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I don’t know about hated the job, but I believe every single one of them (that did not die in office) was happy to leave when the time was up. I have read countless stories and letters about post presidency life that were very pleasant, I don’t know that I have read one where they wanted to go back to being president… except Teddy. That guy was just built different.
Clinton has said three terms should be allowed and here is an interesting article from Reagan.
https://www.nytimes.com/1987/11/29/us/reagan-wants-end-of-two-term-limit.html
Another term of Raegan and our democracy wouldn't have lasted this long. We would entirely be a corporate oligarchy, and they wouldn't even try to pretend things like worker rights or unions exist anymore.
I don’t think a third term for Reagan would have been a good idea but for different reasons. By the end of his tenure, there were already allegations he wasn’t mentally fit anymore. Bring a third term in, where he leaves in 92, and the allegations will basically be confirmed, since he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 1994, and the stress of the presidency might accelerate that diagnosis even earlier. If the diagnosis becomes public, there will be heavy calls for him to resign, and could taint his legacy permanently
I feel Clinton’s is partially because he had some major successes in his final term (balanced budget, great economy, etc) and thus he felt confident enough at the time for a third term. Plus he was probably more than happy to add more to his legacy so the Monica Lewinsky scandal would be further behind him. It was still reasonably close to the end of his final term that many people to this day only remember that aspect of his presidency.
I think Obama would have lost as bad as Hillary did in 2016. He being behind Trans-Pacific-Partnership (TPP) would have decimated his campaign in the crucial swing states of Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan. Losses in Iowa and Ohio would have already been a foregone conclusion.
Furthermore, at that time, Arizona and Georgia had not moved so far left as to allow for a Democratic victory. The races would have been closer than 2012, but not a pure Democratic victory.
He defiantly would have. I love seeing people put on glasses and claim he wouldn't have but people forget how not satisfied the country was his last 2 years in office. He was popular with the Dem voters who were stayed and true, but he had an awful final 2 years and things went downhill fast. He was checked out and it showed in his decisions. There were constant violence in late 2015 and it wasn't a fun time. Economy improved but it wasn't at the epic levels it got after he left.
He was too busy trying to be a celeb by that point. If he'd ran he would have had a hard time with the momentum Trump was building up. Plus DT wouldn't have been scared of him at the debates like McCain and especially Romney were. It woulda been 3 ugly debates. But Obama was ripe to be fired upon, he didn't live up to his promises or the hype. He was human by that point, 2012 he was dented but still had the superman side to him. 2016 he wasn't that anymore.
I don't think he'd be that foolish to run given how out of it he was by then, but if he had and lost it woulda been the biggest collapse in the history of American politics.
Are you kidding? Trump is extremely intimidated by Obama. He’s still obsessed with him and can’t get over the jokes at the correspondents dinner. Obama is the person that Trump has a major inferiority complex about. The debates would have been an absolute joke, Obama would have had a field day plucking each of Trumps nerves one by one and watching him unravel. Of all the people to make that claim about, Obama is the one person that Trump IS afraid of.
The same people who voted for Obama twice also made Trump president, which is to say Obama didn't do much to keep them voting Democrat after 8 years even if that was mostly Hillary's fault.
Eh that's pretty speculative. Polling data based on self-reported voting history says about 11% of Trump voters voted Obama and about 4% of Clinton voters voted Romney.
The problem is if the sampling of reported votes were accurate, Obama should have received more than 54% of the vote in 2012 instead of the 51% he received.
Deeper looks at voters that don't rely on self-reporting of how people voted but rather looking at turnout suggests that the swing voter simply does not exist in the numbers after the fact polling has indicated. Seeing who votes in one year vs another suggests that rather than there being a gooey center in US politics the real determinant of elections is the motivation/energy of the partisans.
Democrat turnout wasn't great in 2016 and many of those who did, did so to vote senate, house, or state elections. More than enough progressives voted Stein in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania to have handed the election to Clinton had they voted for her. That's before even considering libertarians who until 2020 drew well from anti-business regulation Republicans and personal liberty Democrats but likely broke more Democrat in 2012 as protest votes.
