Did Trump want to win?

[KSRBEvans]

My theory, with no facts whatsoever to back it up, has always been that Trump ran for President assuming he'd lose but it would be good publicity for his business enterprises (some have speculated he wanted to launch the Trump News Network afterward). But he kept winning, so he kept running and now he's President.

If you believe this NY Magazine story, that's not far from the truth:

Donald Trump Didn’t Want to Be President--One year ago: the plan to lose, and the administration’s shocked first days

[CitizenBBN]

I know that's been a theory really since he announced, and I can see the case for it, but I"m not convinced.

I think it made it easier for him to run, thinking there wasn't much downside to getting in and being an also ran b/c of the PR, but no matter where it started IMO the position requires us to accept that a man we all agree is a raging egomaniac doesn't really want to attain the most ego feeding position in the world and instead was acting more like a Machiavellian schemer.

Honestly I don't see anything that Machiavellian in Trump's history nor has he ever been the guy to pull strings from behind the curtain. He wants to be the guy up on the stage, and I can't imagine a job that suits his ego better than PResident.

Now did he do it for ego, for the nation, for whatever? IMO no one runs for the office purely for one reason. I think we all make decisions with all those factors. I think they all do think they can help the country in some way, though I imagine they tell themselves that more than it's really the reason. Ego is a huge factor for most of them. Hillary's is surely the equal of Trump's for example.

I imagine most who run do so with a mix of those reasons, and I imagine they all think it will help their careers and income even if they don't win, so in that regard I don't see Trump as different except his may be about his actual businesses and not as much about book tours and lobbyist money and political power within their party, etc.

I will say I don't trust anything from the media much anymore, and that's not to condemn the article or the link to it. I just think we've reached a point where we were at about the time of the Spanish American war in journalism, where the "sources", the reporters, the editors, and the owners of the papers are all so hell bent for stories the truth is not even on the list. I think it's even worse for Trump b/c he's such a lightning rod, but I think it's true far beyond just him. It's Hearst and Pulitzer all over again these days, with Fox and CNN fighting the same as those guys did, over money.


So let's say I'm skeptical, but I wouldn't be shocked. Then again I don't think Hillary was running for any reason other than their own power and enrichment either. I think Obama ran as an ideologue, that Bush II ran b/c he could and he's a Bush, Carter was sincere if ineffectual, and Reagan was sincere and effectual but had a LOT of men behind the curtains too. IMO few run to just "serve the nation" per se. I think Reagan and Carter saw themselves in that role, not sure about any others in my lifetime.

[KeithKSR]

Trump may have run just to be known as the guy that fixed Obama's screw ups.

[suncat05]

How, and why in the world would anyone out themselves through all of the crap these candidates go through and not want to win the party nomination, and then the General Election?
I'm calling BS here. Every single candidate that throws their hat in the ring for the White House prize wants to win.

[badrose]

If he didn't want to win he did a poor job of trying to lose. The things he ran on spoke to a lot of folks who wanted and needed those policies to become a reality. He has said some things that made me cringe but it's hard not to love what he's done so far.

[Doc]

So now Hilary got beat by a white supremacist, mysogenistic egomaniac who didn't want to win? Wow, she must be worse than even I thought.

[CitizenBBN]

So now Hilary got beat by a white supremacist, mysogenistic egomaniac who didn't want to win? Wow, she must be worse than even I thought.

lol. Well she is pretty bad, you may be convincing me of BEvan's take on things....

[CitizenBBN]

If he didn't want to win he did a poor job of trying to lose. The things he ran on spoke to a lot of folks who wanted and needed those policies to become a reality. He has said some things that made me cringe but it's hard not to love what he's done so far.

Maybe he has one of those bets going like in Trading Places, where he bet some other billionaire a dollar he could win the Presidency and fix the economy all while being a crass street talking New Yorker with a bad attitude.

So far he's winning the bet. lol

He's an endless stream of uncontrolled childishness, but he's getting a lot done while doing it, so maybe there is some method to the madness. Or he's just simultaneously offensive and effective.

[DanISSELisdaman]

Nobody works as hard as Trump did during the campaign, without wanting to win.

[CitizenBBN]

Nobody works as hard as Trump did during the campaign, without wanting to win.

Good point.

And he pursued a winning strategy. He went to Pennsylvania et al and was absolutely using their internal numbers to make sound campaign decisions, targeting states they could flip.

If he wanted to lose he could have stayed away from those areas, even in the primaries he could have campaigned in ways that werent' smart. Really he ran a good campaign other than not being able to keep his trap shut about the non-issues.

Seriously, if he just didn't go into the personal attacks and petty crap you'd have to say he's a very capable politician. He could have lost if he wanted to lose.

Now maybe he didnt' start thinking he could win, but IMO when he saw that door opening he went through it more than willingly.

[DanISSELisdaman]

Yep, I agree!

[KeithKSR]

What I find funny is that the "Trump didn't really want to win" mantra is inconsistent with the Russian collusion narrative being spouted by the same talking heads.

[DanISSELisdaman]

Yep, if he didn't want to win, there was no need for collusion!

[badrose]

Trump has got to be the most dichotomous president ever and becoming more so. I voted for him and I like what he's achieved so far but good grief, the guy can't get out of his own way when he opens his mouth. Somebody needs to reign him in.