Leaping off from this post:
Donald Trump Reportedly Plans to Delegate All Domestic and Foreign Power to his VP–Introducing President Mike Pence He first offered the deal to Kasich:
The article was printed on August 5 and is already out of date. Every indication since then is that Trump is making the best effort he can to not screw up. He’s stayed on message for at lest a couple of days and gone back to what worked for him; repeated allegations of weakness in his opponents and simple promises.
He’ll serve if he wins. I agree that he’ll delegate the day to day stuff, especially if (when) he doesn’t get his way, but there’s no way he’ll pass this up entirely.
" He’s stayed on message for at lest [sic] a couple of days…"
Of course. :smack: A couple of days. My bad.
Those couple of days being the weekend.
Trump will not give up pursuing the presidency before the election. He needs attention and appreciation like the rest of us need oxygen. In this race, he’s found the most potent fix of his life, and he’ll never walk away from that willingly. If the unthinkable happens and he is elected, it’s very likely that he’ll try to delegate as much of the actual work as possible. He would only take control for his own pet projects (lining his own pockets, getting himself out of trouble, and pursuing vindictive actions against perceived slights). I only see him resigning if he is prevented from being the lazy figurehead he wants to be.
More likely, I see him getting himself impeached very quickly. His fragile ego can’t even handle the relatively lower scrutiny and abuse of the campaign. There’s no way he can handle the tidal wave of criticism that any POTUS has to deal with every day. The GOP will desperately want him to be officially replaced with Pence, so they’ll be watching him like a hawk for any abuse of power. It wouldn’t surprise me if they’re preparing their impeachment plans now.
Well, it’s an improvement over last weekend, where he got in a fight with a couple of Gold Star parents. A week ago, we were all wondering if Trump could go four hours without adding another unprecedented gaffe to his resume.
When I asked “will he serve?” I didn’t mean “will he accept the office of President.” I mean, “will he FUNCTION as President while carrying the title of President.” <Writing those words makes me shudder.>
I don’t think he’d “function” as president in any way we’re accustomed to. I think he views himself as a figurehead, meant to inspire and/or shame the masses as he sees fit. More like the Queen than the President.
In his imagination, he’d do the ‘heavy lifting’ of “Making America Great Again™” and leave the actual work up to Pence and the rest of the Republicans. Kinda sorda like a CEO who slams his fist on the table and yells, “I didn’t ask you to tell me why we can’t do it!! Just make it happen!”
How I envision the gruesome day-to-day actually playing out is the Congress, Supreme Court, DOJ, Pentagon, etc. will scramble to undo whatever damage he does in both the foreign and domestic arenas with his big mouth. They will be mired hopelessly in ameliorating the constant gaffes and unable to focus on the actual business of government.
Dangerous as hell.
Aspenglow, I think you’ve nailed it.
Presidential service to me has always meant serving the People of The United States of America.
I cannot personally name a single time or event since I’ve first heard his name… let alone since he started his campaign… when Donald J. Trump has Ever served anyone but himself.
That’s such a subjective question, I don’t know how we can answer it. A good President must delegate to other people. I could see (at least in theory) a President who delegated responsibilities to subordinates and spent more time playing golf than at the White House, but who would nevertheless be lauded as an amazingly excellent President for putting the right people in charge to do all the right things.
So Trump’s intended strategy of delegating everything is not inherently an obstacle to functioning as President. In fact, he’s most likely to screw things up where he takes an active role, like the way Pence keeps saying the right things and Trump keeps contradicting him.
Aspenglow has it.
He’ll be the President, but people like Mike Pence and the rest of his cabinet will run the country. George W. Bush relied heavily, very heavily on his cabinet. People like Dick Cheney and Rumsfeld ran the country.
Imagine that kind of thing x100. Trump will have to approve decisions, but his cabinet and other close advisers will run everything.
House Republicans: “We need to do what President Trump wants! He has a MANDATE!”
If nominated, I will run. If elected, I will not serve!
Of course not. That’s what the staff of houseboys is for.
If he’s a figurehead, then he won’t actually DO anything. Isn’t that preferable than the alternative?
If he’s elected, we should be so lucky that he chooses not to serve.
As candidates and mandates for change go, he is a bit of a cliff, isn’t he?
He appears to have a gift for creating a very lot of damage while actually doing very little.
Heh, that’s pretty reflective of his vaunted business record too, isn’t it?
I seriously don’t understand why so many people believe trump doesn’t want to win and/or would be more hands off than any other president. Are you crazy?
Look, I understand you hate all of Trump’s ideas and his temperament, and you think he’d be a terrible president; and sure, I actually agree. But to think he doesn’t want it or he’s too lazy/stupid to focus on details and would delegate the entire foreign and domestic agenda? Seriously? You acknowledge he has a gigantic ego, but then you think his ego would accept that someone else’s judgement is better than his and so he would let someone else call the shots?!?
The guy spent his entire life running his company (it’s irrelevant whether you think he was good at it or not, the point is that was a ton of work for someone who didn’t need to work that hard because he was already rich). If trump was lazy, he would have quit working and become a playboy a long long time ago. Of course he’d serve as president – His ego honestly believes his ideas and amazing and he’s the only man in the world who can save the country.
If trump wins, he’ll try to pass whatever reforms he thinks best, and he may well be terrible at it. But no way in hell would his ego let him delegate the job to someone else.