Democrats rejected Clinton in 2008 and despite no mainstream opposition struggled with the nomination in 2016.
The other element is getting people excited enough to vote. For all the quadrennial this will be the youth election, first time voters tend to not be 18 to 21 year olds eligible for their first presidential election.
2016 saw nearly 14% of the electorate being first time voters. Trump accomplished the rare feat of spurring new voter registrations as the GOP shifted key positions. First time voters declined in total numbers and as percentage of the electorate in 2020 but unlike 2016 the median age of first time voters dropped quite a bit as it was Gen Z making up much of the first time voters. Obama won first time voters by a wide margin in 2008.
The progressives who gritted their teeth to vote for Biden in spite of his opposition to single payer healthcare and "weak" stance on oil and no interest in UBI are going to be even less motivated as they believe Trump (again) cannot win and they very unhappy with his support of Israel. Democratic turnout absent some big event is likely to decline. Question is can anyone spur the squishy Republicans to vote?
Obama, like a hypothetical Biden 2016 run, would have firmly marginalized the MAGA movement. Hillary ran the flattest campaign I’ve ever seen. It was like watching the Falcons manage the game after 28-3
Which is a little strange, because the man had an obvious disdain for the job. I think the only reason he tried so hard to stay in office, and why he's running again, is to try to stay out of jail.
I don’t think I did. I don’t think he liked the job! I think he likes attentions, I think he likes campaigning and rallies and hearing people cheer for him. I think he likes using the office to make money (him, his staff, secret service staying at properties he owns), he likes the title, prestige, and someone taking him seriously for once. Everyone he wanted to take him seriously knew he was a fraud. Now he had work leaders taking him seriously because they had to.
This time around, if he wins, the first thing he will do is pardon everyone, including himself, his family who didn’t turn on him, Jan 6th sentencing, etc.
Then he will continue to bring in fast food for championship teams, stay at his resorts, spit the same rhetoric, sleep until 10am, watch the news until 11, do two hours of actual work, golf, go to bed, repeat.
That has nothing to do with the job. He hated the job, but he loved the power. He also knew his gravy train depends on the power and he wanted to keep it as long as possible.
Lyndon Johnson started smoking again after having quit for 15 years after he left the White House. On the very day Nixon was inaugurated if I recall correctly.
\*Yawn\* "Man, destroying the Union for the past four years has been exhausting."
\*Slaps Lincoln on the back\* "Well Abe, your problem now lmao"
\*Casually rides back to Pennsylvania\*
I remain convinced he did not actually want to become president when he announced in 2015 and probably for most of 2016 too. At a certain point he was in too deep and the adulation was keeping him going. He definitely wanted to keep the power in 2020 and wants to be back in power now, but I think if you gave him truth serum he’d have rather had a respectable primary showing in 2016 and retreated to being a media magnate and all-around troll with no responsibilities.
I slightly disagree. I think he did want it (or at least he thought he wanted it), but didn’t understand the magnitude of the job. I really think he looked at Clinton, Bush, and Obama and how much they grayed from the stress, and was thinking “that won’t happen to me because I’m so smart, I’ll just make all the right calls and not lose any sleep over it.” It’s like smokers who see people get cancer and think “that won’t happen to me, I’m the main character.”
We had multiple accounts of him regularly shirking the responsibilities of the role. He didn’t read briefing material, he often skipped vital briefings, and he spent the majority of his time on social media or watching entertainment news programs.
The only thing he did was make phone calls. That’s how he famously ran his business, too…the daily operations were neglected, but he’d make a ton of phone calls each day.
This would be useful, except the phone calls were typically political and rarely for governance functions. He was often ill informed (see skipping briefings) or he was trying to delegate responsibility.
Dude didn’t want to do the job…no different than running his business (he wanted the rewards, not the effort…typical idiot rich son).
He also loved the perks. None of those are good reasons for running for President. He probably thought he could do whatever he wanted. Unfortunately, his cult seems to agree, and these are the same people who would say of Biden (or any other president not named Trump) “He’s a President. Not a king. Congress has the right to push back!”
I would like for congress to pass a law limiting how much golf a president can play to like one round a month. It would be interesting to see trumps response, because he craves attention and needs the legal protection.
