"This is really a bigger job than I thought"

[babylonsister]

Posted with permission.

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/really-bigger-job-i-thought?cid=sm_fb_maddow

‘This is really a bigger job than I thought’
11/30/16 10:20 AM
By Steve Benen


In early January, CBS News’ John Dickerson asked Donald Trump an excellent question. “When you think of the presidency – the day-to-day, not the show part – what is it going to be like?” the “Face the Nation” host asked the then-candidate. “What do you think about that, the operation?”

The Republican replied, “I don’t think about it.”

Eleven months later, Trump was the president-elect, meeting with President Obama in Oval Office, where Trump “seemed surprised by the scope” of the responsibilities that would soon be on his shoulders. He shouldn’t have been surprised – candidates for the nation’s highest office usually give these duties considerable thought before launching their campaigns – but Trump sought the presidency before learning about what the job entails.

Newt Gingrich, a close Trump ally, talked to USA Today this week about his impressions of the president-elect at this phase in the process.

When he met with Trump last week, Gingrich says, “He commented, ‘This is really a bigger job than I thought.’ Which is good. He should think that.” As president, Gingrich went on, “you have war and peace, you have enormous powers … and it all comes down to the Oval Office and it all comes down to you.”

The problem, of course, is that Trump doesn’t quite know what to do while he comes to terms with the fact that the presidency is “a bigger job” than he realized. The incoming president has no relevant experience, and he’s surrounded himself with a team whose members also have no relevant experience. Trump should’ve thought all of this through before he even kicked off his candidacy, but instead, he’s learning it all on the fly, driven by misplaced confidence shaped by nothing but his unhealthy ego.

Vox’s Libby Nelson recently explained, “Running for president is hard. You’re on the road all the time, your every utterance is scrutinized, you have to prepare for debates and manage donors and keep up a tough schedule. But being president is much, much harder. Trump used to joke on the campaign trail about how hard he was working at running for president. One theme that emerges from reports … is that he doesn’t realize how much harder it can get.”

What I’m most curious about at this stage is whether or not Trump actually cares. We learned yesterday, for example, that Trump has decided to put his transition work on hold and will instead “begin a victory lap” with a political rally in Cincinnati tomorrow.

It’s reportedly part of a “tour” Trump is launching that will take him to a variety of other states.

In theory, Trump simply doesn’t have time for a multi-state tour. The amateur politician only has two months to prepare for the presidency, and he should be maintaining a grueling official schedule in advance of his inauguration in mid-January.

But that’s not fun. Trump doesn’t like rolling up his sleeves and tackling unglamorous tasks; Trump likes cameras and applause. The president-elect’s focus isn’t on work; it’s on being a celebrity superstar. Leading the executive branch of a global superpower is hard, but leading rallies and promising to Make America Great Again with adoring followers is exciting.

And so it’s apparently time to say goodbye to policy papers and briefings, and hello to a Midwest road trip.

The New Republic’s Alex Shephard had a great piece on this yesterday, adding, “Donald Trump, a man who has a very short attention span and requires instant gratification more or less constantly, loves campaigning because he has a very short attention span and requires instant gratification more or less constantly…. And just as Trump has no intention of giving up control of his businesses, he has no intention of giving up his rallies either, maybe because he believes they are the key to his success and maybe because he is a petulant narcissist and maybe both.”

[world wide wally]

1. In the words of GW Bush

It's hard

[smirkymonkey]

3. Even effing GW Bush could concentrate for more than 10 minutes at a time.

And he was drunk off his ass most of the time! Trump is completely sober. He has no excuse!

[MANative]

5. Not so sure about the sober thing. Maybe not booze, but I'm not convinced he's not taking

stimulants of some sort.

[Dorian Gray]

28. Like an adderall

type substance? I would not be surprised.

[get the red out]

31. Me neither

A drunk would be passed out at 3 am instead of tweeting, someone on stimulants would be bouncing off the walls and sounding like Trump.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

41. It's hard work!

Was the exact phrase.

