Happy one-week since Trump actually got the privilege to (eventually) use the word “President” (in relation to Executive Branch of our government), after the personal pronoun + state of being contraction - “I’m” in a sentence. What that will mean over the next 4 years, or even the next few days is anyone’s guess, but in the end, America will get what it deserves, because obviously we’ve got it comin’ to us.
I typically avoid playing the speculation game, because frankly, it never occurs to me to speculate. Take the movie Rainman. I didn’t even think who Rainman was until Tom Cruise’s character uttered the on-screen dialogue revealing exactly; but one time when I watched it with my son who was 13 at the time, he knew who the Rainman was the very instant the Raymond character was introduced.
Never the less, I see just 3 stages of Trump’s development as President.
1st Stage – “I’m president?”
As many have bandied and lampooned about already, Trump’s first stage - “I’m President?” – was that fish-out-of-water, deer-in-the-headlights, holy hell, everybody’s gonna laugh at me kind of way. The worst part of this stage is over, but Trump certainly still has some transitioning to do before he’s out of it entirely. I mean, he’s still having Twitter fits every once in a while, his Transition is a horror-show, and until Leslie Stahl brought it up in that recent 60 Minutes interview, I’m certain Trump had never given one thought about the implications if states get to legislate abortion access. Still, suffice it to say Trump will get less “what have I done” about his new job in short enough order.
2nd Stage – “I’m President.”
While I’d venture to say most incoming President-elects would start out in the 2nd Stage as a firm acceptance of the roles, traditions and responsibilities the office carries with it because actually knew a few things about it, for Trump it will be more a resigned, mopey teenager tone, like “Crap. My mom says I’m President, so I can’t troll on Twitter. fml”
This stage will likely be the most productive and beneficial stage of Trump’s Presidency … relatively speaking. In it he’ll include some genuine efforts to do the things Presidents should do. I mean, I doubt he’s gonna read policy statements and project proposals into the wee hours, but he’ll go about the burdensome day-to-day stuff as best he can for as long as he can. Eventually, Trump will succumb to the self-sense of entitlement people have when they’ve been indulged like petulant children all their lives, and he’ll get bored and rebel. He’ll get bored with the all the routines, he’ll lash out against all the can’t-do-this & can’t-do-that, and he’ll cringe from all the responsibilities And that’s where Trump enters into his third and final stage.
3rd and Final Stage – “I’M President!”
Call it the Bridezilla meets Diva stage. I’d say we’re already getting some glimmers of it, but he’s got a lot more to learn about the job before he’ll even get close to getting there. Still, at some point – could be within the first 100 days, could be by his first SOTU, maybe before, maybe after – Trump will have an epiphany of self-grandeur that the Presidency isn’t something he has to mold himself into; rather HE just be virtue of being HIMSELF is the incarnation of President. And that’s when shit really hits the fan.
At this stage, Trump will go about doing the Presidency like he did his campaign with nary a concern for anything but the screaming idiots at his rallies, and himself. His WH crony-staffers will be running the pay-for-play operation with Congress, and it’ll be a disgusting orgy of selfish destruction.
Not that America isn’t a lesser, wounded nation just by Trump still being in the 1st Stage, but holy shit, Stage 3 is gonna suck.