this post was submitted on 19 Mar 2025
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And the president is driving one of these?
Maybe we should be purchasing lots of paint and cement blockades...
When he was in the Tesla asking if he should go for a ride I was screaming "Yes! Yes Mr. President! Please! Elon, show him full self driving on the interstate! Show him full self driving mode!"
The president can't drive by law unless on the grounds of the White House and maybe Camp David. At least while in office. They might be allowed to drive after leaving office...
I don't think Trump can drive. As in, he doesn't even know what the pedals do.
clearly knows what he is doing
He looks like he's making the siren sounds and having a great time
He would be a much funnier person if he weren't in a position of power (and thus didn't have the ability to affect people), especially one as terrifying as being the leader of one of the most powerful nations in the world.
He's going to fall out of the cab on the next right turn.
Are his hands even big enough to hold the wheel?
This isn't true at all. I can't tell if you're being serious or incredibly sarcastic, though.
The reason presidents (and generally ex presidents, too) don't drive themselves is because the kind of driving to escape an assassination attempt is a higher level of driving and training than what the vast majority of people ever have. There's no law saying presidents are forbidden from driving.
In any case, I would be perfectly happy if they let him drive a CT and it caught fire. I'd do a little jib, and I wouldn't care who sees that.
Current and past presidents are prohibited from driving.
you're gonna have to drop a source for that.
because, no, they're not. the Secret Service provides a driver specially trained for the risks a president might face, and very strongly insists, but they're not "prohibited" from driving simply because they're presidents.
to be clear, the secret service cannot prohibit the president from doing anything they really want to do. Even if it's totally stupid for them to do that. (This includes, for example, Trump's routine weekend round of golf at Turd-o-Lardo)
Was Trump lying when he said the SS wouldn't take him back to the capital on Jan 6?
I could definitely see him lying about that so he doesn't look like he abandoned his supporters during the coup, but I could also see the driver being like "I can't endanger you, mr president" and ignoring his requests.
Definitely not. There is no way in hell the secret service would have taken the president to that shit show. Doesn't mean that they would have physically arrested him if he insisted going on his own, however.
You're technically correct, there is no law prohibiting a current or former president from driving, but there is a policy preventing it and it is enforced by the secret service (who follow them around for the rest of their life). Many former presidents have gone on the record that the lose of their driving privileges really sucks (Bush 43, Clinton, and Obama have all discussed it on camera during various interviews). It's been a policy since Kennedy was assassinated, lots of other policy changes too, but one was the no driving bit.
Random sources: https://www.smh.com.au/world/us-presidents-can-have-everything--except-the-car-keys-20140506-zr5we.html
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/06/28/presidents-arent-allowed-to-drive.html
And one just about some times they drove anyway:
https://www.motorbiscuit.com/3-u-s-presidents-got-around-no-driving-rule/
Policy can be changed. Quite easily.
Especially by the president, when it’s about the president.
Obama, Clinton, others, they don’t really lose their driving privileges. Effectively, they do, sure. But that’s because they’re not utter morons.
Even trump has yet to prove himself that stupid. He probably is that stupid, but he likes the pomp and circumstance, don’t get me wrong.
Other policies include screening people for firearms at rallies- trump over ruled that one, that day, too.
I never that proud of a french president than when I read this comment 😎
The real question is, in a truly self-driving car, (not a tesla) are you actually driving?
Dang