# I Predict Trump Would Resign. **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [July 16, 2016, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-predict-trump-would-resign/760050 "2016-07-16T16:05:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2016, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-predict-trump-would-resign/760050/21 "2016-07-17T14:32:59Z")
He’s come too far to resign, unless he finds himself in a position like Sarah Palin where he feels like he can no longer tolerate the press. He might try to bend the Constitution first, but there would be pressure on him from both parties to resign if he tried it, and with an established conservative set to take the helm this is probably one time they’d be okay with their guy being forced out of power. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2016, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-predict-trump-would-resign/760050/22 "2016-07-17T14:44:47Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > He’s come too far to resign I figure a man in his seventies can cough and say ‘medical reasons’. ---
**Author:** ![coremelt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@coremelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coremelt)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2016, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-predict-trump-would-resign/760050/23 "2016-07-17T14:54:50Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > So, he strikes you as the kind of guy that gives up power once having attained it? It’s not the sort of power he’s used to. He can fire anyone in the Trump organisation at will or at least banish them to some extremely unpleasant dead end position, and he can assign spending budgets for the organisation as he wishes. As President he can boss around and fire his white house staff, but thats it. He can’t fire any elected politician, he can’t order congress to pass legislation he wants, not even his own party (well he can but they can ignore it). In theory he can command the US armed forces to do whatever he wants, but again congress controls the budgets. Trump is not going to win, but if he did by some ill omened alignment of the stars, then I think he’d resign after six months, blaming congress and those damn activist judges for not cooperating with his ideas. ---
**Author:** ![computergeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e56c9b/32.png) [@computergeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/computergeek)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2016, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-predict-trump-would-resign/760050/24 "2016-07-17T15:05:25Z")
> [@coremelt](#): > > It’s not the sort of power he’s used to. He can fire anyone in the Trump organisation at will or at least banish them to some extremely unpleasant dead end position, and he can assign spending budgets for the organisation as he wishes. As President he can boss around and fire his white house staff, but thats it. He can’t fire any elected politician, he can’t order congress to pass legislation he wants, not even his own party (well he can but they can ignore it). In theory he can command the US armed forces to do whatever he wants, but again congress controls the budgets. > > Trump is not going to win, but if he did by some ill omened alignment of the stars, then I think he’d resign after six months, blaming congress and those damn activist judges for not cooperating with his ideas. He can fire members of his Cabinet can’t he? As I said in the vice-prez thread, Trump can let Pence and the right wing do most of the work while he just plays the part of President. However, I can’t see Trump wanting to just sit back and let others control things. He’ll have the power and be able to control things and I don’t see him wanting to walk away from that. Of course, he’ll create complete chaos but he’ll think he’s doing great. I could see him only doing one term though, especially if he gets a lot of criticism ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2016, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-predict-trump-would-resign/760050/25 "2016-07-17T15:23:18Z")
> [@computergeek](#): > > He can fire members of his Cabinet can’t he? > > As I said in the vice-prez thread, Trump can let Pence and the right wing do most of the work while he just plays the part of President. However, I can’t see Trump wanting to just sit back and let others control things. He’ll have the power and be able to control things and I don’t see him wanting to walk away from that. Of course, he’ll create complete chaos but he’ll think he’s doing great. I could see him only doing one term though, especially if he gets a lot of criticism What worries me, besides his power to deploy things like [“operation wetback” II](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/09/30/donald-trumps-humane-1950s-model-for-deportation-operation-wetback-was-anything-but/) and start trade wars or just plain wars, is that Trump already showed with [Brexit and the Scotland fiasco](http://www.democracynow.org/2016/6/27/trump_hails_brexit_vote_when_the) that he **will not care** if the economy goes to pot during his watch. Because he will be ready for that. Not to the benefit of most people, but for his benefit. The most scary thing is that he is one of the few guys I can think that can benefit from the chaos he will make. He has had decades of experience of benefiting from the misfortune of people that got into business with him when the business goes south. And I would not be surprised that he will move things to benefit his wealthy family, even if many others will be negatively affected. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2016, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-predict-trump-would-resign/760050/26 "2016-07-17T15:35:29Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > If not the “distant third,” do you figure that means a Clinton-vs-Pence election? Not necessarily. The RNC would hold a special convention to choose the alternate. If it’s early enough, they can change the ticket before the election. Otherwise it would be an abandoned Trump/Pence ticket. If that ticket won, then they’d need a special convention to choose their president-elect. At least that’s my understanding. I didn’t come up with this theory, you can step through a much better explanation here: [Trump won’t lose, so he’ll have to quit.](http://thebaffler.com/blog/trump-wont-lose-rees) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2016, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-predict-trump-would-resign/760050/27 "2016-07-17T15:39:05Z")