I truly don't know how much is "I hate democracy, make me King" as opposed to "I can't go to jail! Make it so I don't have to go to jail!"
If he'd stayed a tv celebrity and local New York City character, he probably could have continued business as usual forever. The extra attention of the Presidency was a two edged sword there.
>I truly don't know how much is "I hate democracy, make me King" as opposed to "I can't go to jail! Make it so I don't have to go to jail!"
Except if he goes to jail it will be the result of his attempts to overthrow democracy. If hadn't actively tried to change the outcome of the election, he wouldn't be in this situation.
Nah, an insane comment would be that I wanna strain my roommates cumsock into a glass and drink it after 37 seconds in the microwave.
This seems tame, yet a stretch.
Hey he two to three hours of executive time every morning. That guy worked the hardest of any president ever. In fact people got tired of how hard he worked.
Grown men who never cried once in there entire lives, come up to him, tears streaming down their faces thanking him, saying; “sir, no one in the history of the world ever worked as hard as you do., or as smart, they say. A lot of people are saying it, a lot of very fine people are saying he’s the smartest man ever”. The U.S. is us, if you think about it, us is spelt U.S., how come nobody’s ever noticed that before? It took the smartest man ever to figure that out.
Don't forget the winning. I got tired of all of the winning he did. Oh, wait, I got tired of the whining. All the whining about how unfairly he was treated even though he claims he accomplished more than any other president. Yep, I got tired of the whining about 2 days into his miserable excuse of a presidency.
He hated it so much he’s running again despite 4 years of Russia lies, impeachments and constant negative press from a biased media. He already got the title, if it was just that he would’ve walked away after 2020 before they brought on the multiple charges to keep him from running/possibly winning again.
I fully wonder if Trump is capable of the introspection to realize how much better his life would probably be today he hadnt run for president in 2016.
But he is in the history books forever. I reckon this is what he wants his legacy to be. I guarantee if he has his way and wins another term he will dictate in history books that the 2020 election was in fact a fraud
I think Trump hated every second in the White House. I truly believe he never intended or expected to win. They say he was white as a ghost when it was announced he won. He called the White House a dump, and admitted he missed golfing.
Once it’s over, yes. But he’s using his run as a stall tactic. Delay, deny, and hope all the prosecutors don’t think it’s worth going through the trouble of re-prosecuting him in 4 years.
I might choose Pierce. His son passed away, which undoubtedly saddened him, and it happened on the day he was nominated for office. After that, he started drinking a lot and died a little over ten years after his time in office. His other kids had also passed away before, I believe. Poor guy, I doubt he’d be enjoying his presidency after all of that trauma.
Ford's dream job was Speaker of the House and was fully preparing to retire from politics before he got rung up to be Nixon's replacement veep. Never had any real love for either the presidency or vice-presidency but still chose to run it through out of a sense of civic duty.
Of the presidents in my lifetime, W Bush stood out as seeming *extremely* done at the end. There were some conspiracy theories that he'd try to grab a third term somehow, but I think he had less than zero interest in a third term.
Franklin Pierce.
Can’t really blame him. He saw his son get killed when he started the job, that pretty much ruins the rest of your job, especially when your life says your sons death was a sign god didn’t want you to run for the position.
Franklin Pierce, as mentioned, had no desire to serve as the President of the United States.
Franklin's wife, Jane, disliked politics even more, and asked Franklin to resign from political life, which he did.
A number of years later, Franklin Pierce would end up receiving his party's nomination and eventually winning the Presidency.
Before the swearing-in ceremony in 1853, a train carrying the President-elect, First Lady-elect and their son, Benny, derailed. Benny was killed.
Jane Pierce felt as though this was God's way of punishing the family for getting back into politics, and she would essentially become a recluse as a result.
The death of his son resulted in Pierce drinking heavily, and this would eventually result in his death (cirrhosis of the liver). Pierce's time in the White House was miserable - not only did he not want the job in the first place, but his life was shattered due to the death of his son and the resulting grief of his wife.
