I keep seeing Trump's bond conditions misrepresented as a true 'negotiation' or discussion

[FBaggins]

11. You're misunderstanding the process

The "negotiation" isn't between the defendant and a combined judge/prosecution. The judge is a neutral party weighing the suggestions of both parties. It isn't "their order" as you implied in the OP.

The negotiation is between defense and prosecution prior to coming before the judge. It's common for the judge to ask the prosecutor for recommended bond conditions and then to ask the defense for a response. When both parties have had the negotiation ahead of time, it smooths things out. You can't say "TFG didn't get anything so there must not have been a negotiation". For all we know, the prosecution's initial position was fair and there wasn't anything to negotiate. If they had instead insisted on no bond and immediate pretrial confinement (as many here advocated), it would have looked very different. Maybe all TFG was looking for was timing/"optics" that help him in taking the news cycle back after the RNC debate.

Appeals judges (appeals occurring in an entirely different court proceeding) don't change bond orders unless there's something as serious as a finding of misconduct against the judge.

That's entirely untrue. A gag order that violates a defendant's speech rights could certainly be overturned without any finding of misconduct.