> [@HMS\_Irruncible](#): > > Not necessarily. The RNC would hold a special convention to choose the alternate. If it’s early enough, they can change the ticket before the election. Otherwise it would be an abandoned Trump/Pence ticket. If that ticket won, then they’d need a special convention to choose their president-elect. At least that’s my understanding. > > I didn’t come up with this theory, you can step through a much better explanation here: > [Trump won’t lose, so he’ll have to quit.](http://thebaffler.com/blog/trump-wont-lose-rees) That does make a forceful argument for Trump dropping out by – July 5th. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2016, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-predict-trump-would-resign/760050/28 "2016-07-17T15:44:27Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > What worries me, besides his power to deploy things like [“operation wetback” II](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/09/30/donald-trumps-humane-1950s-model-for-deportation-operation-wetback-was-anything-but/) and start trade wars or just plain wars, is that Trump already showed with [Brexit and the Scotland fiasco](http://www.democracynow.org/2016/6/27/trump_hails_brexit_vote_when_the) that he **will not care** if the economy goes to pot during his watch. Because he will be ready for that. **Not to the benefit of most people, but for his benefit.** The most scary thing is that he is one of the few guys I can think that can benefit from the chaos he will make. Remember his [gloating](http://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-gloats-after-massive-macys-jobs-cut-2016-1) over Macy’s layoffs? > [@](#): > > According to The New York Times, Macy’s said it would eliminate 4,500 jobs, or 3% of its workforce, after disappointing holiday-season sales. > > Trump, the Republican presidential front-runner, declared on Twitter that the company’s cratering stock was “another win for Trump!” > > He also repeated a call for his supporters to boycott the “very disloyal” department store: Trump’s tweet. > [@](#): > > @Macys was one of the worst performing stocks on the S&P last year, plunging 46%. Very disloyal company. Another win for Trump! Boycott. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2016, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-predict-trump-would-resign/760050/29 "2016-07-17T16:15:52Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > That does make a forceful argument for Trump dropping out by – July 5th. Whichever date you choose, the overarching point is the same… Trump will not allow himself to be beaten, especially by a woman. But, he does go onto say that if July 5th doesn’t happen, then here’s the next likeliest scenario: > [@](#): > > However, if Trump actually stays in the race through the convention, my back-up prediction is that he’ll quit the morning after his first debate with Clinton. That claim is a bit specific for my tastes… I’ll say it will coincide with portent of his irreversible decline, whether that be a humiliating debate or plunging poll numbers. Either that or the solidification of his personal Plan B, some spectacular side venture. But if he says in, he’s destined to lose, and he’ll quit as soon as he realizes it’s inevitable. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2016, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-predict-trump-would-resign/760050/30 "2016-07-17T16:18:18Z")
Trump won’t quit. That would make him a _loser_. If he stays in and loses, he can blame anyone and everyone other than himself for being “unfair”, “haters”, “crooked”, “rigged”, etc. If he quits on his own, he has no one but himself to blame. ---
**Author:** ![coremelt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@coremelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coremelt)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2016, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-predict-trump-would-resign/760050/31 "2016-07-17T16:25:28Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Trump won’t quit. That would make him a _loser_. > If he quits on his own, he has no one but himself to blame. You under estimate the ability of an egotistical narcissist to twist everything to their own perception. He just has to declare some arbitrary goal, say he’s already met it and that his job is done. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Krupe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ebca7d/32.png) [@Leo\_Krupe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Krupe)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2016, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-predict-trump-would-resign/760050/32 "2016-07-17T16:31:05Z")
There’s another issue to think about: let’s say he wins, then resigns. What are the long-term effects on the populace? They already don’t trust anyone running for office, do you think they’d vote for anyone again? It’d be the ultimate Charley Brown/football scenario. I see nothing good at all from a Trump presidency, either if he stays on or resigns. And I’m reminded again that everything old is new again: > [@Groucho from Duck Soup](#): > > The last man nearly ruined this place > He didn’t know what to do with it > If you think this country’s bad off now, > Just wait 'til I get through with it ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2016, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-predict-trump-would-resign/760050/33 "2016-07-17T16:51:08Z")
