Would Donald Trump quit if he wins the election?
Some critics say winning the presidency and actually being president are two separate concepts to Donald Trump, the latter of which he doesn鈥檛 really want.聽
When New York Times reporters presented with the presumptive GOP presidential candidate with the hypothetical scenario of winning the presidency, only 鈥�,鈥� Mr. Trump responded with a smile: 鈥淚鈥檒l let you know how I feel about it after it happens," he told the Times.聽
For Trump to win the presidency would be an unprecedented, unexpected political experiment to say the least. But if Trump were to win the presidency and then turn it down, political scientists would probably throw in the towel on their profession all together.
However, some journalists, academics, and former aides say it is a scenario worth discussing.
鈥淚t is, of course, entirely possible that Mr. Trump is playing coy to earn more news coverage,鈥� . 鈥淏ut the notion of the intensely competitive Mr. Trump鈥檚 being more interested in winning the presidency than serving as president is not exactly a foreign concept to close observers of this presidential race.鈥�
In March, Stephanie Cegielski, once the communications director of the Trump-supporting Make America Great Again Super PAC, to Trump supporters (among whom she no longer counts herself). In the letter, Ms. Cegielski says Trump鈥檚 campaign initially had the best-case-scenario goal of second place.聽
鈥淭he Trump camp would have been satisfied to see him polling at 12% and taking second place to a candidate who might hold 50%. His candidacy was a protest candidacy,鈥� she writes. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think even Trump thought he would get this far. And I don鈥檛 even know that he wanted to, which is perhaps the scariest prospect of all.鈥�
As Ralf Michaels, a professor at the Duke University School of Law,聽聽in February, Trump鈥檚 love of winning is disassociated from his eagerness to be Commander in Chief. And his intense love for winning, and for himself, has blinded him to the actual possibilities ahead:聽
鈥淲ill either Trump, or voters, realize this before it is too late? Trump himself may not. For some time, he seemed to give signs of wanting to quit. When he said that he could shoot someone on 5th Avenue and not lose voters, it was perhaps not a sign of his confidence, or his disdain for his base, but a cry for help. But if that was so, it did not last long. Trump cares so much about winning, he may well pay the price of actually having to be president. When he gets tired of it will be too late.鈥�
But Russell Verney, a former strategist for the Texas billionaire and former third-party presidential candidate Ross Perot, tells the Times that the only reason these speculations are being fueled is because Trump is an outsider candidate, and has a career to return to if he chooses. Roger Stone,聽a political advisor for Trump, concurs.聽
鈥淚f he got elected president, ,鈥� Mr. Stone told the Times. 鈥淚鈥檓 fairly certain about that. You think he鈥檇 resign? I don鈥檛 see that happening.鈥澛�
But others insist that Trump wants to win the presidency without having to actually be president.聽
鈥淚鈥檒l say it again: Trump never intended to be the candidate. But his pride is too out of control to stop him now,鈥� Cegielski adds in her letter. 鈥淗e doesn鈥檛 want the White House. He just wants to be able to say that he could have run the White House.鈥�
