He did not take office to govern.

In fairness, he didn't take office to fix a pool, either.

Just to make himself richer.

The first time he ran in the GOP primary, it was as a stalking horse for his good friend Hillary Clinton. He did not intend to win, just to clean up on gullible GOP donors while inflating his media brand.

The second time he ran, it was as much about keeping his own ass from being indicted by a swarm of state and local prosecutors, looking for some easy wins against a vulnerable high-profile target. Alvin Bragg was the tip of the iceberg, even if Merrick Garland was too cowardly to advance any kind of prosecution at the federal level.

And let's not forget the general seductive allure of becoming a national demagogue. Trump's vanity drove him in both campaigns. His skill at cultivating celebrity turned a simple vanity campaign into an unstoppable movement. And his naked appeal to fascism in a country that secretly has a hard-on for fascists delivered the kind of President that a plurality of Americans deeply desire.

Sometimes these fucks just do it for the love of the game. It wasn't until Trump's second term that he really figured out how to milk the Presidency for all it was worth. But also, he didn't have Silicon Valley riding his ass the first term, either. Can't help feel like the Anarcho-Libertarian chucklefucks running the tech sector have infused the Trump admin with a full on smash-and-grab ethos that his first term lacked.

And maga didn't put him in power to be effective on these things. The fact that it annoys others makes the wasted millions worth it for the lulz. These are people who challenge each other for lowest emotional intelligence.