WASHINGTON — Donald Trump’s advisers have been loading up his teleprompter with Republican boilerplate and insisting that he stick to it. His supporters have been warning he has to act more thoughtful, more deliberative and more knowledgeable if he wants even a chance of winning the presidency.
All of which raises the question: What happens if Trump heeds this advice and wins?
“That’s such a scary proposition that I’ve blocked it out of my mind,” said John Weaver, who worked for GOP nominee John McCain in 2008 and Ohio Gov. John Kasich during this cycle’s primaries.
Weaver points to the 1972 movie “The Candidate,” the story of an unqualified, unprepared political neophyte who wins a Senate seat. Amid all the election night excitement, a frightened Robert Redford asks his campaign manager: “What do we do now?”
“Trump would be a horror movie version of that scene,” Weaver said.
“Given the quality of people running his campaign and giving him policy guidance now, from Steve Bannon and Dave Bossie to General Flynn, I think it's just as plausible that his government would be staffed by crazy people.”
- Mark Salter, former aide to 2008 GOP nominee John McCain
Weaver is not alone. A common thread among Republicans who are voting for a third-party candidate, not voting at all or even supporting long-reviled Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton is the conviction that Trump’s lack of knowledge of foreign affairs, domestic policy or the military, combined with his mercurial personality, would make him an incompetent president and a dangerous commander in chief.
Mark Salter, also a McCain aide in 2008, said it is absurd to think that Trump at age 70 will change his fundamental character in the next few weeks and actually become more thoughtful, more deliberative or more knowledgeable. “Those qualities are alien to him. You might as well hope that he’ll be fluent in Mandarin Chinese in time for the inauguration,” Salter said.
Yet that fundamental change is exactly what Trump’s supporters predict will happen, once Trump realizes the weight of the responsibilities on his shoulders and the challenges he faces.
Morton Blackwell, a Republican National Committee member from Virginia who supported Texas Sen. Ted Cruz in the primaries, said Trump’s business experience would serve him well. “Any entrepreneur who succeeds greatly over a long time through major ups and downs learns from experience,” Blackwell said, pointing to new campaign manager Kellyanne Conway and running mate Mike Pence as proof of Trump’s ability to learn and make smart decisions.
Randy Evans, an RNC member from Georgia, said he’s seen Trump in his business mode, when he’s exactly the opposite of how he acts at his rallies. “In the business world, he has a different persona. There’s the business Trump. When he’s on TV, there’s the entertainer Trump,” Evans said.
“In the business world, he has a different persona. There’s the business Trump. When he's on TV, there's the entertainer Trump.”
- Randy Evans, Republican National Committee member from Georgia
He said all presidents tend to act more presidential once assuming the job. “I expect the Oval Office will have that effect on him,” Evans said. “The office itself tends to impose a level of decorum.”
Even some Republicans not embracing Trump hope that winds up being true. Matt Mackowiak said that winning the presidency could help Trump calm down and grow up. “He may find inner peace in finally achieving the kind of respect that the office unquestionably affords and which he has been personally seeking much of his adult life,” said Mackowiak, a Texas-based consultant. “I recognize he has not demonstrated self-control, personal growth, or increased policy depth over the past year and it troubles me deeply.”
And if Trump does not in the end calm down or grow up, the massive federal bureaucracy and the constitutionally designed system of checks and balances will block Trump’s worst impulses, Mackowiak said, reflecting a view shared privately by a number of Republicans who are reluctantly supporting Trump because he is their party’s nominee.
In any event, the final, go-to rationale for Republicans uneasy with Trump’s qualifications as well as those who enthusiastically support him is the makeup of the federal bench.
“The 20-plus lawyers and jurists who might be considered for various federal judgeships gives most Republicans confidence President Trump has conservative roots,” Arizona RNC member Bruce Ash said.
But that confidence, the anti-Trumpers say, borders on insanity.
“Nothing he’s done in the past year suggests he is capable of being thoughtful and deliberative for more than about five consecutive minutes in a row,” said Fergus Cullen, a former New Hampshire GOP chairman. “I feel the same way about those who say it’s about the Supreme Court. Why would anyone believe his pledges to appoint conservative judges, on or off the list he released? This is willful self-delusion.”
As for those who believe Trump will bring in respected experts and then take their advice, Salter suggests looking at those he is listening to today. “Given the quality of people running his campaign and giving him policy guidance now, from Steve Bannon and Dave Bossie to General [Michael] Flynn, I think it’s just as plausible that his government would be staffed by crazy people,” Salter said.
“I have less confidence that he will listen to others if he is sworn in as president than he does now as a candidate. In other words, when it comes to advice: He is hopeless.”
- Al Cardenas, former chairman of Republican Party of Florida
Al Cardenas, who ran 1996 nominee Bob Dole’s campaign in Florida and later served as the state party chairman, said that even if Trump were to persuade quality staff to serve in his administration, there was no reason to believe he would take their advice.
He said Trump’s lack of any real friends means that no one is close enough to him to give him unvarnished criticism ― a situation that will only worsen if he wins the presidency. “I have less confidence that he will listen to others if he is sworn in as president than he does now as a candidate,” Cardenas said. “In other words, when it comes to advice: He is hopeless.”
Editor’s note: Donald Trump regularlyincitespolitical violence and is a
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