If we don’t care about ideology, but only competence and the country not going to pot because a candidate is so divisive, then no one is worse than Trump.
If you’re a concerned liberal and are scared of an effective Republican Presidency a la Reagan, then stop worrying about Cruz. He’s too unlikeable and has no executive experience. Smart, but smarts don’t move the federal government. Knowing the levers to push does and Cruz has no freakin’ clue how even the Senate moves, much less the executive branch. LBJ he’s not.
Rubio, at least right now, is an empty suit.
IMO, the guy you’d want to worry most about would be Mike Huckabee. Huck’s very likeable, a very good talker, and has governing experience. He also has some fringe conservative plans like the Fairtax which given his experience and the force of his personality, he’d actually have a chance to get through Congress, at least a Republican one.
There is a serious problem here though. Executive power is such that Presidents can do pretty much whatever they want and the only remedy is impeachment. A President Trump might encourage us to find other means of reining in lawless Presidents, such as recall elections or constitutional amendments more rigidly defining Presidential power. Or Congress should just pass a resolution encouraging the Supreme Court to be more aggressive in litigating legislative/executive disputes, as well as giving the Supreme Court power to order the arrest and imprisonment of Presidents for contempt who disregard court orders.
Look, you don’t have to be a genius to get rich in Manhattan real estate if you are already starting with tens of millions of dollars. For all the gaudy skyscrapers with his name on the front, I don’t think Trump is considered one of the major players in NY real estate. And the Trump company isn’t really known as a hotbed of talent or incubator for future executives who don’t have “Trump” as a last name.
Compared to, say, Mitt Romney who started his career at BCG, was a partner at Bain (which along with McKinsey are considered the most prestigious management consulting firms in the world) and spun off a successful private equity firm Bain Capital.
I don’t know if he’d make a better or worse president, but Romney is certainly a better businessman than Trump IMHO.
The President has huge discretion in foreign policy. He could telephone Putin and make a threat or promise regarding a war. Trump bluster could lead to renewed hostilities in parts of Eastern Europe or a turn for the worse in the Middle East, for example, or even nuclear brinksmanship. Trump wouldn’t have to be acting out of malice to provoke a bad outcome, just stupidity or over-confidence.
Despite this risk, I’d prefer a Trump Presidency over Cruz, who might decimate the entire federal regulatory structure, or over Rubio, who might pursue a Tea Party agenda.