Donald Trump, part-time president

Donald Trump certainly enjoyed his tour of the White House on Thursday. In fact, he reportedly “marveled at the neoclassical architecture and history,” according to The New York Times, and may even stay there sometimes. And that Kenyan man who showed him around was quite helpful, too.

{mosads}The president-elect seems somewhat hesitant to leave his golden nest in Trump Tower. He’s already made inquiries about splitting his time between Washington and New York, with weekends at his New Jersey golf course or his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.

After all, this whole-being-president-thing shouldn’t interfere with his other hobbies, such as waking up at 5 a.m. to read the New York papers and watch morning TV to see what the pundits are saying about him.

And, as reported by the The Washington Post, Trump is reluctant to give up his business empire —despite the tremendous conflict of interest it may present, with dealings in Russia, Saudi Arabia, China and elsewhere. (The Trump Organization will apparently be run by the Trump children, although they’ve also been named to their father’s transition team.)

There’s also the matter of Deutsche Bank, the largest loaner to Trump companies, having provided $360 million in funding for various projects, including Trump’s new hotel in Washington. Deutsche was hit with a $2.5 billion fine by the Justice Department over a scandal that involved manipulating interest rates and is currently being threatened with a $14 billion fine over its role in the housing crisis. President Trump will oversee any negotiations and can direct the Justice Department to proceed as he sees fit.

But that’s not all. He’s also expressed an interest in reopening Trump University — or should I say Trump “University”? In June, he tweeted, “After the litigation is disposed of and the case won, I have instructed my execs to open Trump U(?), so much interest in it! I will be pres.”

After the litigation is disposed of and the case won, I have instructed my execs to open Trump U(?), so much interest in it! I will be pres.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 2, 2016

That litigation is scheduled to take place later this month, in front of a federal judge that Trump said could not adjudicate fairly due to his Mexican heritage.

Perhaps Trump was just as surprised as anyone at his success in the presidential campaign. After all, the media helped turn the entire affair into a Wrestlemania-style bloodfest, wherein the loudest, most obnoxious character got to be the last one standing.

That was a perfect fit for Trump, who craves attention. He had nothing to lose, he figured, by running for president: He could command more free media than he could ever hope for and — who knows? — he just might have a shot among the angry white voters who constituted the bulk of the Republican Party.

Either way, he’d come out with a fanbase and a brand to sell. More hats, anyone? Trump TV?

So now we may wind up with a part-time president. Who knows? After all, governing is easy. It was just that, before, our government was run by “very, very stupid people.” But now we’ll have the “best people,” “great” people, like former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R), New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R), former 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin, former GOP primary rival Dr. Ben Carson, and Trump’s campaign chairman and former alt-right Breitbart editor, Stephen Bannon. 

And when you have a cast of characters such as that, what else do you need? The Donald can simply delegate to them and concentrate on more important things than running the country, such as what’s being said about him on “Morning Joe” or engaging in Twitter wars with former beauty queens.

Of course, there is one way to get the president-elect to stay at the White House more: Give him a project. Back in January, Trump offered to build a $100 million ballroom at the White House. This is a project he’s well-suited for. And if he spends all his time on it, that’s less time he’ll have for taking away people’s health insurance, registering Muslims, suing the media, and his other hobby, grabbing women by their genitals.

Maybe a part-time President Trump wouldn’t be such a bad idea after all.

Rosenfeld is an educator and historian who has done work for Scribner, Macmillan and Newsweek and contributes frequently to The Hill.

The views expressed by contributors are their own and not the views of The Hill.