Donald Trump Admits This Whole Presidenting Thing Is Much Harder Than He Realized
Donald Trump had North Korea all figured out … until Chinese President Xi Jinping gave him a ten minute lesson in the history of the region. Trump was ready to destroy NAFTA … until Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau gave him a ten minute talk on the damage such a move would generate for the regional economy. Thanks to other world leaders stepping up to take Trump’s tiny hand and guide him forward in baby steps, the world has so far avoided irreversible disaster. But all this learning and not just doing the first thing that comes to mind … it’s all so hard.
President Donald Trump on Thursday reflected on his first 100 days in office with a wistful look at his life before the White House.
"I loved my previous life. I had so many things going," Trump told Reuters in an interview. "This is more work than in my previous life. I thought it would be easier."
Trump isn’t getting to sleep until noon. He never gets to go on the radio and brag about the women he’s assaulted. And while there’s good money in strong-arming foreign governments to give him things, it’s just way slower than duping a bunch of investors into paying for some never-to-be-built condos. Seriously, this job is a drag.
He misses driving, feels as if he is in a cocoon, and is surprised how hard his new job is.
Since Trump’s election, a lot of effort has gone into pouring over the 25th Amendment, and Reuter’s fresh Trump interview demonstrates just how badly it’s needed. But maybe those never-used paragraphs won’t be needed. Because Trump could just follow one of his heroes. Richard Nixon has already demonstrated that the president can simply leave.
If you’re looking for the obsessive, eye-popping bit of inanity present in every interview with Trump, here you go …
More than five months after his victory and two days shy of the 100-day mark of his presidency, the election is still on Trump's mind. Midway through a discussion about Chinese President Xi Jinping, the president paused to hand out copies of what he said were the latest figures from the 2016 electoral map.
"Here, you can take that, that's the final map of the numbers," the Republican president said from his desk in the Oval Office, handing out maps of the United States with areas he won marked in red. "It’s pretty good, right? The red is obviously us."
Trump still finds it so necessary to stroke that one touchstone of victory that he’s handing out election maps to visiting reporters half a year later. See? I won. See? I’m great. See? Do you see?
He had copies for each of the three Reuters reporters in the room.
Of course he did. But Trump has other means of getting a little ego-boo at regular intervals.
He frequently turns to outside friends and former business colleagues for advice and positive reinforcement. Senior aides say they are resigned to it.
The interview is brief, but it confirms the image of Trump painted by every other visit into his White House. This is a man so badly over his head that he spends more time trying to reassure himself that he deserves to be where he is. Which he doesn’t. So … over and over he goes in an obsessive loop.
This also shows the real danger of media coverage that rewards Trump for taking military action. A note that sending missiles makes him a real president is probably the worst thing anyone could say — and you can bet he keeps that article tacked up on his wall, Zakaria.
