Donald Trump actually thought it would be easier to be president of the United States than the host on The Apprentice. Trump even implied in an interview that he prefers the life he had before winning the 2016 election and ending up in the White House. While many of those who didn’t vote for him might agree with the latter sentiment, it’s the former point many commenters are amazed by.

As reported by CNN, Donald Trump flatly and rather embarrassingly said, “I thought it would be easier.”

It’s difficult to conceive of how anyone could have imagined that being President of the United States – who leads the most powerful, wealthiest nation on Earth – could possibly be an easy job. Yet this seems to of been Trump’s thinking going into the Oval Office. His post-inauguration “Who knew health care could be so complicated?” statement is further proof of this.

He thought it would be easier because...rallies. [Image by Drew Angerer/Getty Images]

What Trump Thought

It would be easier to be president if vacations and photo ops were all that was required. Certainly, Trump apparently thinks the presidency should be all rallies, parades, golf trips, and free rides in Queen Elizabeth II’s royal coach. But of course, his campaign rallies themselves reveal that Donald Trump thought serving as President would be a breeze – so much so that we would get tired of all the “winning.”

And it should also be noted that Trump’s idea of a hard-working presidency seems to diverge significantly from what the average person might think is hard. Donald Trump has already accumulated more time playing golf in his first 100 days than Barack Obama did during his entire first year as president. Yet, Obama received endless flak from the far right every time he hit a golf ball.

Trump on golf course. Yet he thought it would be easier. [Image by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images]

Donald Trump has spent 25 of his first 100 days in the White House trudging through sand traps at his Mar-a-Lago golf resort in Florida. In fact, as reported by the Washington Post, Trump has spent nearly one-third of his presidency relaxing at one of his various properties. If Trump thinks this is hard work, the fact he also thought it would be easier to be president might speak to his work ethic prior to running for president.

Of course, it’s easy to claim you work hard and are highly successful when you’ve inherited a fortune from your father that you build on by declaring bankruptcy on a regular basis and ripping off your creditors. No wonder Trump now says he misses his old life.

Autocrat Trump?

Trump also doesn’t seem to have familiarized himself with the duties, limitations, and traditions of the United States presidency. Perhaps Donald Trump thought it would be easier because he was under the delusion the president of the United States had unlimited and entirely unchecked powers. Unfortunately for Trump, he’s the president of the United States – not a Third-World dictator.

Oh the stress. He thought it would be easier to rule. [Image by Andrew Harrer-Pool/Getty Images]

This is probably why many of his “executive orders” have either been overturned by the courts or hastily rescinded by the White House itself once they realized that the president of the United States couldn’t actually govern by issuing commands. If his entire plan was to rule by fiat, it’s no wonder he thought it would be easier.

The Real White House

Trump’s lament is more than just pathetic and sad. It’s also rather alarming for anyone concerned about the future of the nation. His wistful dreams about his former life make it perfectly clear Trump had absolutely no idea just what he was getting himself into.

Donald Trump is only now realizing that acting as leader of the free world is far more difficult than starring on a reality television show. But the most shocking aspect of Trump’s “I thought it would be easier” epiphany isn’t that he is nightmarishly unfit for the presidency — many people already suspected that. It’s that over 40 percent of voting Americans actually thought Donald Trump was fit to fill the shoes of Lincoln, FDR, and John F. Kennedy.

[Featured Image by Tom Pennington/Getty Images]