In Marlowe’s classic The Tragical History of Dr. Faustus the protagonist makes a deal with Mephistopholes for riches and power for 24 years in exchange for his soul. Time flys and soon enough the doctor finds that the devil plays for keeps. Literature is full of stories with this theme. The variant I find intriguing is when the person asks for something and gets it but in a form or setting he didn’t anticipate. Or, the desired object/position comes with horrifying baggage. “You want that beautiful woman or devastatingly handsome man all to yourself? Sure, they’re yours. Oh, you didn’t specify that you wanted them like they are today.”
This moral of be careful what you wish for is playing out in Shakespearean intensity before our eyes. Trump’s most powerful desire is for adulation from, and dominance over, others. On November 9 he woke to his fantasy dream.
He has it but what he got is not what he asked for. He lost the popular vote and he knows it. Millions all over the world hate him. The office requires hard, tedious, work. The press (most of it) constantly criticizes him, and, for the worst, the press and elites do not, or are quickly, losing respect for him.
Mephistopheles: You assumed winning meant that you would get what you wanted? Ah, those who deal with me make this mistake. No, what you will get is what you have feared more than anything your entire life.
Trump has caused great damage to the office and the country. But human nature what it is, perhaps sooner than later, he will curse the day he made that deal.