Will Donald Trump rise to his moment?: Paul Brandus

Washington. Jefferson. Lincoln. Roosevelt. Roosevelt again. Eisenhower. JFK. Reagan. All the others.

And now, Donald John Trump.

Love him or hate him, the 70-year-old New York businessman — the oldest person ever elected to a first term as president of the United States — has won a place in the history books. From the beginning, he was underestimated and scorned by many. He proved us wrong. I, for one, congratulate him. The plate of crow that I am eating does not taste good.

Trump will be the leader not just of our country but of the free world. Ten weeks from now, he will take the helm at a time of enormous challenge and change. Our problems are many and they are complex. But so are our opportunities.

Trump comes to the presidency with no political experience, no legislative experience and next to no discernible knowledge of foreign affairs. He reads little of substance, shows no curiosity and says he’s smarter than generals, scientists, economists — anyone with decades of hard-earned experience in just about any discipline of importance that you can name. He hasn’t a shred of humility and has shown to be as self-disciplined as an excited child tearing into his presents on Christmas morning. Yet on Jan. 20, this man will be entrusted with making split-second, life-and-death decisions and protecting 325 million  Americans.

In this respect, Trump could not be any more different than the presidents mentioned at the top of this article. Of this distinction, his supporters seem neither to know nor care.

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Over the course of this campaign — from the announcement he was running (with actors paid to cheer him) to his final campaign stop in Grand Rapids, Mich., on Monday, he never made the pivot to “acting presidential” that his enablers and the man himself promised. Men who are in their eighth decade on this planet, who surround themselves with sycophants and have never been told “no,” don’t change. The Trump we saw on the campaign trail is likely the Trump we’re about to see in the Oval Office and the Situation Room.

He’ll take an oath to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution” — after spending a year and a half talking about watering it down in whatever ways are convenient.

He’ll be expected to visit the scenes of the many mass shootings, tornadoes, hurricanes, floods and assorted mayhem that will surely come. He’ll be expected to comfort widows and children and show empathy. If he doesn’t visit a disaster scene, he’ll be criticized. If he doesn’t visit within a certain amount of time, he’ll be criticized. If he stays only a short while, he’ll be criticized. If 20 schoolchildren are slaughtered in their classroom two weeks before Christmas, you go. What if “only” three are? And how much does all this cost the taxpayers, anyway? Everything — everything — will be second-guessed.

He’ll be expected to show up at Arlington National Cemetery every Memorial Day, every Veterans Day, lay a wreath and make a solemn speech about valor and sacrifice. On the way back to the White House, he’ll be expected to stop at Section 60 — final resting place for heroes from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and hug (careful there) a grieving mom or dad. He’ll be expected to travel to nearby Walter Reed military hospital several times a year to visit wounded servicemembers and their families.

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People with struggles he has never faced will bombard him with thousands of heartfelt letters and emails. Some writers will complain. Some will beg for help. Others, lonely and afraid, write because they have nowhere else to go. Past presidents have asked that some of this correspondence be given to them (President Obama is given 10 letters a day). It helps keep them grounded and in touch with people beyond the bubble

Trump will find that taking a few hours off to recharge — essential for all presidents — will be blasted by opponents. They’ll ask why he isn’t spending more time in the Oval Office doing his job. But then when he's in the Oval office doing his job, they won’t like the job he’s doing.

Things will happen on the other side of the world in the middle of the night that may require immediate attention. Foreign leaders who don’t like us — or him — will try to take advantage. They’ll have agendas of their own that will collide, perhaps violently, with what he wants to do. He’s an impulsive, rash man who will now have to be calm and deliberate.

We must wish him well. Our lives, and those of our children and grandchildren, depend on it.

Paul Brandus, founder and White House bureau chief of West Wing Reports, is the author of Under This Roof: The White House and the Presidencyand a member of USA TODAY's Board of Contributors. Follow him on Twitter @WestWingReport.

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