It may be a legitimate tactic when the book was written, and his opponents weren’t as well studied on him.
The way that Wall Street frames the exact same thing, is T.A.C.O.
I’m unconvinced that this tactic of making big loud statements and demands and then backing down, is very effective anymore for Trump, because everyone sees it now.
Once there was a quite effective President named Theodore Roosevelt who actually had success in winning a Nobel Peace Prize, has his image on Mount Rushmore, actually built and owned the Panama Canal, and successfully asserted dominance in the Western Hemisphere, and his motto was “Talk softly and carry a big stick”. Quite different than “Threaten and bluster and then back down”, and with correspondingly different results as well.