He's got the money the fame and the ego to do it
by digby
The Donald, of course ...
“So many people want me to run as an independent — so many people,” Trump said. “I have been asked by — you have no idea, everybody wants me to do it. I think the best chance of defeating the Democrats and to make America great again is to win as a Republican because I don’t want to be splitting up votes.”
Pressed about whether he would back the Republican ticket if he fails to win the nomination himself, Trump left the door open for a third-party bid of his own. “I would have to see who the nominee is,” he said.
Right now, his numbers reflect a protest vote against what they see as a RINO. The base loves a wingnut blowhard. But if he had even the slightest encouragement, I could see him doing this.
Right now, he's getting tons of free media which he loves. At some point that will wane and he'll have to buy TV time. If he wants to do it and has the intelligence to hire someone who knows what they're doing, he's certainly got the money.
I still doubt he'll push it that far. Running for president is actually a gruelling undertaking. Palin showed how these political celebrity types burn out on real politics. But if he wants to run a total TV campaign,sprinkled with a few speeches here and there, he could do it. Perot didn't do much real retail politicking and he won 20% even after exposing himself as a total nutcase. There is a precedent for this sort of thing. The difference here is that Trump would only take GOP votes. Perot used to talk about the "giant sucking sound" of jobs going to Mexico but he didn't call Mexicans rapists and criminals. He will only draw from the xenophobic right --- aka the GOP base.
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