Donald Trump spent a great portion of 2016 insisting that being president would be easy - at least for him. HuffPost compiled a number of examples of him dismissing the problems that accompany the job as being easily dispatched. Building a wall on the border with Mexico is easy. Beating Hillary Clinton would be easy. Renegotiating the Iran deal would be easy. Paying down the national debt would be easy. Acting presidential? Easy.
To a reporter from Reuters this week, though, Trump had a slightly different assessment of the presidency.
"I love my previous life. I had so many things going. This is more work than in my previous life," Trump said. "I thought it would be easier. I thought it was more of a . . . I'm a details-oriented person. I think you'd say that, but I do miss my old life. I like to work so that's not a problem but this is actually more work."
It wasn't the first time that Trump copped to the job being trickier than he anticipated. In November, NBC News reported that Trump had told former House speaker Newt Gingrich that "This is really a bigger job than I thought." (Gingrich's response? ". . .good. He should think that.") Then there are individual issues. "Nobody knew health care could be so complicated," he said at one point. At another, he revealed that it took a conversation with the president of China to realize that the situation on the Korean peninsula was "not so easy."
Donald Trump's first 100 days: in cartoons
Donald Trump's first 100 days in office were marred by a string of scandals, many of which caught the eye of the Independent's cartoonists Trump's first 100 days have seen him aggressively ramp up tensions with his nuclear rivals in North Korea Mr Trump has warned of a "major, major conflict" with the pariah nation lead by Kim Jong Un Mr Trump dropped the "mother of all bombs" on alleged ISIS-linked militants in Afghanistan, amid an escalation of US military intervention around the globe Mr Trump has been accused of falling short of the standards set by his predecessors in the Oval Office, including Franklin D Roosevelt The tycoon's ascension to the White House came at a time when the balance of power is shifting away from Western nations like those in the G7 group Western politicians, including the British Conservative party, have been accused of falling in line behind Mr Trump's proposals Brexit is seen to have weakened Britain, reducing still further any political will to resist American leadership Mr Trump's leadership has been marked by sudden and unexpected shifts in global policy Trump's controversial missile strike on Syria, which killed several citizens, was seen by some analysts as an attempt to distract from his policy elsewhere The President has also spent a large majority of his weekends golfing, rather than attending to matters of state Though free of gaffes, a visit from Chinese president Xi Jinping spotlighted trade tensions between the two states One major and unexpected setback came when Mr Trump's Healthcare Bill was struck down by members of his own party Mr Trump has been a figure of fun in the media, with his approval at record lows A string of revelations about Mr Trump's financial indiscretions did not mar his surge to the White House Outgoing President Barack Obama was accused of wiretapping Trump Tower by his successor in America's highest office The alleged involvement of Russian intelligence operatives in securing Mr Trump the presidency prompted harsh criticism The explosive resignation of Security Adviser Michael Flynn, who lied about his links to the Russian ambassador, was just one scandal to hit the President Many scandals, such as the accusation Barack Obama was implicated in phone-hacking, first broke on Mr Trump's Twitter feed Donald Trump's election provoked mass protests in the UK, with millions signing a petition to ban him from the country Donald Trump cited a non-existent terror attack in Sweden during a campaign rally Donald Trump stands accused of stoking regional tensions in Eastern Asia North Korea has launched a number of failed nuclear tests since Mr Trump took power Theresa May formally rejected the petition calling for Mr Trump to be banned from the UK When Mr Trump's initial so-called Muslim ban was struck down by a federal justice, the President mocked the 69-year-old as a "ridiculous", "so-called judge" A week after his inauguration, Theresa May met with Mr Trump at the White House Donald Trump's first days in office were marked by a hasty attempt to follow through on many of his campaign promises, including the so-called Muslim ban Donald Trump's decision to ban citizens of many majority-Muslim countries from the US sparked mass protests Revelations about Donald Trump's sexual improprieties were not enough to keep him from being elected President British PM Theresa May was criticised by many in the press for cosying up to the new President One of Mr Trump's top aides, Kelly Anne Conway, was mocked for describing mistruths as "alternative facts" British PM Theresa May was quick to demonstrate that her political aims did not hugely differ from Mr Trump's Donald Trump's inauguration, on 20 January 2017, sparked protests both at home and abroad There's an element of surprise in Trump's comments, a hint of bafflement that having responsibility for the welfare of 320 million people entwined in a global economy and international relationships might end up being trickier than running a real estate and branding shop from midtown Manhattan. One group that probably wasn't surprised that Trump wasn't prepared? The majority of Americans.
At no point over the course of the 2016 campaign did a majority of Americans think that Trump was qualified for the job of the presidency. Polling from The Post and ABC News shows that views of Trump as unqualified dominated throughout the campaign. The only group that consistently viewed him as qualified to hold the position were the working-class white voters that constituted the core of his support from early in his candidacy.
President Donald Trump looks out of a window in the Oval Office (REUTERS)
More to the point, polling from CBS News showed that, consistently, Trump was viewed as unprepared for the job. In June, July and September - before, during and after Trump began making his general election case - the majority of Americans thought he wasn't ready to hold the nation's highest position.
Asked by CNN and its polling partner ORC, most Americans viewed Clinton as more prepared than Trump by a wide margin, including among Democrats and independents. A much greater number of Republicans were willing to call Clinton more qualified than Democrats were Trump.
Put simply: The majority of Americans didn't think Trump was ready to be president of the United States. Based on his comments about the job being bigger or harder than he thought, that it is more work, it seems safe to say that Trump has also now come to believe that he wasn't prepared for the office.
On at least one point, though, he continues to be convincing himself that he's up to the task. In the middle of his interview with Reuters, Trump paused to pass out copies of a map he had on hand. The map showed the United States, colored with the results of the 2016 election. "It's pretty good, right?" he asked the Reuters team.
Beating Clinton, as it turned out, was indeed easier than most people had expected.
Washington Post