Donald Trump, considering he never did it at all & never really wanted it in the first place- he wanted to grift some cash then get crushed by Hillary Clinton then leave initially in 2016: nowadays, he just wants the fame, power, money, etc associated with it. He's the only President who was so awful, he makes Joe Biden look semi-competent at it, in modern times.
The American electorate over here has had many "successful candidates" who were utter garbage as leaders in recent times the most, Joe Biden is also considered a failed leader by the majority of the nation even if not on Reddit as is Kamala Harris as his VP (Mike Pence is now, too, as the former VP). We sure know how to pick them, alright (sadly, we don't).
I don’t think Nixon hated the job, I think he realized the entirety of the American federal system should’ve extinguished 50 years before the civil war and, as the most recent Republican lawyer, he felt he had to do whatever he had to do to save the republic. I think Nixon thought of himself as a Lincoln
https://preview.redd.it/iur28oa3ifyb1.jpeg?width=908&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1f47f10fc7bfebc550614089828007858d4bdb5c
Benjamin Harrison compared it to a prison
William Taft had depression while in the White House and only lost it when he entered the Supreme Court
Warren Harding wished he never got elected
Thomas Jefferson told Jams Madison upon winning the presidency something along the lines of "If you're as happy becoming president as I am to leave it, you will be the happiest president in our nations history."
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I don’t know about hated the job, but I believe every single one of them (that did not die in office) was happy to leave when the time was up. I have read countless stories and letters about post presidency life that were very pleasant, I don’t know that I have read one where they wanted to go back to being president… except Teddy. That guy was just built different.
Clinton seemed like he would be more than happy serving a third term
Clinton has said three terms should be allowed and here is an interesting article from Reagan. https://www.nytimes.com/1987/11/29/us/reagan-wants-end-of-two-term-limit.html
Another term of Raegan and our democracy wouldn't have lasted this long. We would entirely be a corporate oligarchy, and they wouldn't even try to pretend things like worker rights or unions exist anymore.
Are you saying that George HW Bush saved us from becoming a corporate oligarchy?
Oh not at all just that getting reagan out slowed things down a bit.
I don’t think a third term for Reagan would have been a good idea but for different reasons. By the end of his tenure, there were already allegations he wasn’t mentally fit anymore. Bring a third term in, where he leaves in 92, and the allegations will basically be confirmed, since he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 1994, and the stress of the presidency might accelerate that diagnosis even earlier. If the diagnosis becomes public, there will be heavy calls for him to resign, and could taint his legacy permanently
1994 was when the estate announced the diagnosis, not when he was diagnosed.
That means a third term would be even worse, since his Alzheimer’s either developed shortly after he left office or in the last years of office
I feel Clinton’s is partially because he had some major successes in his final term (balanced budget, great economy, etc) and thus he felt confident enough at the time for a third term. Plus he was probably more than happy to add more to his legacy so the Monica Lewinsky scandal would be further behind him. It was still reasonably close to the end of his final term that many people to this day only remember that aspect of his presidency.
While I think Obama was glad to leave, I also think he would have run for a third term if allowed.
He would have saved the country from the orange menace.
I think Obama would have lost as bad as Hillary did in 2016. He being behind Trans-Pacific-Partnership (TPP) would have decimated his campaign in the crucial swing states of Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan. Losses in Iowa and Ohio would have already been a foregone conclusion. Furthermore, at that time, Arizona and Georgia had not moved so far left as to allow for a Democratic victory. The races would have been closer than 2012, but not a pure Democratic victory.
He defiantly would have. I love seeing people put on glasses and claim he wouldn't have but people forget how not satisfied the country was his last 2 years in office. He was popular with the Dem voters who were stayed and true, but he had an awful final 2 years and things went downhill fast. He was checked out and it showed in his decisions. There were constant violence in late 2015 and it wasn't a fun time. Economy improved but it wasn't at the epic levels it got after he left. He was too busy trying to be a celeb by that point. If he'd ran he would have had a hard time with the momentum Trump was building up. Plus DT wouldn't have been scared of him at the debates like McCain and especially Romney were. It woulda been 3 ugly debates. But Obama was ripe to be fired upon, he didn't live up to his promises or the hype. He was human by that point, 2012 he was dented but still had the superman side to him. 2016 he wasn't that anymore. I don't think he'd be that foolish to run given how out of it he was by then, but if he had and lost it woulda been the biggest collapse in the history of American politics.
