Would Donald Trump Quit if He Wins the Election? He Doesn’t Rule It Out

[brooklynite]

Source: New York Times

The traditional goal of a presidential nominee is to win the presidency and then serve as president.

Donald J. Trump is not a traditional candidate for president.

Presented in a recent interview with a scenario, floating around the political ether, in which the presumptive Republican nominee proves all the naysayers wrong, beats Hillary Clinton and wins the presidency, only to forgo the office as the ultimate walk-off winner, Mr. Trump flashed a mischievous smile.

“I’ll let you know how I feel about it after it happens,” he said, minutes before leaving his Trump Tower office to fly to a campaign rally in New Hampshire.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/08/us/politics/donald-trump-president.html?_r=1

[Lochloosa]

1. No one is more surprised to be the repug nominee than Trump.

He never intended on winning.

[PatSeg]

7. True

He was in it to relaunch his brand, but with an ego as big as his, he couldn't quit once he kept winning. Plus he gets to perform and be in front of the camera every day.

[LiberalLovinLug]

13. that's my thought as well

He ran to get more attention. But I'm sure that even he was surprised at how well he has done. With such weak competition and his own mastery of "the deal" (ie. saying whatever has to to close the deal) it was no contest. Especially that the GOP did him a yuuuuuuge favor in prepping the Republican base with years of stoking racism, sexism and bigotry and empowering what was a small minority into their growingly emboldened majority.

I think he'll at least give it a go. Does anyone think he'd turn down living in the White House, traveling on Air Force One, having everyone he appoints to his cabinet kowtow to his final decisions? (or they're fired!). And most importantly, he only has to look at Bush and Cheney and the rest of their neo-con conspirators and the billions they made off taxpayers and loans from China on their no-bid Iraq war contracts and oil deals while in power to see the possibilities of substantially increasing his wealth while in office.

[PatSeg]

15. Remember when he had to pay

extras $50 a head to show up at his first rally? Clearly the man had no idea this would go anywhere. He is a chronic publicity whore. But the power and prestige of the White House has to be very tempting. All those horrible people who made fun of him for decades, he'll show them!!! And of course as you said, eventually the $$$$. The ultimate con job.

[chapdrum]

2. Have been predicting this possibility.

He doesn't need the aggravation.

P.S. Wonder what was the first publication to start using Don's middle initial. (Probably the NY Times.)
Easy way to help dignify him.

[No Vested Interest]

10. I also am on record that he would resign from office within the first year.

Though I strongly, firmly hope and believe he would not be elected President by the American people, we do know that the electorate is frequently fickle, and can be fooled and successfully lied to.
In addition we also know that election results can be tampered with, manipulated, and produce incorrect results.

It has been indicated by Trump's people that he regards the Presidency as a Chairman of the Board-type office, and that he could/would appoint a CEO, COO, etc. to do the hands-on work.

It is obvious that he is not temperamentally suited for the 24-hour a day work (emphasis on word WORK) involved in the office of President.
He also is intellectually lazy; he is a non-reader, one who reacts to the thinking, ideas of others rather than promulgating serious, planned actions.
Then there is the narcissism - a personality disorder that cannot be eliminated, and is virtually unchangeable in a person of his 70 years.

Yes, Donald Trump, in the chance that he is elected President of the US, would not serve out his full term.

[tavernier]

17. That's what Christie thinks too.

That's the only reason he's there; hoping for the VP slot. Trump quits, Christie is in.

[Koinos]

18. If Trump intends to resign within the first year, he should pick Sarah Palin for his VP.

She will most certainly resign before serving out the rest of the term.

A two-quitters ticket sounds about right and a perfect match for a do-nothing Republican House of Representatives.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

22. Then who? Speaker Ryan?

Trump or Palin would probably cause less damage than Ryan.

This assumes that the Republicans still control the House after the election.

[politicaljunkie41910]

30. I also concur with everything you've said; particularly about being intellectually lazy

He hasn't proven since he announced his run that he reads anything and the job of President would require a lot of reading. I just read where President Obama spends about 5 hours reading after his family goes to bed. Once the novelty of "Hail to the Chief" wears off, he'll be board beyond measures. He also wouldn't say whether he'd live in the White House which is why he's rushing to complete his new Washington hotel where he is building himself a suite there. He said he will spend some weekends there, but I think that is just a rouse to avoid having to answer questions about whether he's too good to live in the White House.

