"When somebody is the president of the United States, the authority is total. And that's the way it's got to be. It's total."
— Donald Trump
Beyond just being a bad president, Trump's presidency also is strange. It marks a departure from any sort of consistency and logic in terms of reasoning. What Trump says or claims one day, he might do the opposite of the next.
Need examples?
Not too long ago, he was threatening North Korea, claiming (or "joking") about how his nuclear button is bigger, and it works. Now, we appear to be friendly with North Korea and have left South Korea out to dry.
There are plenty of other inconsistencies, as well. Trump claimed he would get inflation under order once president. Now, he claims to "love inflation." He used to rail against "forever wars" and especially pointless wars in the Middle East, going so far as suggesting publicly once that George W. Bush should have been impeached for his role in starting two wars in the Middle East. Now, Trump has gotten us into another forever war in the Middle East. Trump promised to release the Epstein Files/ Now he bends over backwards not to release them as promised. Trump claimed that he would not have time to play golf when president. Instead, he hardly finds time for anything else on weekends. Trump once promised to build a national healthcare system that would be affordable and would cover everybody, and even doubled down by claiming it would be "easy" (his word for it, not mine). Not only did he not lift a finger to make this so, but he now claims that the federal government cannot possibly provide these things for American citizens. Trump claimed that he would pay off the national debt in eight years. In less than six years as president, he and the GOP have instead increased the national debt by over 28%, mostly for his tax cuts for the very wealthiest Americans. Upon first being elected in 2016, Trump promised to be the "president for all Americans." Instead, he has consistently played classic divide and conquer games to polarize Americans like we have never before seen in modern times.
Frankly, I could spend far more time on these inconsistencies, because those are only the truly major ones. But it seems to me that the point is clear. What Trump claims or promises at one point, he often claims or does the exact opposite at other points. The only things that one can truly rely on with the Trump presidency is embarrassing and compromising levels of idiocy and incompetence on a truly stunning level, selfishness, attempts to grab more and more power, blatant corruption, and massive narcissism on an epic scale.
Oh, and one more thing. The inconsistency regarding Trump's former claims in the past and what he says and does now is particularly glaring when it comes to responsibility itself. Trump has flip-flopped on who bears responsibility in a major way from the days before he was ever president. Before he became president, he claimed that a president's responsibility is total, leaving no room for doubts. Time and again since he actually became president, however, he divorces himself from responsibility. The finger of blame pointed forever and always is pointed squarely elsewhere. Anyone and everyone else is responsible for anything and everything that goes wrong on Trump's watch.
Need a fairly recent example?
Trump pointlessly and needlessly drains the Reflecting Pool of the National Mall and it ends up being a very public disaster and waste of taxpayer money? Blame Obama, who by that point has been out of office for almost ten years. The economy is slugging and inflation remains out of control more than 18 months after Trump took office again? Blame Biden. Obama and Biden are the constant targets, as increasingly are the "dumbocrats" more generally.
For all intents and purposes, Trump alters his opinion and pivots his opinions and actions as necessary, all in the name of attempted self-preservation. Here is another, frankly major exception: Back in 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic, he insisted that a president's authority is total just one month after claiming that he takes no responsibility at all:
"When somebody is the president of the United States, the authority is total. And that's the way it's got to be. It's total." — April 13
Not surprisingly, however, Trump predictably backed away from any kind of blame when the failed response by his own White House regarding the coronavirus pandemic was making international headlines. At that point, Trump somehow felt that he should not receive any kind of criticism, despite his previous assertions that a president (and he was then the sitting president) has "total authority":
"No, I don't take responsibility at all." — March 13
What a guy. What a president, eh?
Trump can consistently be counted on to very publicly practice what conservative anti-Trumper Bill Kristol has called the president's "performative authoritarianism." In short, Trump plays the authoritarian strong man for the television cameras and especially to play up to his base of support. Yet, he has equally consistently show a decided lack of interest in doing the actual heavy lifting of doing what it takes to improve conditions in this country, and even to obtain that "total authority" that he so desperately and transparently craves. In large part, this would require actual accountability on his part. But that would compromise Trump's clear and obvious desire to blame someone else whenever things go wrong, especially when it becomes a major news story.
This is, arguably, the most tiresome aspect of Trump's presidency, and it was the same during both terms. Regardless of his former claims that a president has total authority, and despite the lack of logic in terms of how it undermines his strong man image, Trump can be relied upon to find someone else - anyone else, really - to blame if and when things inevitably go wrong. After all, where would Trump be if he could not throw somebody under the bus. Preferably a political enemy, but he has shown a willingness - sometimes even an eagerness, frankly - to throw political allies under the bus whenever necessary.
No wonder many people feel that this total lack of accountability is yet one more of a long series of examples for why it seems there are no longer any adults in the room in the Trump White House.
Below are the links to the two articles which got me on this topic, and from which I obtained the specific quotes used above. Take a look:
The buck stops somewhere else: Trump takes blame game to a new level Story by Will Weissert • 2d • 5 min read
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/the-buck-stops-somewhere-else-trump-takes-blame-game-to-a-new-level/ar-AA2abMh1?ocid=msedgntp&pc=HCTS&cvid=6a81bcd514824f74aa8caec76838a165&ei=18
The buck stops somewhere else: Trump takes blame game to a new level
Trump's 'total authority' boast should've enraged Republicans. Instead they shrugged. by Charlie Sykes, April 16, 2020:
For decades, conservatives have pointed to the 10th Amendment as the very essence of decentralized government. Now, it's not clear what Trump's GOP supporters believe.
https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/trump-s-total-authority-boast-should-ve-enraged-republicans-instead-ncna1184806
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