This is not an installation by Barbara Kruger | You don't want real estate developers negotiating with Iran...

"I shop therefore I am," Barbara Kruger, 1987.
Manipulating the medium of advertising, Barbara Kruger is a conceptual artist known for her use of words, color, and typefaces to comment on American consumerism and mass market culture.

Below is the headline from a New York Times Magazine, "Jared Kushner, Steve Witkoff and the Profitable Business of Peace," about how Trump uses his son in law and other real estate guys instead of diplomats.  

It's definitely a sign of the rot in the American military being extended to the entire Government ("U.S. Capabilities Are Showing Signs Of Rot," Atlantic).

The irony is it could be one of Kruger's artworks.

I joke that my experience dealing with real estate developers in DC (and here in Salt Lake too), is that they more I did, the more I became an intellectual Marxist poking at the contradictions between capital and community.  Planning the Capitalist City is a worthwhile read.

There are great developers, some who don't do bad things while doing good work, others that do some bad things while doing good work ("Chris Donatelli, a DC real estate developer, dead at 58") and others who are not great at all and their work diminishes the architectural wholeness of a community.

Real Estate Developers are the last people I'd want negotiating with Iran or revitalizing the Gaza Strip or negotiating with Putin.  Steve Witkoff's firm describes itself as half developer, half investor (financier). See "How The Witkoff Group Built South Florida’s New Breed Of Private Clubs," Forbes and "NYC’s top deals: The Witkoff Group sells One High Line condo for $10.5M," The Real Deal.

Still not good enough.

I used to joke that we didn't need to send soldiers to Afghanistan, but people with PhDs in anthropology.  In this case, we need to send diplomats who understand nuance to negotiate with other countries.

Although the "good developers" understand the more they invest upfront in explaining their project to the community, compromising when necessary, hopefully yielding improvements as a result, the faster they are likely to get approvals and permits on the back end.

Dealing isn't just dealing.  

And Trump's Art of the Deal was built on the premise of dealing from a position of strength when the counterparty is weak.  Trump loses his a** when the counterparty is equal or stronger.

So maybe developers who are good at that--and there are very few--have it within them to become "diplomats."  

As another example, I used to refer to one female real estate attorney as the velvet fist--she was so smooth, but didn't give up anything considered crucial to a project.  Etc.