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Trump Didn’t Expect or Want to Win the Election
And that’s probably the greatest endorsement I can come up with for why I’m glad he won.
Shortly after 8 p.m. on Election Night, when the unexpected trend — Trump might actually win — seemed confirmed, Don Jr. told a friend that his father, or DJT, as he calls him, looked as if he had seen a ghost. Melania was in tears — and not of joy.
There was, in the space of little more than an hour, in Steve Bannon’s not unamused observation, a befuddled Trump morphing into a disbelieving Trump and then into a horrified Trump.
Several times on different threads I’ve used the Douglas Adams quote about governance:
The major problem—one of the major problems, for there are several—one of the many major problems with governing people is that of whom you get to do it; or rather of who manages to get people to let them do it to them.
To summarize: it is a well-known fact that those people who most want to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it.
To summarize the summary: anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job.
To summarize the summary of the summary: people are a problem.
From that point of view, there’s nothing better than to put someone into office who doesn’t really want to be there, and who hasn’t spent their entire life plotting their climb up the greasy pole.
Published in Politics
Didn’t expect to win . . . I can buy that.
Didn’t want to win . . . not at all sure of that.
Melania, maybe. She had a great gig before the election, so maybe having to hang around DC is a comedown. NYC has much better restaurants.
Right on.
And good! You cited Adams.
He’s mocking Plato, but it’s still one of the best pages of political philosophy out there.
There’s also what Aslan said to Prince Caspian.
From Instapundit:
We’ll be alright as long as he at least works at it, and he seems to be doing so so far.
I read some of the NY Mag piece and couldn’t help but think of Kitty Kelley. Regardless, I like the response here.
Take with large grains of salt. Wolff’s apparently been caught out in two altered or invented quotes already.
(Nonetheless, I agree with the general sentiments. If he didn’t expect to win, he’s at least digging in and making a job of it.)
Trump has been talking about being President since the 80s. He wanted to be President and worked toward that goal for a long time. He might have bought into the Lefts rhetoric that he did not have a chance but I seriously doubt he was horrified by the concept. I suspect he wanted to win for many reasons both personal and professional.
If he didn’t want to win, then why didn’t he resign and hand the job to Pence? I don’t buy it.
Like a Chauncey Gardiner?
Sounds like a fabrication to me. On second thought, malarkey !
With the size of Trumps ego, if the office of god was open. Trump would think he was the only mortal suited for the position. Not a criticism, just a n observation. ;)
I read most of the article. My BS meter rose by the sentence.
But I basically agree with the sentiment in the OP. The difference between Trump and a politician is he had already achieved his dreams, I doubt becoming President was an ego-driven goal for him for very long.
Once in the fray, you bet he wanted to win, but I don’t think he wanted the lifestyle and the duties that come with the office. He had a great life before and there is definitely an element of sacrifice for him vs. an aspirant like Hillary (or Romney) who is nothing without a powerful political office.
And I don’t think someone in his position could have really grasped the scope and depth of what actually becoming President would be. I didn’t look like he really ‘owned’ it until this fall.
Fun quote. A number of times I’ve referenced Imperial Earth by Arthur C. Clarke. It came out in 1976 and was set in 2276. America is still around and celebrating her 500th anniversary of independence. By that time a Constitutional amendment had been passed where the President was chosen by lottery and if you even express interest in the job, your name is withdrawn from the pool of eligible candidates. The next time people start clamoring to do away with the electoral college, I’ll agree and recommend this amendment.
Eh. Could be partly true, could be BS.
Doesn’t matter.
I agree with this and point out the established ‘administrative state’ has made his getting used to the idea much more difficult. After some delay, I think we are seeing good.
I have a well known antipathy to both Trump and Bannon. I am feeling not unlike when Iraq and Iran went to war, hoping that both sides would lose. (I am not trying to be incendiary, but that feels like the perfect analogy.) I have ordered the Wolff book so that I can read it myself and come to my own conclusions. I might write a Book Review about it.
Gary
You’re thinking of MacArthur.
I get what you mean, but that’s an argument for electing Carrot Top, too.
And Carrot Top would also have been better than Mao Momma Pantsuit.
I seriously doubt that Trump views himself as mortal.
There is a fundamental inconsistency between saying Trump never intended to win and saying he conspired with the Russians to win.
Nevertheless some people appear to assert both. This evidences the dishonest mob psychology aspect of Trump’s opponents.
I am reminded of some post-9/11 rallies in the Arab world where one speaker would be met with thunderous applause after saying that 9/11 was perpetrated by Israel; but the next speaker could be met with equal applause after praising bin Laden for the act.
Perhaps in the primaries it was just self promotion and PR, but he likes to win and couldn’t help himself. The point of not seeing political power as the meaning of life? I think so and that is good.
Wait! You mean we didn’t elect Carrot Top??
:-/
Yes, one of the reasons I’ve come to admire Trump is the element of self-sacrifice. He really, really didn’t need the headaches. Beautiful wife, beautiful life. Why bother?
I think we can believe what he’s been saying for decades — if he didn’t like the direction the country was going, he’d (consider a) run for president. Maybe he was motivated by ego — he didn’t want to be The Donald from that loser country. But, I’m convinced, for whatever reason, he sincerely wants what’s best for the country. That goes a long, long way in my book.
People accuse him of being a liar. I think he’s the most transparent president in history. Thanks to Twitter, we always know what he’s thinking.
And, P.S. It doesn’t hurt that he’s self-funded and not beholden to anyone. The ruling class hates that we’ve elected someone from the business class. Hates it. Suddenly I’m a yuge fan of ugly Americans.
What strikes me about Wolff’s book is how dated it already seems. The blurb runs:
Doesn’t this seem so … September?
He has been remarkably consistent.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uI3YxzcEYrM
How does this square with the well-sourced scene the day before the election:
To believe Wolff’s account Trump went from confidence in victory shortly after midnight to complete shock at victory in less than 20 hours.
I’ve always thought DJT modeled his presidency after Zaphod Beeblebrox. When The Donald gets around to stealing the “Heart of Gold” I’ll know I was right.
“One of the major difficulties Trillian experienced in her relationship with Zaphod was learning to distinguish between him pretending to be stupid just to get people off their guard, pretending to be stupid because he couldn’t be bothered to think and wanted someone else to do it for him, ….
I cant remember who said it, but after the Minnesota rally, Trump came out and turned to the aide and said, “Funny? That felt like winning to me?”
All the smart people in his campaign were telling him to write his concession speech during the final weeks. Even though anyone with half a brain watching Real Clear Politics polls could see the momentum going his way.
I certainly predicted it in the final weeks. But I wasn’t in the campaign.
Looking back at that night, he won when Arizona came in. But no one wanted to call it.
From “All men who seek high office are not qualified”, “All men who do not seek high office are qualified” followeth not.
Yeah, I already know Smith beats his wife and Jones is a fentanyl addict…and that I must therefore be saying I want a wife-beater who is a fentanyl addict as President.
I’m not entirely surprised by the premise. I had the same sense throughout the first half of 2016 that Trump wasn’t really “in it to win it,” as they say. But something happened before the convention that made him start taking it all a lot more seriously.