Donald Trump: Does He Really Want To Be Leader Of The Free World -- Or Just Rule The TV One?
Being President is an enormously demanding job, with some terrible responsibilities.
Donald Trump seems so self-destructive that I've come to suspect -- as have others -- that he doesn't really want to be President.
Andrew Malcolm suspects this, too, writing in the Sac Bee:
The real estate magnate clearly doesn't really care about becoming an occupant in an old house that doesn't even have gold faucets. He couldn't care less about having a cramped Oval Office with ground-floor views of - lawn.As Trump did accumulating his real estate empire and his however-many-billions-of-dollars, he is simply building and accumulating more fame. You can never have enough. Well, he can't. He's doing exactly what his children say he always does: Think BIG.
Trump, we have determined, is preparing to start his own entertainment channel, Donald Trump TV - DT TV.
Andrew's come up with a few potential shows. My faves of these:
"Trump Jeopardy": The season starts with eight illegal families. They describe their sad situations (English subtitles). Viewers vote one family off the show each week; they're deported back to their village, but in Trump's plane. The season winner gets a visa to mow fairways at a Trump resort, plus a 5 percent discount on purchasing the required uniform."Terrorist Roulette": Trump interrogates three Syrian refugees one by one. The host must determine which of them is Muslim, and which man is a likely terrorist. After the last commercial, the host points a finger: "You!" Trump is never wrong. The man is sentenced to New Jersey.
"Penthouse Survivor": A family from rural Central America moves into a luxurious Trump Tower penthouse. Twenty-four hour cameras capture their bafflement at running water, flush toilets, microwaves, sink disposals and thermostats. Think "Honduras Hillbillies."
On the whether he wants to be President thing...agree? Disagree?
Your idea for a show?








1. To Tell The Truth
Contestants will get to ask Hillary 20 Questions. They win if she makes an accurate factual admission about an event in her life, or reveals a principle she lives by (other than total self interest and unbridled greed);
2. Pay to Play
Contestants will compete in a traditional game show to raise money for donations to the Clinton Cronie Foundation. The winner will receive large grants and valuable authorizations from the US government.
3. Bimbo Bashing
Contestants will be given the names of women Bill has been involved with, and then with access to the full powers and resources of the federal government, have 30 days to destroy the Bimbo's life. An alternative version of this would be "So you want to be a part of a Vast Right Wing Conspiracy?", and the object would be anyone who has said anything that may be critical of Her Magisty.
Wfjag at September 2, 2016 4:19 AM
4. Whose weiner is that?
Contestants will be shown a photo of a penis and have to guess is it Hillary's husband or Huma's husband. (hint, look for the "mole")
5. How heavy is she?
Players will get to carry Hillary by the elbows up a set of stairs and guess how much she weighs. Winners are those who guess that she is lighter than she really is and the prize is that they get to be secret service agents "protecting" her. Losers are those who guess her actually weight or guess over and their punishment is they get to be secret service agents who become lookouts for Bill when he is "playing with" the White House interns.
6. Spin the wheel of Media Bias
Easy part of the game - find fault with Trump; bash him as hard as you can. The challenging part - praise Hillary more than Obama, turn her every negative into a positive. Good luck!
charles at September 2, 2016 5:24 AM
"This is your life."
With Trump you've got the usual but with the Clinton's wow! Sex, murders, suicides, files appearing from the unknown, more deaths, more sex, ties to foreign governments, "speeches", and on and on. 2 or 4 seasons and it's all adult stuff so R ratings.
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/08/tracking-the-clinton-controversies-from-whitewater-to-benghazi/396182/
Bob in Texas at September 2, 2016 5:37 AM
To actually answer your question Amy, no. I doubt Trump ever wanted to be president. He signed up to generate publicity and maybe sell a book. But mostly as a way to fight off boredom. Mind I said all of this roughly a year ago. So this isn't news or of any significance.
As always it matters what the alternatives are. And sad as it may be Trump is a far better choice than the alternatives. Malcolm is just part of the 'let's throw as much shit at the wall and see if any of it sticks' army. Meh.
Ben at September 2, 2016 6:10 AM
I think Trump wants to be president. I don't think he wants to run for president.
Guys like him don't interview for the job, they don't audition for the role. He gets bored by campaigning, except when he gets to go off script and cut loose to an adoring audience. He does not like to stay on message.
While he shows great discipline in some things (not drinking, getting up early to work, avoiding caffeine, etc.), he is not in his management style a disciplined person. His is a free-wheeling style in which a viewpoint advocated yesterday can be rejected today. While that may work in real estate development and reality television, it is creates confusion and resentment in politics.
Conan the Grammarian at September 2, 2016 6:50 AM
I am sticking to my "he is a plant from the Clinton campaign" theory.
