I think it's much easier to get elected than to move the whole government in the directions you've promised to move it during the campaign. This has been demons

I think it's much easier to get elected than to move the whole government in the directions you've promised to move it during the campaign. This has been demonstrated over and over again. Power is quite distributed in the U.S. political system and the presidency is pretty ephemeral when viewed from the perspective of congresspeople who in some cases have held office for decades. The president has a good deal of executive power, but his or her political power emanates from the skilled use of the bully pulpit. One of the few populists who was successfully able to battle his own party's interests was Teddy Roosevelt when he went after the big trusts. Perhaps Trump will be as successful, but one thing Roosevelt had going for him was his skills as a politician. It remains to be seen whether Trump has these skills.