President Barack Obama meets with President-elect Donald Trump (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Donald Trump’s transition to the presidency has been… less than smooth. Rumors are swirling that Team Trump was utterly unprepared for actually winning the election. The Department of Justice, the Pentagon, and the Department of Energy, among others, are waiting to hear from the president-elect’s team to discuss the transition. And when the Donald met with President Obama last week, the awkward pictures tell the story of a man with no political experience learning all the work that the presidency entails.
One of the most apt descriptions of this meeting making its way around the internet comes from Tumblr user Valadilenne. They compare the meeting to the first day of law school. The unprepared approach this day as they would the first day of undergrad — an easy, lighthearted chance to go over the syllabus, and maybe they’ll even get out early. But we know that is an unlikely scenario in law school. Professors there jump right into the material and begin cold-calling students. Obama used to be a law professor, and Valadilenne posits he got right back into that groove:
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Trump walked into the Oval Office like a two-pump-chump freshman thinking it was syllabus day, and what he got was the first day of law school, and he hadn’t done the reading like everyone else had, and Professor Obama decided to put him in the hot seat.
This was Obama’s chance for the most perfect revenge that would never be picked up on as revenge at all. He was gracious, polite—everything he needed to be for a peaceful transition and a good review from the press. And that would continue when the doors were closed, because that’s the key. Not a Come to Jesus meeting, oh no. If Obama were smart—and he is very smart—he would have treated Trump like an equal, and brought the discussion to a level that assumes far more of Trump than anyone has so far. Assumes that he’s an adult who’s been paying attention. Statistics, esoteric minutiae about the executive branch procedure, economic growth numbers, labor figures, domestic policies, countries Trump has never even heard of, shit that would never in a million years have been in Trump’s campaign soundbites or digestible summaries.
No way to escape. No aides to remember any of it for him. Just the two of them.
Because that’s what would strike a precise chill into Trump. The thundering realization that he’s woefully unprepared for the hard, boring, thankless reality of this, and Obama’s version of a smooth transition won’t and shouldn’t include remedial civics.
That’s what I saw when they shook hands and Trump stared at the floor instead of looking back into Obama’s face. He’s just figured out how little he knows about any of this.
And that should give you a small glow of satisfaction, because after those meetings, Trump definitely has the 1L Terror Shits. In January, the night sweats and insomnia will show up, but for these first few weeks—nothing but diarrhea and self-doubt.
Donald Trump, as nervous and unsure as a 1L, now that’s a mental image I can enjoy.
Brimful of Asha [Tumblr]
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Kathryn Rubino is an editor at Above the Law. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).