I don’t know that there’s any pundit with whom I agree more frequently or deeply than Charlie Cook. In his most recent offering at National Journal, Mr. Cook outlines the headwinds that President Trump will face. In summary they are:
- Unpopularity
- Ignorance of policy details
- The unrealistically high expectations of his supporters
- An extremely adversarial press corps
- A dangerous world in which many problems can’t be solved, only managed
He concludes:
It’s been said that no one is truly preÂpared to asÂsume the presÂidÂency of the United States. That is unÂquesÂtionÂably true. Every presÂidÂent has to grow inÂto the job, none more so than DonÂald J. Trump.
As I’ve written before there are two distinctly different strategies that presidents use with their staffs. There’s the micromanager like Bill Clinton or Jimmy Carter on the one hand and the staff manager like Ike or Ronald Reagan.
I see little evidence that Mr. Trump has the personal qualities required for staff management and he’s not a policy wonk like Clinton. We’ll see.
He has twitter for management – everything will be fine.
Are Trump supporters expectations really more ridiculous than those of Obama supporters, who literally thought (because Barry told them so) that the seas obeyed Obama’s every whim?
Thanks for the memory, ice.
Instinct, the fortitude to not shrink from headwinds, the experience to select competent cabinet members having a diversity of opinion, leading to an ability to compromise – these are Trump’s pluses.
No serious person ever thought any such thing about Obama, that’s false. In fact many on the Left assumed he’d be assassinated.
Comparing our smart, informed, kind, decent, level-headed ex-president with this vile pig of a man is a perfect illustration of American decline. The White House is defiled, the nation is humiliated, and 46% of Americans are bloody-minded idiots. The Tweeter-in-Chief has control of 4500 nuclear weapons and no control at all over himself.
April 15, 1865, when Lincoln was replaced by the corrupt, nasty and incompetent Andrew Johnson. That’s what we are seeing today. And we are about to answer the age-old question: which is more dangerous, intentional evil or bumbling incompetence?
I have no idea what Trump supporter expectations are, and I’m not sure Cook backs his claim here: he quotes Peter Hart as saying “They are givÂing him a long leash, grantÂing him plenty of latÂitÂude to emÂbark on the agenda he pledged to the AmerÂicÂan people—at least for now.”
On MSNBC a few days ago, a reporter interviewed three Trump supporters in Eerie, PA, and asked them what would make them lose support for Trump: Two said failing to address border security and one said abandoning Israel. I thought last due was a caricature of the type of Republican commentor steve says exists, and apparently they exist in Pennsylvania. The first two did not mention the wall or any means or methods. That’s a three person group, and Hart had twelve, but I think Cook is being condescending here.
At NYT today Nate Cohn points out that there are three distinct and even contradictory sets of opinions about Trump: those of all adults, those of likely voters, and opinions about his abilities.
A smaller proportion of adults is eligible to vote than at any time in recent memory and that category, which is inclusive both of those eligible to vote and those who aren’t, has a lower opinion of trump than the less inclusive category “likely voters” does.
An there’s a conflict between what people think of Trump and what they think he can accomplish. I’m not as convinced that you can stuff those into separate cubbyholes.
michael reynolds: And we are about to answer the age-old question: which is more dangerous, intentional evil or bumbling incompetence?
Which do you think Trump is, and who is the other one, and why do you think they won’t be acting in concert?
Gus:
Yes, we may witness a crossing of the streams. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyaLZHiJJnE
What do we really know about how he runs his businesses? For all we know he could be a staff manager.
Steve
I think that’s correct, Steve. More broadly, I don’t think I’ve ever seen as much ill informed speculation as I have about Trump. It says more about the commenters than Trump. Trump reminds me of a guy I worked for some 20-25 years ago. A billionaire with an ego to match. However, he had a small group of confidants he listened and delegated to. But you would never know it from the outside. The ego wouldn’t allow it.
Of course we have sober, level headed observers informing us he’s a vile pig of a man, who apparently eats too many carrots, and who could nuke the world at any moment. Sounds like sensible precautionary counsel. So we gotta deal with that.