[7962]

3. He's quit a lot of other things he got into, why would this be different?

I've thought for some time that its possible that its all a GENIUS plan to get him to run & be so stupid he loses as big as anyone ever has.

[SheilaT]

4. He apparently thinks that running for President is simply

one more reality TV show, of which he is the star.

He knows practically nothing about the Constitution. Doesn't quite understand how laws are made, what the three branches of government are for. I'm thinking he's said stuff in the past that indicates he believes he could summarily fire judges and Supreme Court Justices if he doesn't like their rulings. Same for elected members of Congress.

It's difficult to fathom his actually being elected, but I can envision several scenarios in which that's possible. The main one would be something comes out that really does cripple Hillary's candidacy, although I'm not making any such predictions, and I'm not pretending I'm aware of anything new lurking in her background. If that were to happen, it's easy to picture that many voters who would otherwise vote for her (mainly because they see her as at least better than Trump) might stay home in disgust. And such a thing could galvanize those who might otherwise have stayed home to vote for Trump.

I am not saying I expect any such thing to happen, but it's within the realm of possibility.

[TeamPooka]

8. i think it will be a tough fight. Celebrity is the most powerful force in America

it affects some people in a way stronger than gravity
Kardashian America

[SheilaT]

23. Because I don't own a TV, and I don't watch

the celebrity reality shows -- I just barely know who the Kardashians are, just for starters -- I tend to forget how powerful celebrity is in this country. That coupled with the idiocy of admiring Trump because he speaks his mind, is genuinely scary.

I suppose there's still a chance that the Republicans will find a way not to nominate him and go for someone else. If that happens, many of the strong Trump supporters either won't vote at all or will turn to one of the third party candidates. Depending on who that alternate R nominee would be, he might pull votes from Clinton, or at least get back the votes of the Republicans who are so horrified by Trump that they would have been willing to vote for her.

[TeamPooka]

24. The Terminator, my former Gov. and Jesse Ventura are case study warnings to us not to be

complacent. GOTV!

[SheilaT]

25. I honestly believe I'm better informed about a lot of things

precisely because I don't watch much regular TV. Of course you may have a very different opinion. I do watch a fair number of TV shows via the internet, although I'm years behind on most series.

Here's what I think the biggest benefit of not watching much television: I'm not suckered into thinking someone is capable of being a governor or President, or even on the county commission because of having been on TV. That last is a reference to an actor who was on "Breaking Bad" who is running for a country commission seat in Albuquerque. I live in NM so I'm aware of this guy. Although I've only watched the first episode of that series and was so appalled I have zero interest in watching any more.

I do listen to Amy Goodman every day. And since the community radio station that has her show also has BBC news before and after, I get a good overview of lots of stuff. I read the local paper. I read books. Lots of books. Slightly more non fiction than fiction.

But back to my essential point. I'm immune to the lure of a celebrity candidate because I don't tune in to much of that world. On the other hand, I can name-drop like crazy about the science fiction writers I know!

[PJMcK]

26. Nice group of posts, SheilaT

Your thoughtful explanations of your video use mirrors my own experiences. You've clearly articulated what I've thought and felt about TV for a long time.

About five years ago, I took a hard look at my Optimum bill for basic cable TV, high-speed internet and a telephone landline. On Long Island, NY, the total bill was $146.00! When I tried to find ways to reduce it, the only option available was to eliminate the landline which cost $20.00 per month. But if I removed that from my cable package, I'd pay a $15.00 monthly service charge thus saving a whopping $5.00.

So, I cancelled the service, got an excellent internet connection and now my entertainment and information are under my control for $25.00 a month.

[SheilaT]

28. In the early 1970's, my first lengthy go-around of no TV,

a co-worker was utterly convinced that I had no way of knowing what was going on in the world because I didn't have the magic screen in my home. He'd quiz on on various stuff. But I read the Washington Post (lived in the DC area at the time) read Time magazine regularly, and again read voraciously, including lots of non-fiction. Now I did have some lapses in my knowledge, but no more than a lot of people might have. And to his astonishment, there were times when I knew a whole lot more about some topic simply because I'd recently read a book on it.

