Trump, Ego, and the Presidency
It was only a week or so ago that I made (with the help of the estimable Ben Ziegler) a short video entitled What Do We Do About The Donald? (also here). It was intended to be a goof, riffing on Trump’s supposed presidential ambitions and suggesting a better use of his abilities, i.e. to take over the United Nations, turning that useless institution into the “Trump UN,” a potentially hugely successful, if admittedly vulgar, luxury hotel.
Little did I know that Trump is yet more serious about his presidential aims to the extent that the TV personality/real estate tycoon has already bolted the Republican Party. From ABC’s The Note:
Trump took another step in that direction on Thursday, switching his party affiliation from Republican to “unaffiliated,” according to a source close to the reality television star.
According to the source, he did so because he is “disgusted” with the way Republicans are handling matters in Washington, including the recent payroll tax cut deal. But the move also sets Trump up for a potential third-party run for president — a possibility he began talking about almost as soon as he told his fans in May he wasn’t running.
The smart money is betting this is no more than another publicity stunt to keep The Donald in the public eye and forever a fixture on the Greta Show. And that’s probably right and for that reason this column plus my video are just more grist for Trump’s mill. (I’m waiting for my check.)
Still, the smart money is often wrong. And Trump’s ego is, as I noted in the video, the size of Brooklyn. He may really run.
Which leads me to my main subject, the role of egotism in politics. It is one of the perils of democracy, especially a modern one in a giant country like ours. Who but an egomaniac would have the desire and the sense of entitlement to think he or she should lead the United States of America?
In this election season, we are in the midst of a festival of egomania. Some candidates hide it better than others, but it is always there.
– that he more of a threat to the POTUS than the eventual GOP nominee, the press-media complex will dig and destroy him too.
Consider this please!
What network broadcasts Mr. Trump’s TV show? NBC
Who owns NBC? General Electric aka GE
Who’s GE in bed with? OBAMA!
Perhaps The Donald is a Trojan horse, a spoiler Ala Ross Perot.
“Great is truth – mightiest of all things.” Yet it does not always prevail. Part of our fascination with the Donald is that he is so outrageously self-confident that it is almost ridiculous – and yet he conveys the truth. We feel that his is not just rhetoric, but that he would actually boldly tackle the problems he defines, maybe accomplish much. He has a record of accomplishment. We believe that he is neither a deceiver nor a self deceiver. When the UN was planning to build, with an estimate of about a billion dollars, Trump approached them with an offer to do the whole job – and do it well – for 300 million and was spurned. I feel assured that he could have indeed delivered on his promise.
\Deceit is the vilest of all thing, and Obama is its embodiment. Deceit combined with incompetence is the desstroyer of all things.
Like all honest leaders, Trump builds a trustworthy team. He might talk about a third party, but he is too savvy to fully pursue that course and would wind up running as the GOP candidate, on his terms. An interesting and, I believe, plausible scenario.
uh, Perry? Honest, painfully honest.
Trump is a brash egomaniac who is actually a flip flopping liberal who plays the conservative when it suits him. He is also a sleazy con artist and the fact that anyone gives him serious consideration shows how much our society has been harmed by the feel good liberal education establishment which has created a citizenry of nothing but mindless bott drones.
My hope is that Trump is doing a “Palin.” Late last summer Palin did a bus tour threatening to jump in the race, but the purpose seemed to be only to keep her in the public eye. Trump, however, may be a bit different. If, as part of his big ego, is a belief that he can be a “savior,” then the GOP is in trouble because he may run as a third party candidate. On the other hand Trump may be anticipating a brokered convention thus staying in the public eye makes sense. I personally wish he would stick to real estate. I think he would be a frightening president with weird hair.
Trump voted for and financially supported Obama in the last election, therefore Trump is a Dem in GOP clothing, hoping to get Obama reelected.
Yes. In any presidential election with an incumbent, there is the pro-incumbent vote and the anti-incumbent vote. If you are leaning for the incumbent against the anti-incumbent, it is very doubtful you’ll throw your vote away on a third party candidate.
