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Wolff's claim that Trump didn't want to win seems at odds (Original Post) triron Jan 2018 OP
To make business deals with the Russians marylandblue Jan 2018 #1
I think it was Flynn who said GusBob Jan 2018 #18
He wanted to Win. He always does. He just didn't want the job. JDC Jan 2018 #2
Bingo! ProfessorGAC Jan 2018 #6
Seems most credible to me. triron Jan 2018 #8
That's why he can't stop talking about it. Yavin4 Jan 2018 #12
Right. And I think that at least part of him RandomAccess Jan 2018 #29
The claim is that Trump didn't want to win! atreides1 Jan 2018 #3
Trevor mentioned that last night on the Daily Show OriginalGeek Jan 2018 #4
Trump Didn't Want the Job of President, Just the Opportunity to Rake in $ Millions dlk Jan 2018 #5
Yep, he wanted his own TV show to rainy Jan 2018 #14
I don't think he wanted the job. murielm99 Jan 2018 #17
He wanted the recognition of winning but not sure about job* townie Jan 2018 #7
To increase his brand with a good showing grantcart Jan 2018 #9
Others have also reported that Trump was shocked at winning. procon Jan 2018 #10
I saw a pic from that night sarah FAILIN Jan 2018 #34
my take questionseverything Jan 2018 #11
Trump wants to be the world's most famous man C_U_L8R Jan 2018 #13
this is trump we're talking about Locrian Jan 2018 #15
Some truth to that. triron Jan 2018 #20
trump is a product Locrian Jan 2018 #21
This line from Mel Brooks' "The Producers" explains it... tinrobot Jan 2018 #16
ha - naled it! - n/t Locrian Jan 2018 #22
For Russian money shanny Jan 2018 #19
Wanting to make people think that he didn't want to win, agincourt Jan 2018 #23
Trump has been propped up by Russia for decades Skittles Jan 2018 #24
trump wanted more notoriety, fame, money, he didn't want the 'job' spanone Jan 2018 #25
Even the Russians didn't think he would REALLY win. The Russians main goal was to create Kirk Lover Jan 2018 #26
Because when he lost he could claim elections are rigged blueinredohio Jan 2018 #27
He desperately wanted a presence in Russia MaryMagdaline Jan 2018 #28
It's not at odds janterry Jan 2018 #30
He would get his debts cleared just for what he did to the Repug platform? randr Jan 2018 #31
Where does Wolff claim that Trump didn't want to win? oberliner Jan 2018 #32
Trump certainly didn't want to lose. dalton99a Jan 2018 #33
Recall that there was talk that he planned to use his campaign followers to promote some TV venture. politicaljunkie41910 Jan 2018 #35
I guarantee Trump didn't expect to win Awsi Dooger Jan 2018 #36
Trump's ultimate wet dream was to win popular vote and lose Electoral College. That way, bullwinkle428 Jan 2018 #37

marylandblue

(12,344 posts)
1. To make business deals with the Russians
Fri Jan 5, 2018, 04:04 PM
Jan 2018

I tried to get to be President like you wanted, now give me a hotel.

GusBob

(7,286 posts)
18. I think it was Flynn who said
Fri Jan 5, 2018, 05:07 PM
Jan 2018

When asked if dealing with the Russians could get them in trouble, he wax quoted as saying

It only matters if we win

They are like most crooks who don't think they are gonna get caught

JDC

(10,084 posts)
2. He wanted to Win. He always does. He just didn't want the job.
Fri Jan 5, 2018, 04:05 PM
Jan 2018

He is incompetent. He knew he couldn't handle it and didn't want the respondibilities. His ego wouldn't let him back away.

Yavin4

(35,357 posts)
12. That's why he can't stop talking about it.
Fri Jan 5, 2018, 04:19 PM
Jan 2018

And that's why he wants to hold campaign rallies every other week.

 

RandomAccess

(5,210 posts)
29. Right. And I think that at least part of him
Sat Jan 6, 2018, 08:24 PM
Jan 2018

didn't really EXPECT to win.

