly exaggerate your strengths. Believing your own exaggeration is better than cynically lying about it, because the arms race between lying and lie detection has equipped your audience with the means of seeing through barefaced lies.

"As long as your exaggerations are not laughable, your audience cannot afford to ignore your self-assessment altogether, because you have more information about yourself than anyone else does, and you have a built-in incentive not to distort your assessment too much or you would constantly blunder into disasters.

"On the other hand, no individual can afford to be the only honest one in a community of self-enhancers."

 So, proportionality is vital. If I were a wine-o-phile, I'd pour a glass of Trump-brand wine and read Trump Magazine. Oh, wait, its Web page says it is not affiliated with Donald J. Trump, and the magazine's out of business. Is Donnie Boy running out of real things to brag/bluff about?

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