Whether it is an issue of truth, monumental ego, personal interest or whatever else might “motivate” individuals to seek the office of POTUS, you reinforce a long and deeply held conviction of mine. Whoever is selected for this office, by whatever mechanism, should every four years need to be dragged kicking and screaming into the White House. Wanting the job or, even worse, thinking one has the actual capability to do it should be an immediate disqualification.
Expat,
Good point. Although it would be a physical feat, maybe a brokered convention would result in dragging in Chris Christie.
Trump and his popularity are exactly what is wrong with Celebrity obsessed America.
The math behind America*s fall; Republicans/42%,The Independent/12%,Democrats/46%.
Time for some conspiracy theory be bandied about. My take is that the D’s believe they have ownership of the Executive branch. They are not going to enter blindly into the next election. They have been buying off their constituency for too long and have no intention of relinquishing control. They will lie, cheat, hoist HRC as the veep and fund a 3rd party run from somewhere to maintain their control. The R’s don’t have a chance to save the country in their current state of disarray. Time to break out some serious battle gear.
” ZERUBBABEL
The successor to Daniel in the service of the king, Zerubbabel, enjoyed equally as much royal consideration and affection. He occupied a higher position than all the other servants and officials, and he and two others constituted the body-guard of the king. Once when the king lay wrapped in deep slumber, his guards resolved to write down what each of them considered the mightiest thing in the world, and he who wrote the sagest saying should be given rich presents and rewards by the king. What they wrote they laid under the pillow on which the head of the king rested, that he might not delay to make a decision after he awoke. The first one wrote: “Wine is the mightiest thing there is”; the second wrote: “The king is the mightiest on earth,” and the third, Zerubbabel, wrote: “Women are the mightiest in the world, but truth prevails over all else.” When the king awoke, and he perused the document, he summoned the grandees of his realm and the three youths as well. Each of the three was called upon to justify his saying. In eloquent words the first described the potency of wine. When it takes possession of the senses of a man, he forgets grief and sorrow. Still more beautiful and convincing were the words of the second speaker, when his turn came to establish the truth of his saying, that the king was the mightiest on earth. Finally Zerubbabel depicted in glowing words the power of woman, who rules even over kings. “But,” he continued, “truth is supreme over all; the whole earth asks for truth, the heavens sing the praises of truth, all creation quakes and trembles before truth, naught of wrong can be found in truth. Unto truth belongeth the might, the dominion, the power, and the glory of all times. Blessed be the God of truth.” When Zerubbabel ceased from speaking, the assembly broke out into the words: “Great is truth, it is mightier than all else!” The king was so charmed with the wisdom of Zerubbabel that he said to him: “Ask for aught thou wishest, it shall be granted thee.” Zerubbabel required nothing for himself, he only sought permission of the king to restore Jerusalem, rebuild the sanctuary, and return the holy Temple vessels to the place whence they had been carried off. Not only did Darius grant what Zerubbabel wished for, not only did he give him letters of safe-conduct, but he also conferred numerous privileges upon the Jews who accompanied Zerubbabel to Palestine, and he sent abundant presents to the Temple and its officers.”
The Legends of The Jews
Louis Ginzberg , 1909
It’s not the Talmud, it’s in the Apocrypha, Esdra 1, ch. 4, verse 41
“great is Truth, and mightiest of all things”
sometimes quoted in Latin
“Magna est veritas, et praevalet”
Delusions of grandeur – that should be first on the list of qualities guaranteeing elimination of consideration for any public office.
Unfortunately, both aisles of Congress share in this trait.
But only one I can remember was so deluded to announce “This was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal. We are the generation we have been waiting for…”
Caesar Obama – the divine (comedy).
There’s a degree of scale and scope of delusion. On one hand, there is the man or woman believing themselves wisest of all. On the other, is the Obamanation of Desolation. A man willingly and proudly standing on a stage with backdrop of Styrofoam columns resembling something of the Parthenon, or perhaps the period of Caligula, should have been America’s first clue that perhaps Obama a little too full of himself.
