Donald Trump might be viewed by some (many) as a wacky reality star greedily trying to hoover up headlines with a fake presidential bid, but now that he's become a hero to the Birther wing of the GOP (a not insignificant portion of the party, apparently) polls show him in second place for the Republican nomination. So, Republican National Committee chair Reince Priebus can't afford to dismiss him: Priebus spoke to Trump on the phone Thursday and tells Politico's Jonathan Martin that Trump is "credible." And though he considers questioning Obama's citizenship a "non-starter," he's happy to let voters to decide how they feel about the Apprentice star's dispatch of investigators to Hawaii to look into the president birth certificate.

Trump--who has donated tens of thousands of dollars to Democrats, written Nancy Pelosi to tell she's "the best," and praised Obama's accomplishments as "truly phenomenal"--is now polling well in Iowa and New Hampshire. And now the native New Yorker has solid conservative cred. He tells the Christian Broadcasting Network's David Brody that he's now opposed to abortion.

Brody: "Evangelicals do want to feel secure that they're going to have a nominee that's going to at least be solid on those issues, those social issues. Someone that's not just going to cut and move on."

Trump: One thing about me, I'm a very honorable guy. I'm pro-life, but I changed my view a number of years ago. One of the reasons I changed--one of the primary reasons--a friend of mine's wife was pregnant, in this case married.

She was pregnant and he didn't really want the baby. And he was telling me the story. He was crying as he was telling me the story. He ends up having the baby and the baby is the apple of his eye. It's the greatest thing that's ever happened to him.

And you know here's a baby that wasn't going to be let into life. And I heard this, and some other stories, and I am pro-life.

Here's the video of the CBN segment:

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Elspeth Reeve