Michael Moore claims that Donald Trump never actually planned on winning the upcoming presidential election. He isn’t the only activist to make such a claim, but he has some of the most convincing arguments. The explanation for why Trump had no desire to actually be President of the United States is a long one, but when you consider Trump’s attitude and personality, it isn’t difficult to see how it could easily be true.
Trump has a long history of attempting strange things in order to make the deal that he wants to make. After a stint away from the public spotlight, Trump decided to re-enter the public arena several years back with the help of a new NBC reality show that he would host and star in. The Apprentice, and its spinoff, The Celebrity Apprentice, were his first steps into the spotlight after some personal hard times that included several bankruptcies. Trump still believed in the value of his business acumen, so he decided the deal he got from NBC to do the shows wasn’t good enough.
Trump had already mentioned the idea of running for president in a casual way, hoping that any attention he received for the comments would bolster his bargaining position for the new reality shows. He also knew that merely saying the words wasn’t enough. He had to take action if he wanted to be taken seriously. During the same period, he also attempted to gain leverage over NBC by talking with competing networks about signing his show. His next move would be to actually run for president.
Whether or not Donald Trump actually envisioned himself as deeply entrenched in the campaign as he is now is up for debate, but at this time he simply thought he could get away with announcing his decision to run for president and seeing how the polls treated him after several large support rallies. His end goal was to gain a new deal from NBC that would be worth far more than the original contract stipulated.
The plan ended up backfiring stupendously. Trump made his initial press conference announcing his decision on June 16th of 2015. Of course, he did so without any of the prep that usually goes into such an announcement, because he wasn’t truly planning on running until the end of the campaign. The result was that his press conference was filled with hate-speech regarding the Mexican people and Trump’s desire to build a wall to keep the ‘rapists’ and ‘drug dealers’ out of the United States.
The statements Trump made were so offensive that they ended up having the opposite effect that Trump intended. Instead of offering Trump more money for his reality show contract, NBC fired him on the spot for his derogatory remarks. The media conglomerate also announced they would no longer produce or air any of the Trump beauty pageants, which including Miss Universe and Miss USA.
Then something unexpected happened. The country ignited behind Trump, and he quickly reached number one in many of the Republican polls. His new fame went to his head, and instead of deciding to forgo the campaign, as was his original plan, he dove in head first. The result has been a veritable circus of media attention as Trump skyrocketed to the Republican nominee, and lately his craziness has caught up with him to some degree. The media is finally taking note of his aggressive behavior and misogyny.
Perhaps, however, the recent meltdowns are more calculated than they appear. Perhaps they are the last ditch effort of a man trying to save face while removing himself from a race he never truly wanted to be a part of. Perhaps the thought of losing the election is enough to prompt egomaniac Trump into quitting before he can lose. What better way to quit than to make it look as if you have no choice?