Going back to the original post of the thread, which I always do for really old threads like this, it looks like becoming POTUS was important enough for Trump to spend a ton of his cash to first buy the GOP nomination and then to hold rallies all over the countryside to energize his base. He did have a message. The message was essentially that he was a deal maker and saw himself as better qualified to be POTUS than anybody else.Ormond wrote: ↑June 24th, 2016, 10:20 am This thread will examine whether Donald Trump actually wants to be President. I will start by listing some arguments against, feel free to counter with the opposing case.
1) Trump is not doing the serious fund raising which is usually the backbone of a Presidential campaign.
2) Trump is not the building the nation wide organization necessary to identify swing voters and craft messages necessary to win them over.
3) Trump appears not to be modifying his message from the primary to the general election, as is standard in all other campaigns.
4) The salary of President wouldn't motivate Trump given he's already a billionaire.
5) Ideology doesn't seem to motivate Trump given his loose relationship with any stated position.
6) The Washington press corp will have a gotcha field day with Trump given how often he shifts his positions. In addition, they will dig their way in to the nitty gritty details of Trumps personal and business life, in the endless search for dirt.
7) Democrats will of course demonize Trump in a manner that will make their relationship with George Bush look like a love affair.
8) The last thing the Republican leaders want is for a President Trump to hang around, be successful and take over the party. Expect lots of quiet back stabbing behind the scenes.
9) Trump voters are not really loyal to Trump personally, they are just using him to make a larger point. If Trump should experience failures, I predict they will abandon him as quickly as they adopted him. Trump without the "we are winners!" message is nothing.
10) Actually being President is a huge pain in the butt, with seemingly insolvable problems being shoved in one's face on a daily basis. Is this really want Trump wants to do with the rest of his life?
Given the above, a theory to explain Trump.
Trump is a business man. His business is his brand, his name, himself. I think he entered the race to build his brand, and so far it's going great.
But what happens to his brand if he wins and then has a failed Presidency, due to a lack of support from all established power blocks?
I predict Trump's goal is to lose the race in a narrow vote so he can get out of all this Presidential hassle still claiming a triumph of sorts, and then carry on with the business of renting his now enhanced brand to the highest bidder.
It turns out he was very lucky to be running against such a financially corrupt opponent. The election turned out to me more of a referendum against Hillary than a vote for anybody in particular.