Trump's New Clothes

    In the classic tale The Emperor's New Clothes, a little boy ends up being the only one to point out the emperor's embarrassing lack of attire. Presidential candidate Donald Trump, on the other hand, has virtually been shouting for months, "I'm buck naked, you fools!", and yet the crowd (at least 30-40% of poll respondents, anyway) continues to envision a beautiful Republican Presidential Robe of the Future. Could any serious candidate really say "I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn't lose any voters, OK?" and it actually be true?
    I've been arguing for months on Twitter that Trump doesn't want to win the Republican nomination, much less be president. Nothing else can account for the deliberately outrageous, self-destructive behavior he regularly engages in on the "campaign trail", a euphemism in Trump's mind for an extended screen test/contract negotiation. Trump is never happier than when he's on camera being Trump, and what better place to do that than on his own show?
    The Apprentice was a triumph for Trump, earning him a reported $213 million dollars over fourteen seasons (granted, Trump is the source of that figure.) Trump will turn seventy in June. Another TV show could carry him well into his eighties and secure the legendary status he desires (after all, what's left after being inducted into the WWE, World Wrestling Entertainment, Hall of Fame?)
    Who needs four (or eight) years of constant headaches, having someone else dictate your schedule and itinerary twenty-four hours a day? His tweeted reaction to his Iowa loss ("Ted Cruz didn't win Iowa, he stole it. That is why all of the polls were so wrong and why he got far more votes than anticipated. Bad!") is his last ditch effort to sabotage his chances in New Hampshire and grease the skids for a graceful (?) exit from the race and back to the studio.
    The only thing Donald Trump wants less than being elected president of the United States would be the humiliation of being selected as vice president. Trump is a political Peter Pan - he loves being a candidate, but growing up into the adulthood of office-holder would be the equivalent of the-boy-who-wouldn't-grow-up wearing a business suit or punching a clock every day. This is not to say Trump is not disciplined. He's had his share of success and failure and has so far has ended up back on his feet. Sheer force of personality has taken him far. But president? Not even Trump himself wants to go that far.
    But a lucrative, long-term TV contract to showcase his larger-than-life ego and personality? Now you're talking. When the right one comes along, Trump wants nothing better than to call together his senior campaign staff, point his finger at them, and yell, "You're fired!"

Obama, Meet The Press in September: 'Elections Matter... Votes Matter'

    Even before President Obama declared that all his "policies are on the ballot" in Tuesday's midterm elections, he told Chuck Todd in September's Meet the Press appearance that "if democrats hold the Senate," Republicans should get the message that "their strategy of just obstructing and saying no... is an agenda that the American people reject." The president said that "people want to get stuff done," and a defeat of Republicans would "[give] us room, hopefully, to find some compromises."
    Here's the exchange between Todd and Obama regarding the midterms:

CHUCK TODD: ... A lot not accomplished here... immigration, overhauling the tax system, raising the minimum raise. You brought up these issues yourself. That was with a Democratic Senate. So that's why you look at this. And you sit there and say, "How do things change?" And do you think your presidency is in bigger trouble than if you have a Republican Senate? 

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Well, here's the issue. I think elections matter. I think votes matter. And given the fact that the punditry overwhelmingly felt that this was going... to be a good year for Senate Republicans, because the seats that were up were in states that were tilting or significantly with-- with significant Republican majorities. If we-- if democrats hold the Senate, I think that should get Republicans to once again-- 

CHUCK TODD: You think that sends a national message? 

PRESIDENT OBAMA: I think what it does is-- is to-- to send a message to Republicans that people want to get stuff done. Their-- their strategy of just obstructing and saying no to every piece of legislation that might help middle class families, that might create ladders of opportunity, that that is an agenda that the American people reject. 

And that then gives us room, hopefully, to find some compromises. I've-- I've said this before, Chuck. You know, if you asked me back in August what I want for my birthday, I'd say, "Give me a loyal opposition that has some common sense and is willing to work on some basic issues that didn't used to be partisan issues." 

It didn't use to be that building roads, bridges, improving our airports, improving our water systems, reducing traffic, those didn't used to be partisan issues. They have become partisan issues, because you've got a small portion of the Republican party that is fixated simply on dismantling government or making sure that we don't get anything done around here. And that's why elections matter.

    As the president said to Todd, "I think elections matter. I think votes matter." If the president was sincere, his attitude at Wednesday's scheduled press appearance should be rather conciliatory. But given that the New York Times reported that an anonymous presidential aide said Tuesday night that President Obama "doesn’t feel repudiated" by the elections results, conciliation does not seem likely.


Note: A version of this post first appeared at The Weekly Standard.

Democratic Governors: GOP Stole the House Elections

    With President Obama's State of the Union address coming up Tuesday night, the Washington Post's David Ignatus (on Chris Matthew's show) is wondering...

whether Obama can get out of the zero sum game Washington where to do something good on immigration reform, he's got to, you know, destroy Marco Rubio who is the Republican symbol of progress on that. 

    If the President is taking civility cues from the Democratic Governors Association (DGA), the answer will be a resounding "no."  The DGA posted the following on its website on Monday:

DON'T LET REPUBLICANS STEAL THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES AGAIN 

In the 2012 election, more Americans voted for Democratic members of Congress than Republicans.  Yet tea party darling Eric Cantor is the Majority Leader and John Boehner serves as Speaker -- and they're blocking President Obama's pro-jobs legislation and pushing a right-wing ideological agenda.  They didn't earn those positions; they stole them.

    On the eve of President Obama's most significant speech of the year, the annual address to Congress and the nation from our chief executive, an organization representing the chief executives of nineteen of the states called the current leadership of one of the house of Congress illegitimate. The DGA goes on to cite "gerrymandering" as the explanation for how the GOP managed to steal the elections and maintain control of the House of Representatives.

    Certainly political organizations are terminally hyperbolic in their rhetoric, but the DGA has outdone itself here. The DGA did not specify which of the 17 races required to give the Democrats the House majority were stolen by Cantor and Boehner, but in any case, the leader of the Democrat party will be forced to address the nation Tuesday night with the latter of these two election thieves looking over his shoulder.  One thing is certain: the president will either disappoint the Democratic Governors Association or David Ignatus depending on the tone he chooses.


Note: This article first appeared at The Weekly Standard on February 12, 2013.