I wouldn’t guarantee it, but I’ve been saying all along I think there is a good chance he will quit. He’s already gotten all the fame he needs, and I doubt his rolodex is lacking in entries. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2016, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-predict-trump-would-resign/760050/34 "2016-07-17T17:47:57Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > I think it may be Trump’s plan to win the election, and then resign and turn it over to the VP. He has chosen as a running mate a person who is arguably a qualified and credible candidate for the presidency. Trump wants the puffery of being a king-maker, and would get sworn in, and fairly quickly turn over the White House to a conservative Republican that he would trust, rather than to have to show up for work every morning for the routine drudgery of the Oval Office. If could be sure he would do that, I’d vote for him. I’d even be OK with his staying 35 days, just to make sure he wasn’t the record-holder for shortest term. But not 36. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2016, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-predict-trump-would-resign/760050/35 "2016-07-17T17:51:50Z")
> [@Locrian](#): > > But when he sees a daily agenda that amounts to attending a civil rights meeting, greeting a Chinese ambassador, then traveling to the Middle East on a peace mission-- no way in hell will he want the job. . . . As president, he doesn’t have to do those things. He could choose to just stay in bed all day tweeting his proclamations. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2016, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-predict-trump-would-resign/760050/36 "2016-07-17T17:57:10Z")
Do any of you really want Pence to be President? Even for a day? ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2016, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-predict-trump-would-resign/760050/37 "2016-07-17T18:00:52Z")
> [@guizot](#): > > As president, he doesn’t have to do those things. He could choose to just stay in bed all day tweeting his proclamations. “Russia launching nukes at me. Very unfair. Sad!” ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2016, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-predict-trump-would-resign/760050/38 "2016-07-17T18:28:26Z")
Not much different from signing legislation that would outlaw Russia forever, really. ---
**Author:** ![Blue\_Max](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9de053/32.png) [@Blue\_Max](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blue_Max)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2016, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-predict-trump-would-resign/760050/39 "2016-07-17T18:45:54Z")
There’s one precedent for Presidential Resignation–Richard Nixon. Facing Impeachment, having already lost his Vice President and clearly losing on the basis of executive privilege not giving him carte blanche to screw around with henchmen and things like the Saturday Night Massacre, Nixon of course resigned after it became obvious that he would not survive the vote. A Trump Administration will not be a Trump Campaign. People will be as (or more) concerned by the actions of the government as opposed to what Trump says. Most chief executives rule their companies like a Monarchy; Trump seems more like a Pope–he’s the banner and he’s the focus, but he delegates most of the day to day operations to people he trusts and its pretty easy for those trusted people to screw him after winning his trust. The potential for abuse of powers is obvious. Presidents Grant and Harding were both badly damaged by trusting the wrong people, and George W. Bush seems to have made similar mistakes. And its obvious as well that Trump doesn’t really understand the fine workings of government. Policy blunders, Personnel Blunders, Economic or Geopolitical Crises will all do damage to his approval, and Trump may have the weakest support from their own party a President Nominee has had for many decades. I can’t believe Trump would resign on his own. I can’t believe Trump wouldn’t be a terrible disaster in a dozen plus different ways and actually survive politically for four years in the Oval Office. What happens when President Trump’s approval rating is at 10% and conservatives throw in the rest of the USA to demand he step down? Or even face a Nixonian choice of resigning, keeping his Presidential Pension versus facing criminal charges? I can very plausibly see Trump wind up in that sort of terrible position. And he’d never frame it as a personal defeat. But it very much would be, and I think he’d refuse to do it as much as possible. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2016, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-predict-trump-would-resign/760050/40 "2016-07-17T19:38:28Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > \*\* I Predict Trump Would Resign.\*\* I predict that if you hit the warhead on a Minuteman-III with a sledge hammer just once, it probably wouldn’t go off. Still, lets not find out, shall we? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-predict-trump-would-resign/760050.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-predict-trump-would-resign/760050.md?page=3)