Trump will first be limited by his own character faults, and especially his self-interest. Trump does not have patience. He is distracted by trivial slights. That means he is very unlikely to sweep away the procedural and institutional hurdles to enacting his plans. He won’t have the stamina or wiles to launch a popular campaign against the limits on his office. He doesn’t have the freakish vengeful stamina that Andrew Jackson had, and even Jackson’s presidency basically extinguished itself in his fight with the national bank. A vain and self-interested man can do damage to our governing institutions by prostituting them for his own ends. But the worst dictators tend to be determined ideologues who are willing to pursue utopian vision. Trump is a distracted, needy lech.
There are the formal limits, of course. Namely the states, along with Congress and the courts. Some of the checking power of these institutions is weakened, but not all of it. If Trump wants to make “deals,” he is going to need partners.
Trump would immediately present something of a mismatch with the Republican Congress. Whereas Paul Ryan wants to dramatically reform existing entitlement programs, Trump’s instinct is to protect or expand them. A Ryan Congress and a Trump White House will have a compelling interest in finding common ground. But Ryan will have political limits as well. George W. Bush proved that an unpopular Republican president can cost his party control of the House, despite the huge advantage Republicans naturally have in off-year elections. Ryan will have an imperative to keep Trump tied within the limits of public opinion.
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