The bully spoke on the phone with Erdoğan, and they give conflicting reports of what the bully said.

Which one is the truth — if either of them? We can't tell, since we can't trust either the bully or Erdoğan about the question.

It may not matter anyway. The range of possible deals they might make that would actually be carried out is rather limited, since Erdoğan can't trust the bully's word any more than you or I can. And his own word can't be trusted much either.