# What is Trump's endgame? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Tags:** trump\ **Created:** [May 12, 2025, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-trumps-endgame/1018296 "2025-05-12T17:12:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2025, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-trumps-endgame/1018296/1 "2025-05-12T17:12:02Z")
I don’t claim to know where Trump is going with this. I’m assuming he’s rational enough to know that pretty much everything he’s doing is illegal, so what is he hoping to accomplish this term. I think there are a few options but I don’t know which (if any) are right. 1. He really is this crazy. 2. He will deport enough Dem voters to create a Pub hegemony for a decade or more. This is with the understanding that Trump thinks aliens, both legal and illegal, are voting illegally for Dems. 3. Some men just want to watch the world burn. 4. He will go down in history as the greatest (according to his skewed definition) President ever. 5. He is really King Theoden of Rohan and there are many Wormtongues around him. 6. He is trolling, but as long as Congress and SCOTUS let him get away with it he’s going to go further. Read President Johnny Somali. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2025, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-trumps-endgame/1018296/2 "2025-05-12T17:14:46Z")
Profit and power, as always. ---
**Author:** ![DaveUnknown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/94ad74/32.png) [@DaveUnknown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaveUnknown)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2025, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-trumps-endgame/1018296/3 "2025-05-12T17:17:01Z")
Implement what his donors/people that got him elected want. Con/grift for money. Revenge over people he feels made him look bad/doesn’t like. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2025, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-trumps-endgame/1018296/4 "2025-05-12T17:18:03Z")
Exactly three things drive him: - He wants to be very very rich - He wants revenge on everyone who’s wronged him (and that includes every single American who voted against him) - He wants to be recognized as amazing and great (and powerful). That’s it. There is nothing else. No plan for an endgame. Just these things and the flattery of whichever fascist toady has spoken to him last ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2025, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-trumps-endgame/1018296/5 "2025-05-12T17:18:50Z")
A malevolent “Chauncey Gardner”. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2025, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-trumps-endgame/1018296/6 "2025-05-12T17:19:21Z")
He’s just nuts. And he has yes-persons propping him up. Another group egging him on. I’m hoping for a mental hospital inmate number after his name. ---
**Author:** ![Frazzled](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frazzled/32/3368_2.png) [@Frazzled](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frazzled)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2025, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-trumps-endgame/1018296/7 "2025-05-12T17:20:47Z")
I don’t think he knows what he’s doing is illegal. What the King does is legal. I think that’s his endgame - to be King. He wants unrestrained power to gain wealth for himself and his family and hurt those who defy him. I truly do not believe that he will leave office willingly (unless one of his children succeeds him) at the end of his term. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2025, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-trumps-endgame/1018296/8 "2025-05-12T17:22:46Z")
> [@griffin1977](#): > > Exactly three things drive him: > > - He wants to be very very rich > - He wants revenge on everyone who’s wronged him (and that includes every single American who voted against him) > - He wants to be recognized as amazing and great. Agreed entirely. Any particular policy his administration is pursuing, which doesn’t seem to directly map to any of these three points, is almost undoubtedly the product of a sycophant advisor who _does_ want to pursue this policy (e.g., tariffs), who has convinced Trump that, by championing that policy, Trump will achieve one or more of his motivations. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2025, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-trumps-endgame/1018296/9 "2025-05-12T17:26:20Z")
Same here. I don’t know why there has to be any deeper strategy than that – he has never shown himself to be a deep thinker or strategist. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2025, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-trumps-endgame/1018296/10 "2025-05-12T17:28:11Z")
> [@griffin1977](#): > > He wants to be recognized as amazing and great (and powerful). He’s Oz and there are multiple men behind the curtain. ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2025, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-trumps-endgame/1018296/11 "2025-05-12T17:29:14Z")
> [@griffin1977](#): > > Exactly three things drive him: > > - He wants to be very very rich > - He wants revenge on everyone who’s wronged him (and that includes every single American who voted against him) > - He wants to be recognized as amazing and great. I think this is pretty close but I don’t think he is as hell bent on revenge as he is simple validation . He was dissed by very important people all over the world who tried to make him irrelevant, This is the worst thing that could happen to a narc. Proof of concept and him being able to say you should have lsitened would satisfy him. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2025, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-trumps-endgame/1018296/12 "2025-05-12T17:32:40Z")
To be able to violate the law without any meaningful objection. To be bowed down to and worshiped as a god and have loyal followers that would unquestioningly follow his orders. ---
