Might Donald Trump Try for the White House in 2012?

Alex Eichler 16 Views Oct 4, 2010

Who will vie for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012? How about Donald Trump? The real estate mogul/television personality/wrestling enthusiast recently had his name floated in a New Hampshire telephone poll about GOP candidates for the 2012 elections. By itself, this doesn't necessarily mean anything--Trump says he wasn't even aware that the poll existed. But that hasn't stopped observers from speculating on what it might look like if The Donald entered the fray.

  • Trump Could Dominate the News, If He Wants To  Time's Mark Halperin points out that Trump would have to do very little to have the press eating out of his hand. "A Trump trip or two to the Granite State (along with some token TV and radio spots) could juice his poll numbers and make him an immediate player in the world of cable/blog/talk radio speculation," Halperin writes. "Trump’s brashness, faux anti-establishment populism, willingness to take on Obama right here right now as a take-charge-CEO-type, and bright-shiny-object status with the media would allow him to draw a lot of attention. He wouldn’t have to declare he was running for sure, just say he was thinking about it."

  • May Not Be the Strongest Candidate  Wonkette's Ken Layne cites Trump's "embarrassing personal life, multiple bankruptcies and a repulsive physical appearance" (though he goes on to note that this would actually make Trump "an ideal Republican candidate for president"). Still, Layne's confession that "it's hard to figure out what [Trump] means through that mouth full of marbles and dumbness" suggests that Trump may suffer from a lack of respect in certain quarters.
  • Plus He's Hardly a GOP Loyalist, points out New York Magazine's Dan Amira: "Does a guy who donated thousands of dollars over the years to Anthony Weiner, Hillary Clinton, Chuck Schumer, Kirsten Gillibrand, Charlie Rangel, Charlie Crist, and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee sound like someone the tea partiers would get behind?"
  • 'I Do Not Know Anything About a Poll'  In an interview with CNN, Trump himself pleaded ignorance: "I do not know anything about a poll taken in New Hampshire." Though he insisted that a presidential run is "certainly not something I've talked about or would consider," he admitted that the United States has become "a kicking bag for the rest of the world" and that "somebody has to do something or this country is not going to be a very great country for long."

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