Thursday, May 26, 2016

Trump's Vice President Might have a Big Job

Paul Manafort, the chairman of Trump's campaign, gave an interview to the Huffington Post about a lot of things. I found this the most interesting part:
The vice presidential pick will also be part of the process of proving he’s ready for the White House, Manafort said.

“He needs an experienced person to do the part of the job he doesn’t want to do. He seems himself more as the chairman of the board, than even the CEO, let alone the COO.”

“There is a long list of who that person could be,” Manafort added, “and every one of them has major problems.”

The campaign probably won’t choose a woman or a member of a minority group, he said. “In fact, that would be viewed as pandering, I think.”
So Trump doesn't really want to run the government; he'll hire some schlub as Vice President for that job. But it seems Trump and Manafort are having trouble finding the perfect person. After all, the VP has to be up to doing most of the president's job, but on the other hand has to be willing and able to work under a meglomaniacal boss who changes his mind at the drop of a hat; plus it has to be a white man because anything else would be pandering.

Being Trump's VP seems a fascinating challenge. The job might make you the most powerful person in the world, provided you could manage your boss effectively. Does Chris Christie want that assignment? Bob Corker? We'll see.

And of course Trump is going to win, says Manafort;
He’s gonna win. He’s gonna win unless we — meaning people like me — screw it up. This is not a hard race.

3 comments:

G. Verloren said...

"And of course Trump is going to win, says Manafort;

He’s gonna win. He’s gonna win unless we — meaning people like me — screw it up. This is not a hard race."


There's a Scottish proverb I picked up recently which I rather like, and which I think applies here.

"A wise man wavers, a fool is fixed."

Unknown said...

It seems like what Trump wants is a Prime Minister. Given Trump's personality, Putin's PM, Dmitry Medvedev, would fit the bill nicely (if, you know, he were an American and not already working for Putin).

Our government is actually somewhat unusual among modern democracies in not using the Head of State/Prime Minister pairing. But usually one or the other ends up playing an almost entirely symbolic role, like contemporary European monarchs. France is the only democratic government I can think of where the idea is that both still have real power.

Maybe Hillary should start saying Trump is inspired by the French political model--the Republicans would desert him in droves!

G. Verloren said...

@David

I'm pretty sure most Republicans supporting him would just say, "French? What are you talking about? That doesn't make any sense! Hilary is a liar! A liar! How dare she lie to us? This is why you can't trust Democrats! They're all liars! Vote Trump! He's honest!"