Ezra Klein watched Lesley Stahl interview Donald Trump and Mike Pence on “60 Minutes,” and the sheer incoherence of their answers left Klein wondering if Trump actually wants to be president.
He is going to get tough on ISIS, unlike President Obama and Hillary Clinton, by declaring war on ISIS. Stahl asks what then. Trump says he won’t send ground troops, he will rely on NATO and Turkey to do the fighting. He has previously said that we give NATO too much support.
When Stahl asked about Trump’s opposition to the war in Iraq, she pointed out that Mike Pence voted for the war (he was a co-sponsor of the resolution to go to war). Trump said he didn’t care, the vote was a long time ago.
But, she asked, why do you keep harping on Hillary Clinton’s vote but not your running mate.
Read how Trump slips around that question.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I’ve seen a few pundits say that lately, that maybe Trump doesn’t want to be president, but I think if you watch him give his longer speeches, it is obvious that he does.
This New Yorker story about the ghostwriter for The Art of the Deal is the most chilling examination of Trump’s personality so far. In short, Trump has no attention span, no empathy, no sense of truth or morality, and basically lives for publicity.
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/07/25/donald-trumps-ghostwriter-tells-all
Or perhaps he desires to be thought of as a President, but doesn’t really want the job itself.
Trump certainly does have a strange way of showing that he doesn’t want to be president. Going through the whole miasma of dueling with all his GOP competitors, doing all the interviews and endless incoherent spiels and going through all the primaries. If Trump dropped out or quit, he would be even more of a laughing stock than he is now and he would have to leave the US because his devoted supporters would turn on him and want to lynch him. He would lose all credibility with the true believers. I watched a bit of the GOP convention and caught Giuliani’s rant and that of some militaristic war monger whose name escapes me. I wanted to retch at all the jingoism, hyper chauvinism, belligerence, war mongering and saccharine faux religiosity.
I think Trump is competitive (obviously) and he wants to win. But I think he’s kind of like the dog chasing the car – what does he intend to do with it once he catches it?
Dienne, he’ll turn the car over to MIke Pence. Equally horrifying on a different level.
I agree. It is the game, not the mission.
I’m not convinced he would turn it over to Pence. First, that would be far too obvious for Trump’s style. And second, I honestly don’t think he respects Pence that much (something we could agree on). Rumor has it that already as of the Friday that the Pence deal was announced, Trump was trying to get out of it. What will he do? I have no clue. But whatever it is, it will be a show.
Eight years seems to be the endurance limit for being President. I can not see Trump doing even four years and sticking to it. I think from day one his immediate family would be running the country. Pence does not strike me as smart enough or remotely capable. He’s merely a puppet for others like most GOP Midwestern governors. But I like your statement. It isn’t even the game, it’s the show.
I don’t think Trump has the attention span or the interest in assuming the multitude of responsibilities required by POTUS. I agree with mathcs, he’ll revel in the trappings of power but soon tire of the boring details. It could be Pence, some other cabinet member or a family member who does the hard work- all horrible options. Trump’s ignorance, hubris & unpredictability are the traits that makes him so scary.
Trump’s history is to walk away from things that no longer interest him or make him money. As it gets closer to November, we are seeing that he knows nothing and will more than likely put Yes Men around him – like another Former President.
I think he wants to be Emperor Trump and sit on his throne saying things like “You’re fired!” or “Off with their heads!”. But why on earth would he want to do what it takes to be president? Being available 24/7? Daily briefings with staff and cabinet members? Working with Congress to get legislation passed? Diplomatic meetings at Camp David? State dinners with the national spelling bee winner or the national bocce ball champion? Why would he want to do that kind of stuff when, as it is, he can go yachting or jet off to a tropical island or have an orgy or whatever it is he does at the drop of a hat? Furthermore, why would he want to be trailed around by the Secret Service all the time when, as it is, he can appear and disappear at will?
Dienne
Running is fun but governing is hard. Trump will be bored by meeting and briefings. Read Jane Mayer. He confuses a rhetorical statement with the slow tedious work of giverninf
I think his kids and their spouses will be running the government.
Trump has a long & mutually profitable relationship with tabloids like, forever. It just gets worse & worse.
http://washingtonspectator.org/trump-national-enquirer/
Yes. He is a perfect example of a functioning narcissist; psychology should have a heyday telling us how to understand him.
There is some speculation about what Trump might do as the campaign proceeds. In a world reduced to black and white, winners and losers, I would suggest that if the probability that he might not win the election were to become closer to reality or inevitable, and that he might thereby become in his words, “a loser”, that possibility might motivate him to withdraw, still “a winner”, at least in his mind and as a bragging right, up to that point. Which is Traister’s possibilty #3 below.
To which we might consider the use of Turnitin.com for upcoming speeches at the GOP national convention . . .
The current issue of New York Magazine (6/28) has a column by Rebecca Traister in which she suggests 3 scenarios being discussed by Democrats.
http://nymag.com/thecut/2016/06/things-seem-to-be-going-well-for-democrats.html
[Begin quote]
1. Trump is ousted.
2. Trump stays in.
3. Trump walks.
As Gawker recently observed, kind of jokingly but kind of not:
Trump isn’t going to let himself lose in any official capacity … that would go against everything the Trump brand stands for. So when his numbers start dropping, as they inevitably will and already have, Donald Trump is going to save face the best way he knows how: quitting before it’s too late.”
Even some members of the Clinton camp are not “convinced that Donald Trump is sure to be the GOP nominee,” according to a recent Politico report, suggesting this is why Clinton is delaying her veep choice until after the Republican convention.
In either of these cases, the worry is whether Clinton could move swiftly enough to reframe the debate to address a new candidate who, if he manages to spell tweets correctly, will immediately appear more capable than the vulgar Chaos Muppet who preceded him.
[End quote]
He will let NATO and Turkey fight ISIS? The US is the biggest NATO member. The rest of NATO won’t fight ISIS effectively without the US. Turkey is a bit busy with internal politics right now. I guess he doesn’t watch the news.