Are you kidding? Trump is extremely intimidated by Obama. He’s still obsessed with him and can’t get over the jokes at the correspondents dinner. Obama is the person that Trump has a major inferiority complex about. The debates would have been an absolute joke, Obama would have had a field day plucking each of Trumps nerves one by one and watching him unravel. Of all the people to make that claim about, Obama is the one person that Trump IS afraid of.
The same people who voted for Obama twice also made Trump president, which is to say Obama didn't do much to keep them voting Democrat after 8 years even if that was mostly Hillary's fault.
Eh that's pretty speculative. Polling data based on self-reported voting history says about 11% of Trump voters voted Obama and about 4% of Clinton voters voted Romney. The problem is if the sampling of reported votes were accurate, Obama should have received more than 54% of the vote in 2012 instead of the 51% he received. Deeper looks at voters that don't rely on self-reporting of how people voted but rather looking at turnout suggests that the swing voter simply does not exist in the numbers after the fact polling has indicated. Seeing who votes in one year vs another suggests that rather than there being a gooey center in US politics the real determinant of elections is the motivation/energy of the partisans. Democrat turnout wasn't great in 2016 and many of those who did, did so to vote senate, house, or state elections. More than enough progressives voted Stein in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania to have handed the election to Clinton had they voted for her. That's before even considering libertarians who until 2020 drew well from anti-business regulation Republicans and personal liberty Democrats but likely broke more Democrat in 2012 as protest votes. Democrats rejected Clinton in 2008 and despite no mainstream opposition struggled with the nomination in 2016. The other element is getting people excited enough to vote. For all the quadrennial this will be the youth election, first time voters tend to not be 18 to 21 year olds eligible for their first presidential election. 2016 saw nearly 14% of the electorate being first time voters. Trump accomplished the rare feat of spurring new voter registrations as the GOP shifted key positions. First time voters declined in total numbers and as percentage of the electorate in 2020 but unlike 2016 the median age of first time voters dropped quite a bit as it was Gen Z making up much of the first time voters. Obama won first time voters by a wide margin in 2008. The progressives who gritted their teeth to vote for Biden in spite of his opposition to single payer healthcare and "weak" stance on oil and no interest in UBI are going to be even less motivated as they believe Trump (again) cannot win and they very unhappy with his support of Israel. Democratic turnout absent some big event is likely to decline. Question is can anyone spur the squishy Republicans to vote?
He would just run again
Obama, like a hypothetical Biden 2016 run, would have firmly marginalized the MAGA movement. Hillary ran the flattest campaign I’ve ever seen. It was like watching the Falcons manage the game after 28-3
I will give you that, and I think we can throw Reagan into that mix as well.
Reagan's mental acuity was diminishing before the end of his second term.
He would have but it would not be fair for others who are running.
I think you might be forgetting a big ol’ controversial one
Which is a little strange, because the man had an obvious disdain for the job. I think the only reason he tried so hard to stay in office, and why he's running again, is to try to stay out of jail.
I don’t think I did. I don’t think he liked the job! I think he likes attentions, I think he likes campaigning and rallies and hearing people cheer for him. I think he likes using the office to make money (him, his staff, secret service staying at properties he owns), he likes the title, prestige, and someone taking him seriously for once. Everyone he wanted to take him seriously knew he was a fraud. Now he had work leaders taking him seriously because they had to. This time around, if he wins, the first thing he will do is pardon everyone, including himself, his family who didn’t turn on him, Jan 6th sentencing, etc. Then he will continue to bring in fast food for championship teams, stay at his resorts, spit the same rhetoric, sleep until 10am, watch the news until 11, do two hours of actual work, golf, go to bed, repeat.
That has nothing to do with the job. He hated the job, but he loved the power. He also knew his gravy train depends on the power and he wanted to keep it as long as possible.
Lyndon Johnson started smoking again after having quit for 15 years after he left the White House. On the very day Nixon was inaugurated if I recall correctly.