[saltpoint]

2. Trump brings a very closed mind to a very

vast landscape.

He is in no way whatsoever qualified for this job.

IMO he is there because of a significant white backlash, which Trump instigated and then orchestrated during his primary and general election campaigns.

His Cabinet is horrifying.

The halls of power are not for the squeamish, but they are not either for the grossly incompetent, the intellectually dull, and the overtly bigoted.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

4. And he embodies ALL OF THOSE HORRIFYING THINGS. n/t

[saltpoint]

6. He does. I'm guessing some of them he embodies

because he doesn't know any better, while some he embodies on purpose to agitate the hate mongers.

Hi, California Peggy. Very good to see you knocking around the boards this evening.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

13. Thank you, my dear saltpoint!

It's good to be knocking about the boards this evening!

It beats sitting in the corner, weeping!

[babylonsister]

7. Exactly.

That cabinet! I haven't heard one name that is even normal; they're all out there. As Rachel pointed out, it's a who's who of former faux snooze guests and hosts. That's what he knows.

[saltpoint]

8. Yep. This is just getting started and

it ain't lookin' good.

Was actively thinking of being anesthetized for at least the next 4 years...

[babylonsister]

9. Haha! That's

perhaps a good idea. I can't look away though all this makes me feel dirty; THIS is a slow motion train wreck.

On these happy notes...

[dixiegrrrrl]

24. If I may jump in here....

Speaking of coping....


Mr. Dixie has seasonal affective disorder, is really glum and gloomy when the days shorten.
He also is recovering..or enduring....the healing of a broken back, lots of pain involved.

And now....Trump.

very seriously, I am worried about the combination of the above right now. And i know he is not alone, I remember how we shared what we felt the days and weeks after the shock of the election results, plus seeing even more horrific reality of an unfit person lining up to run...ruin..the country.
So am hoping everyone does what is needed to get thru this winter, cause the hits are gonna keep coming.
We all have to be more supportive of one another, until this mess gets resolved in some way.

[saltpoint]

25. I send good vibes and good

wishes to your house, dixiegrrrrl, and hope the coming political mood is placed in check by some combination of events -- maybe, for example, some major investigative reporting (which is in decline but still possible, still available).

Nixon was brought down by such reporting. No small feat, that.

[mountain grammy]

18. I completely agree

[saltpoint]

26. - - - -

[irisblue]

10. I know I will be spending the next years

thinking F That Guy each time his & Pences names get mentioned.

[madokie]

11. Tomorrow we'll get a feel of what a tRump pResidency will be like

if he continues on with his campaigning style we're in for a long ass 4 years

[90-percent]

12. My solitary hope

is that I get sent to a FEMA camp in the northeast where I currently live. I like it around here.

-90% jimmy

[world wide wally]

14. Don't just settle for the GOP owning him...

Make the media own him too.
Show everyone what a bunch of ignorant assholes they are

[rurallib]

15. I have no doubt that the Jerk thought that if a black guy

could be president then it must be pretty easy

[Solly Mack]

16. It's a real pity his head doesn't explode from the stupid

Newt's as well

[Salviati]

21. I can only hope that he ends up hating the job half as much as we hate him having it.

[lastlib]

17. I am all for making it a HELLUVA LOT harder for him!!

In fact, I hope to devote MANY working hours to do that--just for him!

[Spitfire of ATJ]

19. Trump has never actually WORKED a day in his life.

[Xipe Totec]

22. No shit, Sherlock. nt

[montana_hazeleyes]

23. What the hell ?!? A victory lap ?

More rallies to flame up more racist and all the other hate? And I will not ever stop saying it, that is why they voted for him.

This all is so true. He doesn't want the real job of being president. He loves the adoring, cheering crowds, the position of being president, but doesn't give a damn about the reality of it.

The rebublicans and media all know the truth about him. That he is so absolutely unfit to be president ,but they care more about power and money to stop backing and him and propping him up.

