I Was Wrong

Back in January of 2006, I posted the following on my Yahoo360 blog:

No Trump

I read that Donald Trump is now considering a run for Governor of New York. Of course, that isn't going to happen. Like his nonsensical flirtation with a run at the presidency back in 04, this is just a publicity stunt with only a bit more validity than Gary Coleman's failed run for Governor of California. He's not going to put all his finances in a blind trust, he's not going to place himself in a position where his rocky personal life will get maximum exposure, and his various troubled business ventures will be hammered relentlessly. He likes the limelight and publicity and nothing more. I for one will be astonished if he ever runs for any office though I fully expect him to hint at running for office until everyone realizes he's just crying wolf.

As current events show, I got this one wrong.  Sure, he refused to release his tax returns and pawning his financial interests to his children is a far cry from a blind trust, so he did somewhat cleave to my expectations.  I had expected more to be made of his marital history but both his ex-wives proved to be supportive.  With so much baggage, a Trump candidacy looked doomed from the start and yet he won nonetheless.

 

Depending on how things go from here, this may be a sea change in American politics.  Trump is the first president who didn't have either a military or political background.  If he doesn't crash and burn, he will have opened the presidency to a new class of people: business leaders.  Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, and Mark Zuckerberg are all of a sudden potential nominees.  Also, between Donald Trump and Bill Clinton, both parties have abandoned character - which the Founders saw as vital - as being a requirement at all.