But he sure put in a lot of miles to hither, thither and yon for someone who didn't want to win.

atreides1

(16,046 posts)
3. The claim is that Trump didn't want to win!
Fri Jan 5, 2018, 04:07 PM
Jan 2018

But by then it wasn't up to him, whether he won or loss, he had no control over the outcome! Perhaps it was the Russians that wanted him to win, or people running his campaign, or even his adult children, that doesn't mean Trump himself wanted the albatross of the office around his neck!!!

OriginalGeek

(12,132 posts)
4. Trevor mentioned that last night on the Daily Show
Fri Jan 5, 2018, 04:07 PM
Jan 2018

And I've been pondering it. I think he liked the idea of cheating to win but still didn't want or expect to. Maybe he didn't think the Russians really could do it so it was safe to try.

I believe Melania really did cry if reports she already had an out clause when he lost were true.

dlk

(11,438 posts)
5. Trump Didn't Want the Job of President, Just the Opportunity to Rake in $ Millions
Fri Jan 5, 2018, 04:07 PM
Jan 2018

Trump is lazy and never worked a day in his life. He is also greedy and will do anything to make a buck, including going through the motions of wanting to be president. He suckered the Republican voters.

rainy

(6,085 posts)
14. Yep, he wanted his own TV show to
Fri Jan 5, 2018, 04:26 PM
Jan 2018

spend the next 8 years bashing Hillary and democrats. He’d rake in the dough and promote Ivanka’s endeavors and they all live happily ever after

murielm99

(30,657 posts)
17. I don't think he wanted the job.
Fri Jan 5, 2018, 04:48 PM
Jan 2018

He became frightened when he realized that he had the job.

Once he had the job, he expected to be able to delegate all of it to underlings. He became even more frightened when he realized that that would not work, and that people could scrutinize and criticize him.

He wanted to create chaos when he lost. I think that was as far ahead as he planned. He did not plan to recognize a Clinton victory. He did not plan to honor the peaceful transfer of power. He said, forcefully, over and over, that he would only honor that if he won. He was planning on urging his followers to riot in the streets when Clinton won. He would have loved the attention and the chaos. That may have been part of a Putin plan, too. Chaos and civil unrest following a Clinton victory would have suited Putin just fine. That would have been enough for Trump to fulfill his side of the bargain.

procon

(15,805 posts)
10. Others have also reported that Trump was shocked at winning.
Fri Jan 5, 2018, 04:16 PM
Jan 2018

Look at what he's most interested in now; getting dirt on Hillary, bashing the Clintons, tearing down Obama, and trashing Dems. Win or lose, if he got something from the Russians, Trump would have made use of anything they offered to continue his petty vendettas. His base eats that stuff up.

There's also the possibility that the Russians had something on Trump, and the threat of public disclosure kept him in line. And if trump was involved in some sort of money deals with wealthy Russians, Trump would want to keep on friendly terms with them to keep the cash flowing.

sarah FAILIN

(2,857 posts)
34. I saw a pic from that night
Sat Jan 6, 2018, 08:50 PM
Jan 2018

They all looked shell shocked. Like someone killed someone they care about, the whole bunch. None of them looked happy.
Makes sense to me.

questionseverything

(9,631 posts)
11. my take
Fri Jan 5, 2018, 04:18 PM
Jan 2018

trump owes his Russian bankers big bucks(which means putin)

putin wants to hurt hc to make sure her presidency is not productive...trump helps with that, never dreaming he would win, to please his bankers

just because he didn't want to win doesn't mean his conspiring with Russia isn't illegal

C_U_L8R

(44,897 posts)
13. Trump wants to be the world's most famous man
Fri Jan 5, 2018, 04:23 PM
Jan 2018

He just didn't think through "what he'd be famous for" very well.

Locrian

(4,522 posts)
15. this is trump we're talking about
Fri Jan 5, 2018, 04:30 PM
Jan 2018

There is no strategy or thought about consequences.
It's just trump reacting in real time to to his desire for attention

Locrian

(4,522 posts)
21. trump is a product
Sat Jan 6, 2018, 09:22 AM
Jan 2018

trump is a product of a system that formed from a LOT of different cultural factors - he's the accidental president

tinrobot

(10,848 posts)
16. This line from Mel Brooks' "The Producers" explains it...
Fri Jan 5, 2018, 04:35 PM
Jan 2018

Max Bialystock : "How could this happen? I was so careful. I picked the wrong play, the wrong director, the wrong cast. Where did I go right? We forgot one important thing, Bloom. Adolf Hitler always drew a crowd."

agincourt

(1,996 posts)
23. Wanting to make people think that he didn't want to win,
Sat Jan 6, 2018, 07:53 PM
Jan 2018

and what he was really thinking can easily be two different things. He gives all evidence to me that he is really enjoying his presidency.