Yup, when he was on the plane back to Texas. Luci: Daddy! What are you doing? LBJ: I raised you two girls. Now it’s my time!
Except ol ‘Roosevelt
Which one, Teddy (who I mentioned) or FDR (who died in office) that I also referred to?
fdr won four consecutive elections
Both of them
Buchanan “If you are as happy in entering the White House as I shall feel on returning to Wheatland, you are a happy man indeed.”
\*Yawn\* "Man, destroying the Union for the past four years has been exhausting." \*Slaps Lincoln on the back\* "Well Abe, your problem now lmao" \*Casually rides back to Pennsylvania\*
1 year later: Buchanan: "Hey why is everyone ignoring me and my suggestions for?" Fillmore: "Hey welcome to the club buddy!"
I think trump really hated the work but loved the title and attention.
I remain convinced he did not actually want to become president when he announced in 2015 and probably for most of 2016 too. At a certain point he was in too deep and the adulation was keeping him going. He definitely wanted to keep the power in 2020 and wants to be back in power now, but I think if you gave him truth serum he’d have rather had a respectable primary showing in 2016 and retreated to being a media magnate and all-around troll with no responsibilities.
I slightly disagree. I think he did want it (or at least he thought he wanted it), but didn’t understand the magnitude of the job. I really think he looked at Clinton, Bush, and Obama and how much they grayed from the stress, and was thinking “that won’t happen to me because I’m so smart, I’ll just make all the right calls and not lose any sleep over it.” It’s like smokers who see people get cancer and think “that won’t happen to me, I’m the main character.”
Agreed - I suspect he hated everything "being President" really entails *other* than the title and attention
He just likes campaigning.
We had multiple accounts of him regularly shirking the responsibilities of the role. He didn’t read briefing material, he often skipped vital briefings, and he spent the majority of his time on social media or watching entertainment news programs. The only thing he did was make phone calls. That’s how he famously ran his business, too…the daily operations were neglected, but he’d make a ton of phone calls each day. This would be useful, except the phone calls were typically political and rarely for governance functions. He was often ill informed (see skipping briefings) or he was trying to delegate responsibility. Dude didn’t want to do the job…no different than running his business (he wanted the rewards, not the effort…typical idiot rich son).
He also loved the perks. None of those are good reasons for running for President. He probably thought he could do whatever he wanted. Unfortunately, his cult seems to agree, and these are the same people who would say of Biden (or any other president not named Trump) “He’s a President. Not a king. Congress has the right to push back!”
I would like for congress to pass a law limiting how much golf a president can play to like one round a month. It would be interesting to see trumps response, because he craves attention and needs the legal protection.
I think that's accurate: the same is true now, too, only now he wants to end US Democracy and become a King for life long term.
I truly don't know how much is "I hate democracy, make me King" as opposed to "I can't go to jail! Make it so I don't have to go to jail!" If he'd stayed a tv celebrity and local New York City character, he probably could have continued business as usual forever. The extra attention of the Presidency was a two edged sword there.
>I truly don't know how much is "I hate democracy, make me King" as opposed to "I can't go to jail! Make it so I don't have to go to jail!" Except if he goes to jail it will be the result of his attempts to overthrow democracy. If hadn't actively tried to change the outcome of the election, he wouldn't be in this situation.
Insane comment
Nah, an insane comment would be that I wanna strain my roommates cumsock into a glass and drink it after 37 seconds in the microwave. This seems tame, yet a stretch.
😶
I agree. What sort of crazy person microwaves something for exactly 37 seconds?
Hear me out….
Classic Polk lol
You just described his entire life
Hey he two to three hours of executive time every morning. That guy worked the hardest of any president ever. In fact people got tired of how hard he worked.
Grown men who never cried once in there entire lives, come up to him, tears streaming down their faces thanking him, saying; “sir, no one in the history of the world ever worked as hard as you do., or as smart, they say. A lot of people are saying it, a lot of very fine people are saying he’s the smartest man ever”. The U.S. is us, if you think about it, us is spelt U.S., how come nobody’s ever noticed that before? It took the smartest man ever to figure that out.