**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:** [May 12, 2025, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-trumps-endgame/1018296/13 "2025-05-12T17:33:47Z")
Apart from Trump doing what’s best for Trump, there is the obvious “making America great again”, which translates into the imaginary idealized 1950s economy, where (white) men had good stable factory jobs, women were fulfilled staying at home, minorities knew their place (if they were visible at all), and America had the power to do whatever it wanted to whomever it wanted. As an additional goal he wants to serve the Republican purpose of eliminating income tax and cementing a Republican-controlled unitary executive with a lapdog Senate and Congress. Trump thinks this is the way to make himself admired and powerful. To that end, he’s going to: 1. Replace income taxes with tariffs 2. This will piss off China, which he understands carries a risk of shortage in rare earth metals and semiconductors 3. This is why he’s pursuing annexation of Greenland, a rare earth deal in Ukraine, and control of the Panama Canal. The latter increases US leverage over China, the former items reduce China’s leverage over us 4. Deporting all the immigrants, partly because he hates them, but in his mind, they’re an obstacle to his vision of having a bunch of big burly white manufacturing workers saying “Sir, thank you for creating jobs, sir.” I think this latter point is a big motivator for both Trump and Musk. They both want to be admired by elites, and if they can’t be admired by elites then they want to be admired by whites. America owes its success to the labor of immigrants and diverse workers. Musk’s enterprise is heavily dependent on Indian workers who worship him as a god-king. But both Trump and Musk hate this situation. The adoration an gratitude of Indians and Hispanics means less than nothing to them. They want to be worshipped by white elites, not the immigrant masses. That’s what they’re trying to achieve here. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2025, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-trumps-endgame/1018296/14 "2025-05-12T17:34:54Z")
He is a malevolent junior high thug who, when given the power of a President, doesn’t know the difference a President and a king…and doesn’t really give a shit. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2025, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-trumps-endgame/1018296/15 "2025-05-12T18:09:45Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > He is a malevolent junior high thug who ^^This. He is playing king of the hill and will keep playing until someone bigger knocks him off the hill. Until then you are supposed to be grateful for him controling the mob and letting you just barely get by. Or else you will suffer for not being grateful. ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2025, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-trumps-endgame/1018296/16 "2025-05-12T18:15:29Z")
> [@griffin1977](#): > > Exactly three things drive him: > > - He wants to be very very rich > - He wants revenge on everyone who’s wronged him (and that includes every single American who voted against him) > - He wants to be recognized as amazing and great (and powerful). > > That’s it. There is nothing else. No plan for an endgame. Just these things and the flattery of whichever fascist toady has spoken to him last Largely agree, though based on his ego and historical trends, the second point is subordinate to the third. He’ll absolutely forgive (publicly at least, in private, who knows) though not forget those who were mean to him IF there is sufficient sucking up after the fact. Such sucking up needs to be profuse, _useful_, or provide actual benefits in most cases, and generally is a combination of at least two of the above. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2025, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-trumps-endgame/1018296/17 "2025-05-12T18:16:21Z")
To make a meaningful impact on asylum seeking and on illegal work by immigrants would require, respectively, passing legislation and going after employers. Trump is aggressively avoiding both of those things. To me, that says that the endgame is to make headlines and profit from it while studiously ensuring that his hotels are able to continue hiring illegal workers and that middle-country farms are still getting lots of labor come harvest season. It is largely a very successful facade and taking it at face value is the largest thing preventing his followers from falling out of love with him. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2025, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-trumps-endgame/1018296/18 "2025-05-12T18:16:37Z")
> [@ParallelLines](#): > > He’ll absolutely forgive (publicly at least, in private, who knows) though not forget those who were mean to him IF there is sufficient sucking up after the fact. Agreed. See: Lindsay Graham. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2025, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-trumps-endgame/1018296/19 "2025-05-12T18:47:51Z")
> [@HoneyBadgerDC](#): > > > [@griffin1977](#): > > > > Exactly three things drive him: > > > > - He wants to be very very rich > > - He wants revenge on everyone who’s wronged him (and that includes every single American who voted against him) > > - He wants to be recognized as amazing and great. > > I think this is pretty close but I don’t think he is as hell bent on revenge as he is simple validation . Have said it elsewhere: a good use of a time machine would be to go back to the late 30s to mid 50s and tell the Old Money New York elites to welcome Fred Trump’s family among themselves; then just to be sure go to the mid-70s to mid-80s and tell the NYC Hip-Crowd to do the same for Donald. He has been all along someone who feels he and his have been looked down upon from both sides. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2025, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-trumps-endgame/1018296/20 "2025-05-12T19:43:39Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > > [@ParallelLines](#): > > > > He’ll absolutely forgive (publicly at least, in private, who knows) though not forget those who were mean to him IF there is sufficient sucking up after the fact. > > Agreed. See: Lindsay Graham. and J.D. Vance. And dozens of others. Rubio comes to mind. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-trumps-endgame/1018296.md?page=2)