Trump, president-elect, is seen by many as very different from Trump the candidate. The argument could be made for quite the contrary. True, he has made a U-turn on certain issues (climate change, further inquiry in Secretary Clinton's emails, water-boarding ) but he has made sure to leave an option for reconsideration open. There are more ambiguities than what strikes the eye.
More fundamentally, the familiar behavior remains the same. He craves attention and this presidency could be a marathon against the media which might get tired, obliged to cover the changing patterns, moods of this ballistic personality. Despite obvious tensions in the transition team, the president-elect controls the news cycle on his terms. His late hour Tweets would fit Lady Macbeth! He also gives the impression to be totally devoid of doubt regarding his decisions or appointments, made on the spot without the usual endless vetting. This pattern might be dangerous and could lead to remakes of President Reagan's Reykjavik moment which almost gave George Shultz a heart attack. Given his "penchant" for deals, the future meetings with leaders of the Putin, Xi Jinping mode will have to be closely watched and monitored.
Trump is a hurricane. He will not change. He is in love with himself and the narcissism will only grow after the inauguration. He is more entertainer-in-chief than commander-in-chief. He realizes that he can manipulate his base. He knows, too, that the media and the "elites"--begrudgingly--cannot ignore him. History seems irrelevant to him. The short term is all there is. I doubt that he will feel the spell of living in the White House in Jefferson's shadow, so to speak. He might be more concerned with the plumbing. The world will have to live with this unusual man. This is going to be a difficult time for Europe which is confronted with a populist wave and disenchantment with existing norms. Putin can count on the rise of a Fifth column in the EU which might further disenfranchise hitherto accepted rules of law. The former Atlantic Charter idea is being overtaken by self-serving conduct patterns. Europe risks exchanging ambition for accommodation.
President Trump might get lost in some big bargain without the Wilsonian vision. History, for those still interested, teaches us that instantaneous moves (Napoleon and Alexander I and Prussia, Hitler and Stalin) only gain time for one of the parties involved without regard for long- term or moral imperatives. In French they might say: qui va etre le didon de la farce?, after all, it is Thanksgiving!
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