I think the people who think THEY won't be hurt by this vulgar tsunami in store don't get it.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

27. And he is ignoring his security briefings

In no universe would ANY of this be acceptable for any other President-Elect. If we were into President-Elect Hillary Clinton's transition and she was running off on a "victory lap" and ignoring her briefings, there'd be at least ten Republican-led investigations running by now but, of course..........🙄

[rgbecker]

33. Can you imagine the news shows if Hillary had won the electoral and Trump the popular?

[Proud Liberal Dem]

35. Of course

but then we would still be able to rub Election 2000 in THEIR faces (not that said new shows would care).

[DetlefK]

29. And after the inauguration we will get told to cut Trump some slack because he's inexperienced.

"Come on! That's just his first month in office and he's never done anything like this before! Give this guy some time to get a hold of his job before you criticize him!"

[Proud Liberal Dem]

36. Yup

because "on the job training" is no longer just for jobs like stocking a grocery store.

[DetlefK]

30. I wonder if Trump will hold more victory-tours during his administration.

You know, whenever the stress gets too high, whenever the job consists of reading boring paperwork and listening to endless briefings, day in day out...

Wouldn't it be nice to break out of that from time to time?
- Florida and Virginia are drowning
- the Midwest is running out of groundwater and needs a long-term agricultural reform
- somehow the tax-cuts aren't producing jobs
- somehow the Obamacare-replacement takes more time
- with NATO's role weakened, Europe continues with its project trying to found a european army and become more independent from US-influence
- after GWB, Trump's presidency has lead to yet another wave of anti-american sentiment among young Europeans
- Russia continues with its cyber- and information-warfare against the Baltic States, leading to a new wave of anti-russian sentiment in eastern Europe
- the Kurds demand independence in Iraq now that ISIS is defeated and a new middle-eastern war is looming that could be the breeding ground for the next generation of terrorists
- China continues with its "Silk Road"-project and widens its economic influence deep into Central Asia into territory that Russia regards as its backyard, all the while illegal chinese immigrants flood into Russia's North-East, slowly creating political tension as Russia comes to realize that it's now the junior-partner in this alliance
- China and India are edging closer and closer to war over the river-water originating in the Himalaya



But know what helps? Taking a week off to tour the heartland and hear people sing your praises.

[Gothmog]

32. Trump is an idiot

[The Genealogist]

34. No doubt Pence and the Cabinet Full of Deplorables will be taking care of most of it

Much to our horror, I think this is what the result will be. Orangenfuehrer will strut around the country for four years, for photo-ops and rallies with fawning crowds of deplorable bigots. I'd guess most of what he will use the presidency for is enriching himself and his charm-free family.

[BSdetect]

37. The media failed dismally to report his crazyness

I lost count of the lies but must have been over 400.

If HRC had stated any one of them they would have been all over that for weeks. Remember she got the flu? What a colossal load of crap re her "secretive" character while drumph ignore calls to release his tax returns and they really ignore that.


But if the RW thinks they can escape being accountable for ever they are going to be disappointed.

[Danascot]

38. I predict it won't be long before

the people who would attend a Trump rally are a lot less inclined to give him applause and adulation. Then where will he go for his fawning public fix?

[renate]

39. it's not that he's never worked hard in his life but that he's never...

... done anything he doesn't want to do.

I think that's a really important distinction. Never in his life has he had to do anything. It's all been by his own choice.

He probably does put in a lot of hours on work that he chooses and that benefits him personally. When he's the president he will have no choice and will be (eventually) impeached if it benefits him personally. I really don't think he's going to stick it out for four years.

[moonscape]

40. He'll be a figurehead, and continue doing what he wants to do which

involve getting attention, exerting power in odd and inappropriate ways, and making decisions based on 'gut' because he has no idea of the issues. His decision-making will be based on who was last in his ear, who manipulates him the best, etc.

Clusterfuck.