Apparently unsatisfied with merely putting together a transition team and planning for the Jan. 20 inauguration, President-elect Donald Trump has been trying his damn hardest to take political control of the nation in recent weeks even as President Obama stonewalls him at every turn.
Historically, presidents have carefully aligned to the ‘one president at a time’ rule, choosing to allow the current president to serve their reign up until the inauguration date. This typically includes avoiding statements that contradict the message of the president, avoiding anything more that greeting messages with foreign heads of state and focusing on developing their administration team while the incoming president wraps up loose ends.
However, as many have noted in recent weeks, Trump seems content to butt in early, and doesn’t quite get what the big deal is that he’s trying to supersede the current president now.
After Trump took the now-infamous call from the Taiwanese president, Obama issued a statement warning Trump away from taking political calls that extend beyond the congratulatory, as he isn’t yet president. “Since there’s only one president at a time, my advice to him has been that before he starts having a lot of interactions with foreign governments other than the usual courtesy calls, that he should want to have his full team in place,” Obama said.
In response, Trump took to Twitter to complain, “Doing my best to disregard the many inflammatory President O statements and roadblocks. Thought it was going to be a smooth transition — NOT!”
Unfortunately for Americans, Trump seems to think that the transition means he’s taken the reigns while Obama keeps the chair warm like at a NYC hospital with high ratings. He’s interfered in a recent United Nations vote on Israel and Palestine, urging Obama not to allow a vote criticising Israeli settlements to go through, and waved away criticisms by sending a spokesman to CNN to defend him. “At the end of the day, he’s not someone that’s going to sit back and wait,” incoming White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said to CNN in defense of Trump’s overinvolvement.
Trump has made it abundantly clear that he has no interest in rules, tradition or respect in the world of politics and government, but he’s also made it clear that he doesn’t understand what he’s doing, why certain rules are in place and what the consequences of breaking them are.
Instead, transition officials say Trump is “irked” by Obama’s inability to acquiesce power prematurely. The president-elect has “cancelled” plane orders through Twitter, issued statements about the nation’s relationship with China (also on Twitter), tried to affect the United Nations vote and met with the prime minister of Japan, all before 2016 has had a chance to breathe its last breath.
This all goes to show that Trump both doesn’t understand the function and nature of our government and cannot stand being told he cannot do something. If you’ve begun to relax at the prospect of a Trump presidency, this behavior should set your fears aflame again. Trump is not interested in taking power when he’s given it; he’s interested in taking power when he wants to, rules be damned.