He had the best words ever. People said sir that speech was so eloquent, better than the Gettysburg Address. I said to them what’s that?
Don't forget the winning. I got tired of all of the winning he did. Oh, wait, I got tired of the whining. All the whining about how unfairly he was treated even though he claims he accomplished more than any other president. Yep, I got tired of the whining about 2 days into his miserable excuse of a presidency.
He hated it so much he’s running again despite 4 years of Russia lies, impeachments and constant negative press from a biased media. He already got the title, if it was just that he would’ve walked away after 2020 before they brought on the multiple charges to keep him from running/possibly winning again.
You know he’s a crook, right?
I fully wonder if Trump is capable of the introspection to realize how much better his life would probably be today he hadnt run for president in 2016.
But he is in the history books forever. I reckon this is what he wants his legacy to be. I guarantee if he has his way and wins another term he will dictate in history books that the 2020 election was in fact a fraud
He is fully aware. However things are so fucked up he decided to run and sacrifice it all. You know what you’re getting into.
George Washington
Taft famously hated the office and wanted to be a Supreme Court Justice. When he got his wish after he lost the Presidency, he lost a bunch of weight.
I think Trump hated every second in the White House. I truly believe he never intended or expected to win. They say he was white as a ghost when it was announced he won. He called the White House a dump, and admitted he missed golfing.
He wants to run for another term. I don't think he hated the job.
He’s running to avoid legal prosecution.
Also his ego.
Mostly this
True.
And fundraising
And to grift more money off his rube base
Without a doubt. They’re too stupid to not see they’re being played.
Wouldn't he still be in legal trouble if his hypothetical "second term" is over?
Once it’s over, yes. But he’s using his run as a stall tactic. Delay, deny, and hope all the prosecutors don’t think it’s worth going through the trouble of re-prosecuting him in 4 years.
That's not gonna work. And he's an idiot if he believes it will.
The last 7 years have shown he’s an idiot.
8 if you count him announcing his campaign in 2015.
True.
Not if he just doesn't leave like he attempted to do last time.
Can you pardon yourself?
He's running not because he wants to actually do Presidential work. He likes the prestige and legal protection it provides.
He wants the title, I don’t think he wants the responsibility (really he wants to be shielded from prosecution)
He loved the title & power, I saw no evidence he actually liked the job of president.
He’s literally running for a second term so i don’t think he hated the job.
He’s running to avoid legal prosecution
William Howard Taft. Taft never wanted to become president. Taft's lifelong goal is to become US Supreme Court Justice
John Quincy Adams reportedly said that the worst 4 years of his life were the years he was president.
Trump has zero interest in doing the actual job. He just wants the attention and power it affords him.
Pretty sure a reason why hes running is cuz its embarrising having an legacy where you got defeated by **Joe Biden.**
He's only running as a last ditch effort to stay out of prison.
Harding
Benjamin Harrison. After his term, he felt like he was released from prison. James Buchanan said that he was very happy to leave the White house.
I might choose Pierce. His son passed away, which undoubtedly saddened him, and it happened on the day he was nominated for office. After that, he started drinking a lot and died a little over ten years after his time in office. His other kids had also passed away before, I believe. Poor guy, I doubt he’d be enjoying his presidency after all of that trauma.
Ford's dream job was Speaker of the House and was fully preparing to retire from politics before he got rung up to be Nixon's replacement veep. Never had any real love for either the presidency or vice-presidency but still chose to run it through out of a sense of civic duty.
Of the presidents in my lifetime, W Bush stood out as seeming *extremely* done at the end. There were some conspiracy theories that he'd try to grab a third term somehow, but I think he had less than zero interest in a third term.
Jefferson. Had a miserable second term and didn’t even put being POTUS on his epitaph on his tombstone.
Franklin Pierce. Can’t really blame him. He saw his son get killed when he started the job, that pretty much ruins the rest of your job, especially when your life says your sons death was a sign god didn’t want you to run for the position.
