After asking whether the Biden administration was giving Russia "cash" - the White House had already answered that question, explaining that Russia would not get money from the agreement - Trump complained that officials from his own country "never make good deals, at anything, but especially hostage swaps."

In case that weren't quite enough, the GOP candidate went on to write, "Our negotiators' are always an embarrassment to us! I got back many hostages, and gave the opposing Country NOTHING. ... "They're calling the trade complex' - That's so nobody can figure out how bad it is!"

For now, let's put aside the fact that when Trump claimed he gave up "nothing" to get Americans back, he was brazenly lying. Instead, let's focus on why the former president's first instinct was to whine about good news for his own country:

*Trump can't claim credit: And if Trump can't plausibly claim credit for good news, then the news, practically by definition, can't be good.

*Trump said this wouldn't happen: The Republican spent months publicly arguing that he, and he alone, would have the wherewithal to bring Gershkovich home. Oops.

*Trump almost certainly couldn't have pulled this off: The lynchpin of the deal was diplomatic work with Germany. When Trump was in office, he tapped a notorious online pest to serve as the U.S. ambassador to Germany, where he managed to routinely infuriate our allies in Berlin. In fact, Trumps ambassador was so reviled that some German officials spoke publicly about the possibility of asking him to leave the country.

*The agreement was the result of alliances that Biden strengthened and Trump intends to weaken: As Biden explained on Thursday, he and his team "rebuilt NATO. We rebuilt the circumstances to allow this to happen. That's why it happened." These are the same alliances, of course, that Trump has been hostile toward for years.

No wonder the GOP nominee isn't happy.

Steve Benen

As all his stirred up racist tropes are spinning in the news cycle while he tries to regain the dominance he usually enjoys, - for good and more so for bad - I really think this election - and likely Congress itself - will come down to something now inescapable: There is zero happiness or joy in Donald Trump that isn't related to how he feels about himself or something he's personally done or about how he dominates or demonizes others. Donald Trump is fully incapable of expressing joy and happiness for others simply because it's the right thing to do when something good happens to them in their lives. If Trump is unable to make the circumstances about himself or his nexus to the circumstances, then he has no use for them whatsoever.

Contrast this with Kamala Harris and Joe Biden. Even at the lowest moment of Joe's political career as he was taking the unprecedented act of stepping away from his presidential run, he was still working world leaders to make this complex hostage deal come to fruition after years of work even though he knew it's success would no longer buoy his own campaign, but it would come to contrast Trump's narcissistic sociopathy that he alone can fix every problem yet some of these hostages were captured during Trump's presidency yet he wasn't able to secure their release.

Yesterday, the families of hostages were with Biden in the Oval, happily celebrating their loved ones release from captivity, sharing their joy with a President whose only wish in that moment was that it could have happened much sooner. Kamala Harris spoke to the relief and happiness permeating all the former hostages and their families now that the wrongly incarcerated were now free and headed back to America. Both Biden and Harris praised everyone involved in this massive endeavor, and most importantly our allies who made it possible.

No, these hostages would not have been returned to a President Trump in the manner they were for President Biden, that much is crystal clear. America's interests are served much better through interactions with other allied nations whom we share interests with and support democratic rule and principles. For Trump, this would have been a non starter, period, for the notions of mutual benefit and sacrifice are completely anathema to his consciousness.

The real story here is that this swap is a substantive reminder that in our world today, no nation standing alone can accomplish much. And this is something Donald Trump will end up on his death bed never realizing. With him, everything is transactional, when in real life, having invested in mutually beneficial human relationships may get you where simple negotiating never will.

But to have meaningful relationships, one must be honest, forthcoming, and willing to see and feel the other person's perspective. You can't try to dominate those you wish to get something from or through. First, any leader must deposit goodwill towards the other person's benefit. Then, you can ask for a withdrawal from this goodwill bank in return for something you want. Biden has spent his adult life building relationships both domestically and internationally, and his experience - and his humanity - caused all the dominoes to line up and fall in favor of those incarcerated in Russia, now freed because of the combined efforts of the Biden Administration.

Of course all Donald can do in this long-awaited moment of triumph is complain. It is the only way for him to interject himself into this story, which is all he cares about anyway, him.

Just as 50% of law school graduates don't do on their first attempt.