# IF Trump Gets Elected... What Happens When He Can't Deliver? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [March 7, 2016, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-trump-gets-elected-what-happens-when-he-cant-deliver/748201 "2016-03-07T14:08:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![spifflog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@spifflog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spifflog)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2016, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-trump-gets-elected-what-happens-when-he-cant-deliver/748201/41 "2016-03-07T19:28:25Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > Wrong again, the Republicans I’m talking about are just about 38% of them. And the reality is that once the contest goes to the general election many more republicans will become enablers of that 38% > Thank god for that. And you are wrong again. Your overwhelming evidence has sure convinced me :dubious: ---
**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:** [March 7, 2016, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-trump-gets-elected-what-happens-when-he-cant-deliver/748201/42 "2016-03-07T19:28:57Z")
> [@Richard\_Parker](#): > > The ways in which it is not fun are largely self-imposed. He can remain president and spend all his time golfing, if he wants. If he shirks his duties, he could face impeachment and removal from office. That might be the best way for the GOP to get someone in there they want, if Trump picks almost anyone more mainstream for his VP. > [@even\_sven](#): > > I think the difference is that behind most politicians promises is the implicit understanding that they have to work within the political system. They have a political agenda, but everyone knows they are limited by Congress and the system of trade offs that are our political reality. > > Trump is billing himself as not being a part of that system. He’s sold himself as a master deal-maker who can impose his will without concern for the trade-offs every other politician makes. So I do think people will want to see some evidence that being an outsider works. Not really. He’s sold himself as someone who can make deals with the Democrats. But then, he’s sold himself as so many different things, who knows what people expect. But have you seen your typical Trump supporter? I have a hard time imagining any of them manning the barricades during the “revolt”. _Apres moi, rien._ ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2016, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-trump-gets-elected-what-happens-when-he-cant-deliver/748201/43 "2016-03-07T19:29:06Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > I think the related-but-more-important question is: who is the **Dick Cheney** in all this? If The Donald is a character/figurehead, what Power Player will know how to work the Bureaucracy, offer to do so in support of Trump, but really exert power? The Donald isn’t a puppet, though. The difference between Trump and George W. Bush is that Bush had Dick Cheney’s hand up his ass eighty percent of the time. Trump would never in ten billion jillion years take marching orders from anyone on anything. His Vice President will dance to Trump’s tune, by Christ. Trump is like George Steinbrenner; as pfar as he is concerned, if he pays you, he _owns_ you. ---
**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:** [March 7, 2016, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-trump-gets-elected-what-happens-when-he-cant-deliver/748201/44 "2016-03-07T19:55:10Z")
> [@spifflog](#): > > Your overwhelming evidence has sure convinced me :dubious: Why? With evidence like the one coming from Chris Christie why you should doubt it? ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2016, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-trump-gets-elected-what-happens-when-he-cant-deliver/748201/45 "2016-03-07T19:55:21Z")
> [@spifflog](#): > > Yet another thread slanted to make one party look worse than the other. You know the OP of this thread is a Republican, right? ---
**Author:** ![Philliam](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/philliam/32/3011_2.png) [@Philliam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philliam)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2016, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-trump-gets-elected-what-happens-when-he-cant-deliver/748201/46 "2016-03-07T20:22:32Z")
It’s even more scary to imagine the Cabinet ‘members’ he might select. Let’s see, Palin for Secretary of State based on her geographic acumen, maybe Joe Arpaio for Homeland Security, then … [sorry, head finally exploded]. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2016, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-trump-gets-elected-what-happens-when-he-cant-deliver/748201/47 "2016-03-07T20:25:40Z")
Pearl Clutching Provocateur: > [@](#): > > Rather than fix Mexico, it’s easier to lash out at its critics. They need their own Donald Trump or better yet Reagan. Mantequilla! ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2016, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-trump-gets-elected-what-happens-when-he-cant-deliver/748201/48 "2016-03-07T21:12:29Z")
Chris Christie wins in 2020 as the incumbent. ---
**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:** [March 7, 2016, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-trump-gets-elected-what-happens-when-he-cant-deliver/748201/49 "2016-03-07T22:17:48Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > The thing is, though, Presidential candidates typically have records of policy positions and political allegiances, as well as some detail in policy proposals, that allow informed voters to estimate how realistically feasible their promises are. Nobody expects that a President will enact **all** their campaign promises. > > In Trump’s case, though, he’s offering **nothing** realistic. That’s the whole point. His entire campaign is built on wallowing in delusion about way-out fantasies like a border wall, mass deportations, ethnic cleansing of Muslims, forcing corporations to restore millions of US manufacturing jobs, etc. He’s popular precisely **because** he’s being massively unrealistic and assuring his followers that his billionaire businessman wizardry will somehow make it all possible. > > That’s a different level of blowing smoke from the ordinary politician’s campaign promises. It’s not unreasonable to wonder what would happen once that mindset finally collided with reality. I think you’re projecting too much intelligence onto Trump supporters. They’re not listening to what he says, they’re listening to how he says it. He projects confidence and success, and people eat it up. They think he’s saying what all the other pols are afraid to say because of Political Correctness. His campaign ins’t about policy, it’s about… TRUMP! ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2016, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-trump-gets-elected-what-happens-when-he-cant-deliver/748201/50 "2016-03-07T23:45:56Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > The same thing that happened when all the other presidents were elected and couldn’t deliver. Eh. His supporters will be similar - pointing out, correctly, that no president ever manages to do everything they promise. His detractors, though… There’s going to be a lot more ‘oh, thank Christ the law/congress prevented him from doing that shit’. ---
**Author:** ![slash2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@slash2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slash2k)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2016, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-trump-gets-elected-what-happens-when-he-cant-deliver/748201/51 "2016-03-07T23:55:11Z")
> [@DrCube](#): > > No president has ever delivered on all their promises. Not sure why you think this election year is different. Note: not picking on DrCube particularly; this is just one of several very similar comments in the thread. No president has ever delivered on ALL of their promises, but most of them can at least point to some notable accomplishments. Obama, e.g., hasn’t closed Gitmo yet, and certainly didn’t in the first year of his presidency, but he can point to the ACA as his signature achievement, and has fulfilled at least some of campaign promises (e.g., the credit card bill of rights, more spending on NASA, the stimulus, etc.). With Trump, however, is he going to be able to point to ANY promise fulfilled? His big promises such as the wall along the southern border and “no Muslims allowed” aren’t going to be achievable, so what will be the item(s) he can point to and say, “See, this is a promise I fulfilled”? or is it going to matter to his base as long as he keeps up the appearances and the brash talking? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2016, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-trump-gets-elected-what-happens-when-he-cant-deliver/748201/52 "2016-03-08T00:01:58Z")
> [@spifflog](#): > > Yet another thread slanted to make one party look worse than the other. If the Republican front-runner was Donald Trump and the Democratic front-runner was Al Sharpton, you’d have a legitimate point. But one party is nominating a legitimate candidate and the other party is nominating a blustering idiot who isn’t aware of his own inadequacies. It’s not this thread or any posters on this board that are making the Republicans look worse than the Democrats; it’s the Republican candidates who are doing that. ---
**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:** [March 8, 2016, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-trump-gets-elected-what-happens-when-he-cant-deliver/748201/53 "2016-03-08T00:02:40Z")
They like hearing him bloviate. Plus, as noted, he’s a marketing guy. A very good one. He’ll market himself as having “restored respect for America” around the world or some such nonsense if he has to. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2016, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-trump-gets-elected-what-happens-when-he-cant-deliver/748201/54 "2016-03-08T01:07:59Z")
By then America will be too great to care, I assume. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2016, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-trump-gets-elected-what-happens-when-he-cant-deliver/748201/55 "2016-03-08T01:36:41Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > It’s not this thread or any posters on this board that are making the Republicans look worse than the Democrats; it’s the Republican candidates who are doing that. I’d say no, it’s the Republican voter base that’s done that, over too many years of supporting nihilist blowhard oppositionist racist reactionaries. They bought the electability argument in nominating McCain and Romney, sure, but that approach proved not to work, and it’s why the relatively-sane candidates are eating dust this time. The candidates you blame are merely reflecting the voter base they’re tailoring their messages to. ---
**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:** [March 8, 2016, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-trump-gets-elected-what-happens-when-he-cant-deliver/748201/56 "2016-03-08T03:13:40Z")
I’d really like to hear form someone who thinks it’s going to matter if Trump is elected and can’t deliver. Can you map out what types of things are going to happen? Some of you are claiming that this will be different from earlier times when presidents didn’t deliver. So, tell us what America will look like in 2020 when Trump hasn’t deported all the Mexicans and hasn’t locked up all the Muslims and hasn’t brought back all the iPhone jobs. I’m really curious. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2016, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-trump-gets-elected-what-happens-when-he-cant-deliver/748201/57 "2016-03-08T03:41:43Z")
Well, I admit to already being somewhat astonished that Trump made it to Super Tuesday. I suppose I can admit the possibility that I’ll be astonished if he gets elected and turns out to be a competent president, i.e. I’ll be surprised but can’t say it’s impossible. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2016, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-trump-gets-elected-what-happens-when-he-cant-deliver/748201/58 "2016-03-08T03:44:20Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > I’d really like to hear form someone who thinks it’s going to matter if Trump is elected and can’t deliver. Can you map out what types of things are going to happen? Some of you are claiming that this will be different from earlier times when presidents didn’t deliver. So, tell us what America will look like in 2020 when Trump hasn’t deported all the Mexicans and hasn’t locked up all the Muslims and hasn’t brought back all the iPhone jobs. I’m really curious. I’d second this. Do Trump’s supporters expect him to deliver? I seriously doubt that many of them do. Much of his support is simply people expressing their frustration with politics and politicians, and they acheive what they want to acheive simply by voting for him. The major promises he makes are plainly incredible, and just because people are angry or alienated enough to vote for Trump doesn’t mean that they are too stupid to see this. On the contrary, they don’t care about this. I would say there would be less blowback for Trump failing to deliver that there would be for more conventional politicians. Trump isn’t going to deliver, and isn’t expected to; that’s part of the compact between him and his voters. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2016, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-trump-gets-elected-what-happens-when-he-cant-deliver/748201/59 "2016-03-08T03:50:56Z")
“Live the fantasy… Trump Number Five…” _It smells real good! It’s gotta, to earn the Trump name!_ ---
**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:** [March 8, 2016, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-trump-gets-elected-what-happens-when-he-cant-deliver/748201/60 "2016-03-08T04:05:12Z")
I would say that the main reason Obama won the nomination (and the election in 2008) was his anti-war stance. He was going to end the wars. But we’re escalating war instead. What are all the “high information voters” who voted for Obama doing? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-trump-gets-elected-what-happens-when-he-cant-deliver/748201.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-trump-gets-elected-what-happens-when-he-cant-deliver/748201.md?page=4)