After flashing at some headlines this morning, I want to echo my OP.
Trump is in the catbird seat.
Virtually every headline is about him, whether foreign or domestic. What will he do, what is he thinking, what country will he favor, whose goals will he support? The whole world is hanging on his every word and thought. This is the man who, when asked if he would accept the outcome of the election, said, “I’ll keep you in suspense.”
He had the country on tenterhooks during the election and milked it for all it was worth to feed his narcissistic need. But NOW? That was small town, penny ante stuff. Now the stakes are YUUUGE, and the whole world is courting him, looking at him, taking about him, listening to him. Like a crowd of teenagers waving their arms and screaming at their latest idol. The American Presidency is now a reality TV show (just like his campaign).
Anyone who can’t see the qualitative, substantive difference between him and any other candidate, let alone any other Republican, just isn’t getting it.
Do you have a small apartment where an old widow lady could live with three cats and two dogs. We’re very quiet and tidy. Mostly all we do is read, sleep, and get on the SDMB.
Kinda reminds me of another time. Now when was it? Oh yeah.Obama in 2008. This is no new phenomenon. All incoming Presidents fresh to the office get massive publicity and news coverage, especially if they’re out of the ordinary run of Presidents, as Obama and Trump.
As for Trump I have no real concerns, despite the media depiction of him as an idiot and know-nothing. You don’t make billions of dollars by being stupid.
He is all-forgiving. All you have to do is to give your heart and lay out those things you need to repent in sorrow before him: he can cleanse your soul instantly though your sins are like scarlet.
He’s an attention-loving narcissistic egomaniac, so the OP is correct that having all eyes on him is like a fantasy come true for him.
But like all fantasies, this will turn out to be his worst nightmare, I’m sure of it.
He will be following the most popular and charismatic president we’ve had in quite a while. The comparisons between him and Obama will be unrelenting and never in his favor, except possibly among those who voted for him. And let’s face it, he is intelligent enough to know his supporters are disproportionately stupid. Being validated by stupid people has it limits even when you’re close enough to them to never go without a day of seeing their adoration. But when you spend your days and nights surrounded by people much more knowledgeable and sharper than you–people who see you as the fraud you are–your narcissistic supply is fast depleted. That’s gonna smell trouble for his mental health. His elderly mind will be in constant overdrive, trying to convince his frail ego that he isn’t making himself look like the utter fool that he is.
Today the Greek PM praised Obama in a press conference. It made me proud to see that and then I felt sad. What world leader is going to be doing that for Trump? Trump has to know he will be walking onto the international stage with zero friends. Not even can he count on Putin to pump him up in public because that’s not how Putin rolls. Any respect Trump gets will be because of his position, not because of who he is. How will he handle the chilly receptions coming his way? And to think it will all be caught on camera for all his opponents to see. I mean, it’s not like he can go to Japan and come back with a convincing tale about how he and the president went golfing together like good buddies. We will know when he’s snubbed and shunned. The press is already primed to tell us all about it.
It’s likely already dawning on Trump that he will be Kit to Obama’s Dottie. People might pat him on the head when he manages to speak a coherent thought, but he’ll know everyone will be silently comparing him to the black guy who came before him and finding him severely lacking. It was one thing to sell people on the idea that his rich while male identity would make him inherently superior tothis Muslim, Kenyan-born nigger interloper, but now that’s he’s been elected he has to put his money where his mouth is. If he goes down as the worst president in modern day history, that will be his legacy forever. Not as the successful real estate tycoon who made it big in entertainment and dabbled in national politics on a lark. But as the most deplorable president the country has ever seen.
Talk about pressure. It so sucks to be him right now.
I feel sorry for Melania. Her body and soul belong to Donald. She is his Stepford Wife puppet. She probably did not start out that way, but it’s likely she feels she “owes” him everything. Yeah, she is rich beyond the wildest dreams of her childhood. Not to mention they do have a son and that binds her to him. That poor kid. He may be rich (on paper) in money, but he’s poor in all the things that matter. I guess eventually he’ll morph into his older brothers.
One thing I find striking is that Trump does not appear to have any “retainers who’ve long been on his payroll”. He truly has no inner circle, apart from his kids, who by the nature of their familial relationship are sycophants who idolize him (I don’t count Jared Kushner, who is merely a conduit to Ivanka; if he could put her on the payroll, I bet he would).
In his past, his father or Roy Cohn might have filled the close confidant role, but now he’s left rewarding those whose loyalty only extends back to this election. Trump doesn’t seem to have any friends. And that means his staff will be loyal only so long as he is useful to them (and vice versa, naturally).
Odd then that he looks so pleased with himself. Of course it doesn’t suck to be him, that’s not just clutching at a straw that’s clutching at thin air where you desperately hope there might be a straw. If you think it sucks to become a President with the power to choose federal and SCOTUS judges, with the ability to translate your thoughts for the future of America into reality, with both Houses of Congress controlled by your party and with the world media transfixed by your every action then you have a bizarre definition of sucks or you don’t know Donald Trump at all. He just woke up to find it’s Christmas every day.
a big head scratcher for me is how Republicans, who continually espouse that they are the MORAL party, the FAMILY VALUES party, now have a president who has been divorced twice, with a first lady who posed nude in a lesbian photo shoot.
And they are just fine with this. In fact, some Republicans even NOW refer to Michelle Obama as an “ape in heels”, while saying that the third wife porn model will be “a classy, beautiful, dignified first lady”. Seriously. This is what the “family values” voter thinks.
As someone pointed out weeks ago – Imagine if Obama had shown up at the 2008 Democratic convention with his third wife who had posed for porn, along with children from three different wives. Just stop for a second and imagine that…
It makes me not understand Republican voters at all. Not one little bit.
Oh I’m sure he’s pleased with himself. Now. How long do you think that’s going to last? He’s not even president yet. Being president is psychologically grueling for even mentally healthy people, and Trump’s temperament alone shows he isn’t that.
Like I said, rarely does a fulfilled fantasy turn out to be anything except horrible. Trump will be like 9 out of 10 guys who have always dreamed of seeing his wife gang banged. When the dream actually comes true, he will be off somewhere in the corner crying and losing his mind.