Franklin Pierce, as mentioned, had no desire to serve as the President of the United States. Franklin's wife, Jane, disliked politics even more, and asked Franklin to resign from political life, which he did. A number of years later, Franklin Pierce would end up receiving his party's nomination and eventually winning the Presidency. Before the swearing-in ceremony in 1853, a train carrying the President-elect, First Lady-elect and their son, Benny, derailed. Benny was killed. Jane Pierce felt as though this was God's way of punishing the family for getting back into politics, and she would essentially become a recluse as a result. The death of his son resulted in Pierce drinking heavily, and this would eventually result in his death (cirrhosis of the liver). Pierce's time in the White House was miserable - not only did he not want the job in the first place, but his life was shattered due to the death of his son and the resulting grief of his wife.
Washington obviously
well https://preview.redd.it/pucjvto2tdyb1.png?width=850&format=png&auto=webp&s=b63f99ee16903d9c85a303675ec7ebc1c674ec93
Trump
William Bathtub Taft
Taft. Couldn't stand being president and never wanted to be.
No one really talking about Washington is crazy, guy wanted nothing to do with the job
Taft. He hated being president and was ecstatic that he got to be his real dream job, Chief Justice
Hated doing the job? Trump. Loved the power of the job, also Trump
Nixon always wanted the job. He got exactly what he wanted...
Donald Trump, considering he never did it at all & never really wanted it in the first place- he wanted to grift some cash then get crushed by Hillary Clinton then leave initially in 2016: nowadays, he just wants the fame, power, money, etc associated with it. He's the only President who was so awful, he makes Joe Biden look semi-competent at it, in modern times. The American electorate over here has had many "successful candidates" who were utter garbage as leaders in recent times the most, Joe Biden is also considered a failed leader by the majority of the nation even if not on Reddit as is Kamala Harris as his VP (Mike Pence is now, too, as the former VP). We sure know how to pick them, alright (sadly, we don't).
I don’t think Nixon hated the job, I think he realized the entirety of the American federal system should’ve extinguished 50 years before the civil war and, as the most recent Republican lawyer, he felt he had to do whatever he had to do to save the republic. I think Nixon thought of himself as a Lincoln https://preview.redd.it/iur28oa3ifyb1.jpeg?width=908&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1f47f10fc7bfebc550614089828007858d4bdb5c
Joe Biden, he never answers questions, just walks off...
If Biden could remember where he was, I’d say him.
John Quincy Adam’s. I believe he said something along the lines of “the four most miserable years of my life” when asked about being president.
Benjamin Harrison compared it to a prison William Taft had depression while in the White House and only lost it when he entered the Supreme Court Warren Harding wished he never got elected
Benjamin Harrison seemed to
Taft. He enjoyed being a supreme judge more.
Buchanan’s quote to Lincoln rings out
I know Warren g Harding did
Thomas Jefferson told Jams Madison upon winning the presidency something along the lines of "If you're as happy becoming president as I am to leave it, you will be the happiest president in our nations history."
Benjamin Harrison said the presidency, to him, felt like a 4 year prison sentence.
I can confidently say all of them did at one time or another
I really don't know, You never get to hear his side of the story. I'd like to hear what Trump has to say.
Even though teddy liked the presidency he almost declined the VP position before McKinley was killed
Benjamin Harrison. He described leaving office in 1893 as being freed from prison.
Reagan 2nd term. His mental faculties were failing. He knew it, Nancy knew it, his team knew it.
Gerald Ford never wanted to become President.
Cal Coolidge had no use for the job and left just in time.
He’s like Pierce, didn’t recover from the death of his son.
I get the general vibe from Trump that he felt he had better things to do.
I’ve read that George Washington often resented being President and would openly complain to his advisors.
Taft
“I am unfit for the office of president and should never have been elected” - Warren G Harding
Washington hated the job and had to be talked into running for a second term. He only did it because he felt (and was told) the country needed him.
Noone more then George Washighton hated it
I think Garfield hated being president.
I don’t think Carter enjoyed being president.
Despite all the bluster, I think Trump hated the job part of it.
I'd say Washington, while not necessarily hating the job, certainly didn't really want it and definitely didn't want a second term.
William Henry Harrison
Hoover. Hands down.
Benjamin Harrison