NicoleK at September 2, 2016 7:08 AM
Wanting to be president isnt all that important in the grand scene of things.
What is important is what you do when you get there.
In many reapects it is a showmanship job. In others, not so much.
Does anyone doubt that Obama *wanted* to be President?
He just didnt want to do the heavy lifting once he got there.
Also you have to look at the alternative.
Better Trump than a careless criminal who reportedly sleeps 18 hours a day.
You are not voting for her, but realize that if Hillary wins, Huma is going to be president in all but name.
Isab at September 2, 2016 8:15 AM
I still say he doesn't really want to be president. But just like Huma will run much of a Clinton presidency Pence will probably run much of the Trump presidency. Or someone else currently unnamed.
I don't know if that helps or hurts. But what a wild ride it's become.
Ben at September 2, 2016 10:53 AM
Buh-buh-buh-but he doesn't even WANT to be President!!
I don't even have to try, to hear that in a preschoolers voice.
Your Trump-hate is bizarre. You can't even come up with a reason, other than...what, he changes positions on topics? I'm on my phone so can't link, but 2 seconds on Google pulls up plenty of flip-flopping videos of Hillary. I've yet to see you state one thing about Trump that isn't equally or more applicable to Hillary. She's not an adult, she's the playground bully who takes your lunch money as payment for protecting you....from her.
momof4 at September 2, 2016 11:18 AM
Trump has launched so many ventures in his lifetime that it's natural he'd turn his hand to politics. Yes, I do think he wants to be president, and imagines himself the best one that the country ever had.
Like many businesspeople, I imagine he's flummoxed at the ways politics is unlike business — and politics doesn't suit his temperament at all.
If Trump was only now being self-destructive, there might be some merit to Malcolm's argument. But this version of Trump is the one we've seen since the 1980s, in one form or another.
Kevin at September 2, 2016 11:21 AM
He put his life at great risk, and the lives of his family. There are a lot of liberal nuts who would love to take him out.
Hillary's head plant removed her memory, therefore she has no relevant knowledge to be anything other than a vegetable. She is famous for her "I don't recall" but she took it to the extreme with the FBI. She is a known liar - maybe now she is telling the truth - she doesn't remember.
Dave B at September 2, 2016 1:57 PM
Hillary is medically unfit.
Now what?
I R A Darth Aggie at September 2, 2016 3:44 PM
"Now what?"
Trump/Pence 2016
Dave B at September 2, 2016 4:05 PM
Bill Clinton's presidency wasn't legitimate because he was and is an as-yet-unindicted murderer. Hillary Clinton's presidency will be more of the same: totally illegitimate.
Andre Friedmann at September 2, 2016 4:15 PM
If Trump really doesn't want to be President, that in my opinion is a point in his favor. I exaggerate only slightly when I say that anyone who truly wants that job is a dangerous choice for it. I forget the title, but there's a Tom Clancy novel where Jack Ryan is thrust into the Presidency, and throughout the book he keeps muttering how much he hates the job. That's the kind of President I want.
What I hope is that, if elected, Trump will be what the Founding Fathers intended: CEO of the Executive branch of the Federal government, NOT "Leader of the free world."
Rex Little at September 2, 2016 11:36 PM
Momof4 with the spot on post once again.
yes it is quite bizarre and almost as bizarre as that portion of the "right" "media" that is obsessively anti Trump. The mere suggestion Trump doesn't want to be president should be uniquely bizarre if not for their well established track record (a few of my favorites have been their new fondness for pearl clutching and identity politics).
Not sure who it is....or was....or whatever.....who railed against how absurd/dangerous main stream media can be. Whoever that person is/was is invalidating those stances in the seemingly never ending cause of throwing in with that....ummm.....childlike? Corrupt? Dangerous? Dishonest? lot.
TPW at September 3, 2016 1:58 AM
That's the chamber of commerce republicans TPW. The richie rich repubs. The rest of us have to get a job and work for a living. So they often end up in positions of power just because they can afford to wait everyone else out. They hate the tea party with a passion. And they hate Trump too. But not for policy or position but because of style. He is low class with money. Rich but doesn't act like they do.
The tea party/rockefeller split is tearing the republican party apart. Trump isn't really part of either camp but has fallen into that split.
Ben at September 3, 2016 6:34 AM
The real estate magnate clearly doesn't really care about becoming an occupant in an old house that doesn't even have gold faucets. He couldn't care less about having a cramped Oval Office with ground-floor views of - lawn.
Sure, the accomodations and office probably don't get him all excited but don't underestimate the huge ego-stroke being President would be.
That being said, I don't think he'll be that crushed if he loses. However, his huge ego won't let him be perceived as a "loser" so when --- when, not if -- he loses he's going to claim fraud/vote manipulation/whatever.
JD at September 3, 2016 12:30 PM
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