Even Donald Trump agrees that he doesn’t have the temperament to be President.
In his 1990 book Surviving at the Top, the Republican presidential candidate wrote about his habits and temperament in a strangely honest way:
“My attention span is short and probably my least favorite thing to do is to maintain the status quo. Instead of being content when everything is going fine, I start getting impatient and irritable.”
Impatient and irritable? Sounds about right! Tony Schwartz, Trump’s ghostwriter on his 1987 memoir The Art of the Deal, recalled recently how uninterested Trump was in providing useful information:
“[Schwartz] asked Trump to describe his childhood in detail. After sitting for only a few minutes in his suit and tie, Trump became impatient and irritable.”
There they are again. Those magic words.
If Trump Wins, We Lose
Trump’s short attention span makes sense. He’s a businessman. Not a particularly good businessman, not an honest and upright businessman, but a businessman nonetheless. And like all good businessmen, he likes to win.
“For me, you see, the important thing is the getting…not the having.”
In other words, even if – heaven forbid – Trump wins the election, he wouldn’t know what to do with his victory.
This is why the press wonders aloud if Trump even wants to be President. It also explains why he’s pledged to delegate an obscene amount of responsibilities to his vice president, Mike Pence, if he wins in November.
Impatient and Irritable
While this new discovery is interesting, we don’t really need to dig up some long-lost Trump quote to see what kind of temperament he has. Trump’s whole persona can be best understood by watching his performance in Birmingham, Alabama last year. When a Black Lives Matter protester interrupts his speech, Trump throws a fit:
“Get him the hell outta here!”
Compare Trump’s behavior with Senator Bernie Sanders’ reaction in similar circumstances. A few weeks prior to Trump’s meltdown, two BLM protesters in Seattle interrupted Sanders’ speech and hijacked the stage. Sanders stepped aside, waiting calmly for them to finish. He knows how to be a grownup. He knows that starting a public yelling match is neither mature nor presidential.
Or you could contrast Trump’s behavior with President Obama’s reaction to an immigration reform protester during a 2013 address. Obama stays frosty and then veers off of his speech to deliver a thoughtful, intelligent response to the protester’s concerns. He even goes out of his way to make sure security doesn’t hassle the dude:
“What I’d like to do — no, no. Don’t worry about it, guys. … No, no, no. Let’s — he can stay there.”
Obama, Sanders, and the rest of the Left know how to dialogue with people – including people who don’t agree with them. They’re gracious, poised, and polite. They demonstrate patience and understanding.
In other words, they’re everything Trump is not. Trump is a bully with the temperament of a spoiled child, and even he knows it. That alone should be reason enough to keep him out of the White House.
Featured image from YouTube video.
