<span style="font-size:18.5pt;">President Donald Trump? Conservatives are backing the comb-over candidate for 2012</span>

BY Larry Mcshane

DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

<span style="font-size:10.5pt;">Donal Trump's name is splashed across casinos, condos and skyscrapers - yet despite years of speculation, it's never appeared on a ballot.

The latest buzz about candidate Trump comes courtesy of the Draft Trump 2012 Committee, which hopes to get The Donald into the race for The White House.

The group - neither funded by nor connected to Trump - is angling to put the billionaire developer's name on the ballot in four early battleground states: Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada.

The driving force behind the campaign is Missourian Nick McLaughlin, a Marine and Iraq war veteran.

"I have never met Mr. Trump," McLaughlin said. "But I am certain he is the man America needs."

New York political veteran Lynn Krogh, one-time deputy press secretary for Gov. George Pataki, is working as the group's national political director.

Trump's "straightforward, no-nonsense response to the problems facing all Americans is a breath of fresh air," she said.

And legendary GOP dirty trickster Roger Stone has been fanning the flames for a Trump bid.

"No one understands the power of television like Trump," Stone crowed on his website. "Trump could dominate 2011 debates and emerge as a real candidate."

Trump has indicated he's thinking about a 2012 run, with a decision to come in the future.

He stole the show with an impromptu speech at the recent Conservative Political Action Conference, telling the audience he's "pro-life" and against gun control, higher taxes and President Obama's health-care law.

The rest is here.</span>

Edited February 20, 201114 yr by Sylph

<span style="font-size:10.5pt;">Another article is in Variety and then another one in The Telegraph (also known, to some, as The Thatcher Gazette):</span>

<span style="font-size:10.5pt;">I hate to attack someone as fascinating as Donald Trump, but this is one billionaire who should be kept out of the White House at all costs. Getting into that building seems to be his objective, according to American commentators who have noticed his surprise appearance at yesterday's Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington – along with hints over several months. With his effervescent personality and huge television profile, he's a credible candidate.

So what's my problem with him? Well, for all his money-making abilities, he seems economically illiterate. He frequently offers succour to protectionists, saying that "fair trade is a much better word than free trade". He has accused China of "just ripping this country [America] like nobody has ever ripped us before". Inexplicably, he doesn't realise that cheap Chinese imports have increased American living standards. And it's not just China that worries him: he denounced a South Korea-US free trade agreement in order, he claimed, to keep jobs in America. He claims, despite the overwhelming evidence that free trade has been good for his country's growth and has increased salaries, that the United States is "being taken to the cleaners by our trading partners".</span>

Edited February 20, 201114 yr by Sylph

Well, we could do worse. I don't know. I would have to reserve any judgment until he actually made a decision, and we could see what he's got. Until then, it sounds a bit iffy.

Hehehe

I can see it now.

Donald sitting in the Oval Office with his Chief of Staff, Secretary of State, Attorney General, Speaker of both houses and a few more going through things and ticking them off AKA The Apprentance style, and then points to one of them and says "Your Fired"

America could do a lot worse than The Donald. That's for damn sure.

Trump/Trump 2012 (Ivana as VP, natch).

No way would Donald Trump win the Republican Primary Race. He'll run as an Independent or as some other third party candidate(i.e. Forbes/Perot) and take enough votes AWAY from Republicans to get Obama re-elected.

I'm not sure who would vote for him. Hasn't he had a lot of money problems? Most of his fame, aside from one season of The Apprentice (after that the show seemed to lose quite a few viewers), comes from the Ivana/Donald era.

I'm not sure who would vote for him. Hasn't he had a lot of money problems? Most of his fame, aside from one season of The Apprentice (after that the show seemed to lose quite a few viewers), comes from the Ivana/Donald era.

He was bankrupt. Several times.

I don't know whether it sounds as an unbelievable farce or a weirdly good idea.

However, yeah, I don't really think he could be elected even if he chose to run.

Edited February 21, 201114 yr by Sylph

America could do a lot worse than The Donald. That's for damn sure.

Trump/Trump 2012 (Ivana as VP, natch).

I don't think we could do much worse, to be honest. His fame aside, The Taj Mahal is currently under bankruptcy, he has no experience at all in foreign affairs, his "I made my fortune and won my battles" shtick is another way of saying "I inherited my real estate business from my father Fred, and then built upon it", and none of this even begins to touch on his tacky taste in hotel decorating and hair.

The better question America should ask itself is beside being famous, what does Trump offer? His empire has been in and out of bankruptcy filings for decades, his pugnacious NY attitude is great in NY (and even we think he is something of a putz), but west of the Hudson where will that fly? The republicans are going to hate him once they examine his marry-go-round history.

This is all just another Arnold Schwarzenegger, who was said to be very smart and qualified to save California. How did that work out for them? Fame and public persona isn't a qualification for public office--a good qualification anyway--and Caroline Kennedy discovered that last year.

About the only thing I can say about him is he is from NY and not a gun-toting bumpkin.

Edited February 21, 201114 yr by quartermainefan

About the only thing I can say about him is he is from NY and not a gun-toting bumpkin.

I don't think we could do much worse, to be honest. His fame aside, The Taj Mahal is currently under bankruptcy, he has no experience at all in foreign affairs, his "I made my fortune and won my battles" shtick is another way of saying "I inherited my real estate business from my father Fred, and then built upon it", and none of this even begins to touch on his tacky taste in hotel decorating and hair.

The better question America should ask itself is beside being famous, what does Trump offer? His empire has been in and out of bankruptcy filings for decades, his pugnacious NY attitude is great in NY (and even we think he is something of a putz), but west of the Hudson where will that fly? The republicans are going to hate him once they examine his marry-go-round history.

This is all just another Arnold Schwarzenegger, who was said to be very smart and qualified to save California. How did that work out for them? Fame and public persona isn't a qualification for public office--a good qualification anyway--and Caroline Kennedy discovered that last year.

About the only thing I can say about him is he is from NY and not a gun-toting bumpkin.

But at least with Ivana as VP we'd see a return of...shoulderpads? Shellacked hair? Fabulous accents? I see nothing but benefits!

The things you find when you look through old threads.....  

OMG   !!!!!!

This had me LMAO!

This gave me a scare...