These days the internet can fill in a lot of gaps, but a person has to be incredibly careful not to fall for some piece of crap. Happens a lot here on DU, where I'd have thought people knew better.

The very, very best part of no TV is that when I watch the shows that I do via the internet: no commercials! That's an especial treat in an election season.

I'm currently without TV for eight years, and at this point I can't imagine I'll ever have one again. Up until recently if I was in a hotel I'd turn on the TV for a bit, then turn it off again inside of 30 minutes because of the constant commercials. The last couple of times I've been in a hotel the TV is essentially invisible to me. I often dislike going into other people's houses because the TV is constantly on.

I will admit that a down side of no TV is that I often see stuff about some "celebrity" that I've never heard of.

[forgotmylogin]

20. He's not the kind of guy to have 16 hours of his day heavily scheduled.

He probably is in the mind he'll try it out a bit, order some people around. When he finds he's not king he'll get bored and quit. He thinks it's like any other job.

[3catwoman3]

27. He would be driven...

...completely bonkers by the rigidly controlled schedule imposed on the president. The Secret Service knows where the POTUS is every second of every day, and probably even knows what bodily functions are being performing when he's in the bathroom.

Someone, anyone, having that much control over Trumps daily life would have him ready to blow in about 3 days.

[seabeckind]

5. I and my wife have held the crazy theory

that Trump wasn't serious.

But that isn't really the point. The point is the tactics employed by the democratic machine to combat him. He has taken a position on just about every issue that is anti-neoliberalism. And on those that aren't directly economic, he has come out on the side that was traditionally held by the democrats.

Eg, the Iraq war and the regime change. The outsourcing. The labor rights.

And the counter argument has been that he is a jerk. Or that he benefited from those rules that favored the corporate POV.

The correct response should have been that while the positions may look similar, his solutions would be devastating. Cue the mushroom cloud commercial from the 1964 election.

Instead we get Trump is a poopyhead. And the implication that the democrats are to the right of his position.

The response should be: We OWN the left position. How dare he try to usurp our spot?

[underpants]

6. W's "Eh, I don't really care about the job" routine

[christx30]

9. Sounds incredibly reckless.

So is he going to stand on the steps of the Supreme court, give a "peace out" instead of doing the oath, and let his VP take over? Ugh. Just when I couldn't be more disgusted by this guy.
How anyone can support him, I'll never know. Someone should build a wall around him.

[Wounded Bear]

11. So here's our strategy...

First and foremost, we must win the House.

Then, get Trump to hire Caribou Barbie as his running mate. Let them win. We know that neither of them have finished anything in their lives, so after ConDon and Sarahdoll resign, the Dem Speaker of the House becomes President.



and yes, this is for the challenged.

[sofa king]

12. Yeah, right.

A runaway narcissist would walk away from an entire nation waiting on him hand and foot and hanging on his every word.

Sure it'll happen.

[turbinetree]

14. Maybe Mika and Joe in there three hour coffee show will----------------

say Brilliant and he got his "groove back" and the public will get his live broadcast to let everyone know the answer


Honk------------------for a political revolution

[fleabiscuit]

16. If she moves/changes residency, look for Dump to have his daughter as VP running mate. eom

[dhill926]

19. he's not a SERIOUS candidate for President....

thanks republicans, for this national nightmare and embarrassment....

[olddad56]

21. I have considered this from the beginning, if he does so, the VP would inhereit the job..

without ever receiving a vote.
People are stupid for electing celebrities. Reagan comes to mind, Arnold in Ca as gov, turned out horrible, former basketball player as mayor in Sacramento was a disaster.

Ever since the Bush crime family pulled off their coup in 2000, you know anything is possible.


I don't think a republican candidate could get elected if we ever held a fair election. Not even the Drumpf man.

[smirkymonkey]

29. Can you actually imagine him meeting with the leaders of other nations?

Who would take him seriously? He would be laughed out of every meeting he ever attended. He would be a disaster as a world leader and he knows it. He may be able to fool a large percentage of the American public, but the rest of the world isn't going to pretend that he is anything but a classless buffoon.