 

Kirk Lover

(3,608 posts)
26. Even the Russians didn't think he would REALLY win. The Russians main goal was to create
Sat Jan 6, 2018, 08:17 PM
Jan 2018

chaos and sow division anyway so mission complete. I don't know how many times I said during the campaign that it almost looks like he's trying to lose. But I can see him both wanting to win, but then not wanting to. Losing certainly had it's appeal.

PLUS, he has been enamored w/ the Russians for a long time so I think he would of answered that knock regardless.

MaryMagdaline

(6,849 posts)
28. He desperately wanted a presence in Russia
Sat Jan 6, 2018, 08:23 PM
Jan 2018

Had wanted a trump hotel in Moscow. Just doing the Russians' bidding would help him in business there. Heck, it helped Kurshner get his loan.

 

janterry

(4,429 posts)
30. It's not at odds
Sat Jan 6, 2018, 08:26 PM
Jan 2018

it's just how Wolff reported (and understood) Trump's intention. He's wanted to be President for many years. He ran to win. But when it looked like he couldn't, he looked for other opportunities. At the time, we knew he was going to start his own network - and (he said) take a long vacation.

By the end of the campaign, he'd decided that not winning would be fine and he'd make the best of it.

Melania, otoh, I don't believe ever wanted him to win.

politicaljunkie41910

(3,335 posts)
35. Recall that there was talk that he planned to use his campaign followers to promote some TV venture.
Sat Jan 6, 2018, 10:30 PM
Jan 2018

Perhaps start some TV Network, (a losing prospect) as some were suggesting, to get a better contract out of NBC for "The Apprentice."

 

Awsi Dooger

(14,565 posts)
36. I guarantee Trump didn't expect to win
Sat Jan 6, 2018, 11:14 PM
Jan 2018

He spent the entire final month of the campaign like a sad desperate man who knew he was likely to fail. You don't use the term rigged system over and over when you know it's being successfully manipulated for you, with a guaranteed outcome.

In particular that contrived outing with employees at the Doral Country Club was about as pathetic as it gets for a presidential nominee. Trump was forcing one hispanic employee after another to walk up there to the microphone and talk about how great it is as a Trump employee.

It's like GOTV. You have to do it just in case of a tight election, but very frequently you know it won't be enough. Trump cheated with the Russians just like he's lied and cheated all his life. But it was not flipped votes. They had no idea they would carry those swing states in the upper midwest. But the angst among working class whites was beyond anything that the polls had captured, and in combination with the fake news on Facebook and elsewhere, and with fluke uplift from James Comey in the final 10 days, it was just enough to produce a result that even the campaign didn't anticipate.

There's so much cynicism here now that everyone wants to believe Trump controlled everything before he gained office. No...now he controls everything and there are atrocities going on that we aren't even aware of. But before November 8, 2016 he was an underdog, but just not as much of an underdog as conventional wisdom preferred. Many of us here posted that it was going to be a tight election, no matter what the polls suggested. I posted countless times that all the simplistic angry right wing males I knew were more energized than ever before. That attached nationwide.

Nate Silver had Hillary as only a 1/2 favorite on election day...high 60s% win likelihood That's not much, the equivalent of a 4.5 point favorite in an NFL game. Somehow the nation and the world wanted to believe the 90-99% garbage was accurate.

bullwinkle428

(20,627 posts)
37. Trump's ultimate wet dream was to win popular vote and lose Electoral College. That way,
Sat Jan 6, 2018, 11:22 PM
Jan 2018

he could spend every day of the rest of his miserable and pathetic life, tweeting about a "rigged system" and "Crooked Hillary" until the world came up with a way to issue a binding gag order.

He could claim to be the "People's Champion", and this would be the overriding proof that the "swamp" wasn't even capable of being drained.

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