Running for president is sheer ego…..I marvel at the nerve of anyone who thinks she or he can run this country and the fringe groups who think their ideas are the correct and only ones.
Trump’s strength is that he is saying, bluntly and eloquently, things that no other potential candidate has the guts to say. Middle America is saying “Yes! Yes!. Yes!” All the others are trying to avoid offending anybody, especially offending “well-meaning” Democrats. Trump is beholden to no one, thrives on offending those he has no respect for, sees no reason to defend his much-publicized past or any changes of mind. The vast Conservative majority is looking for, yearning for, a Champion for the cause. a leader around whom they can rally. He’s the nearest yet, but maybe a Lochinvar will ride into the scene.
Roger has said that he doesn’t agree with the Richard the Lion-Hearted theory but the Junior High School Debate Club we have right now gives little cause for optimism.
So, you’re telling me that an American with money is incapable of running for president for noble motives?
Trump is a very able executive and no fool. He sees there’s a debacle in the making, and he’s trying to do something about it the only way he can. The Republicans are presenting absolutely no challenge to Obama; the rabid Left media has created a political atmosphere that precludes sane and honorable people from running for office. (Look what they did to Palin and Cain.) And exactly what do we have left? Hacks, wackos, amateurs, klutzes.
The alarming reality is that Obama is rapidly leading us into fascism and will ratchet up the totalitarianism if re-elected. Your kids will spend the rest of their lives working for the state, intellectual freedom will be lost, and your personal freedoms will be history.
Trump probably doesn’t even want to run, but he sees he has no choice. Somebody’s got to do something. I say give him a chance.
If I may say so, people often have virtues of which we are unaware; they don’t revel themselves except under exceptional circumstances. Think Rudolph Giuliani. Think Winston Churchill during WWII. He thought his career was over, and he had nothing left to contribute. Yet, when the chips were down, the British handed him the reins and he saved the west to fight another day.
Keep an open mind about Trump.
I concur with the last two posters that Trump gets a lot more abuse than he deserves. He isn’t exactly my cup of tea policy-wise but at least he is thinking about matters in a way that isn’t pre-programmed by the leftists and their ever eager adversaries, the Republicans, who seem far more interested in the benefits of power than in saving the country. I guess you could say the same about Ron Paul, but Trump actually seems to like the country he lives in, and he doesn’t have that creepy aura that makes you think he wants to pull the wings off butterflies.
And since Trump does actually seem to like the country, I would be very surprised if he attempts an independent candidacy. It is far more likely that he is attempting to to administer some tough love to the republicans, who continue the dance macabre while the marxist in chief rubs his hands in glee.
I just don’t buy the theory that he’s in it only to put a few more sheckles in his pocket. He seems pretty content with the scheckles he already has. He may not be the kind of patriot that people in this forum want, but that doesn’t mean he’s not a patriot at all.
The United States spends 40% MORE than it earns and the debt to GDP ratio has shot past 100%, with no end in sight to the endless “gorge the beast” spendulus taking us to Third world banana republic status at Warp speed.
“Business as usual” -Obama, Romney, maybe Newt, will end in total economic collapse ala Argentina 2001, Russia in the 1990′s and potentially Greece today.
Once the Euro and Eurozone blows up, nuking investors in the process, the survivors would look at the United States, see exactly the same problems of out of control spending and can kicking, and the race for the exits WILL start.
Many Republicans, and some Democrats, are waking up to this fact and are demanding change before disaster arrives.
That is why Ron Paul is doing so well, he is NOT “business as usual” and will definitely shake things up in Washington.
So will Trump.
So will hyper inflationary collapse due to the loss of “reserve currency” status due to spending and printing to infinity.
Heck with the current slate of Republican candidates, I too am thinking of changing to unaffiliated. That doesn’t mean I am running for POTUS, but it would sure help to reduce many of those unwanted solicitation calls while I am trying to relax in the evening.