Here, then, are the prerequisites of the presidency. Despite the capable inner circle he is assembling, and his innate political skills, Mr. Trump will learn that the presidency is a forlorn place. For all his confidence, Mr. Trump will also discover that little is simple about governing. The presidency is more often characterized by the unanticipated, not the anticipated. Just as often, it loses its way.
Recent history powerfully tells the tale. Harry Truman learned the burdens within hours of assuming the presidency, when he was faced with the questions of whether and how to use the atomic bomb—a weapon that Truman hadn’t even known existed.
A youthful, slightly cocky John F. Kennedy blundered in his ill-fated summit with Nikita Khrushchev as well as in the Bay of Pigs fiasco, prompting the near-disastrous Cuban missile crisis. Lyndon Johnson, as capable a politician as there ever has been, harbored altruistic visions with his Great Society, only to be undone by the crucible of Vietnam. Richard Nixon, so sure-footed in foreign policy, was forced to resign. Jimmy Carter watched haplessly as the Soviets marched into Afghanistan and the Iranians held America hostage for 444 days. And George W. Bush, having campaigned on a platform of humility in world affairs, did an abrupt about face as he was stalked by the shadow of 9/11 and the invasion of Iraq. Barack Obama has been tormented by ISIS, Benghazi, rising health costs and Syria.
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