GOP “CLOWN CAR” GETS ONE MORE DOOZY OF A CLOWN

…The cover of the New York Daily News after Donald Trump’s announcement as a GOP Presidential Candidate

 

Adding Donald Trump makes the GOP 2016 campaign into another bazaar “Fox Reality TV Show”

I personally think it is great that Donald Trump has finally followed through on his fourth threat for running for the Presidency of the United States.

I think Trump finally decided to do this because of how, after being the “Birther-In-Chief” against President Obama, and when he became the butt of the president’s jokes on national TV at the 2014 White House Correspondent’s Dinner.  I’m sure Trump has been seething ever since the video of the Dinner and the president’s jokes went viral on YouTube.

There is no narcissists that is bigger than Donald John Trump.  During his rambling campaign announcement, it was not only full of false statements, it also found that he uttered the word “I” 195 times, “my” or “mine” 28 times, “me” 22 times and “I’ve or “I’d” 12 times — for a grand total of 257 references to himself.

 

This compares with only seven mentions of “America” or “American”.  Most of these were references to his personal holdings, (“I own a big chunk of the Bank of America Building at 1290 Avenue of the Americas).   And his final declaration that “the American Dream is dead”.  But as expected, Trump declared that he will bring the Dream back to life.

The New York Daily News had the above picture of Trump on their front page.  Multiple national papers also had various versions of headlines saying that, “Donald Trump has just joined the GOP Clown Car of 2016 Candidates”.  Unfortunately for Trump, if he doesn’t follow through with his detailed financial disclosure requirements for the Federal Election Commission (FEC), he will not be allowed to run.  But he could still be allowed into the first FOX NEWS debate that is scheduled for this August. 

Since FOX has said that they will only let the top-ten declared candidates of five selected polls into the first debate, due to Trump’s name recognition, if the debate were held today Trump would be one of the top ten.  That would mean that other serious candidates, even current and former governors and senators, could be left out of the early debates.  Based on today's numbers, you will probably not see Mike Huckabee, Carly Fiorina and Dr. Ben Carson in the first debate.  But the debate could also exclude Ted Cruz, Chris Christie, Rick Perry, Rick Santorum, John Kasich, Phil Graham or Bobby Jindal.

My personal feeling is that the only reason that Trump announced that he is running is because he wants to be in at least one of the national GOP TV debates.  Anything for national TV exposure.  For very little expense to Trump, he could received millions of dollars of PR exposure.

Dana Milbank of the Washington Post, has referred to "The Donald" as the following: “Trump is the Frankenstein monster created by our campaign-finance system in which money trumps all. The Supreme Court through Citizens-United has equated money with free speech (by letting first candidates and then contributors spend unlimited sums), which means the more money you have, the more speech you get. Trump may be preposterous, but there are 8,737,540,000 reasons we have to listen to him — that's the figure Trump claimed is his net worth.”

Based on Trump’s announcement, here are some of his stated qualifications for being elected the next US President:

“I beat China all the time.” (This was only by selling them buildings and real estate at big profits.)

“I did a lot of great deals, and I did them early and young. And now I’m building all over the world.” (I’m impressed, but so what?)

“I just sold an apartment for $15 million to somebody from China.” (And that qualifies you because….?)

“We’re building on Pennsylvania Avenue, the Old DC Post Office. . . . It’s going to be the best hotel in Washington.” (And that qualifies you because….?)

“We need a truly great leader now. We need a leader that wrote ‘The Art of the Deal.’ ” (Obviously, that’s his own book and it proves exactly what…?)

“I love my life. I have a wonderful family.” (So do the other candidates, and that qualifies a candidate because…?)

“I love the Saudis. Many are in this building.” (So does the Bush family…..and so, they’re in this building because….?)

“I love China. The biggest bank in the world is from China. You know where their United States headquarters is located? In this building, in Trump Tower.” (And so…..)

“[M]y fellow Republicans . . . are wonderful people. I like them. They all want me to support them.” (So, why don’t you do that instead of running?)

“I will be the greatest jobs president that God ever created.” (Just don’t ask me how I would do this.  I have no clue.)

“Nobody would be tougher on ISIS than Donald Trump. Nobody.” (By doing what to them?)

“Rebuild the country’s infrastructure? Nobody can do that like me.” (The House of Representatives controls the money.  How would you get them to let you spend it?)

“I would build a great wall, and nobody builds walls better than me . . . on our southern border. And I will have Mexico pay for the wall.” (You would get Mexico to pay for a 700 mile wall,  and just how would you do that….?)

“I know the smartest negotiators in the world. . . . Believe me, folks, we will do very, very well, very, very well.” (Donald, as president, you would not be negotiating for buying a building.)

There is no question that having Trump, even in just one debate, would be very entertaining.  And, the other candidates will seriously have to figure out how to respond to someone like a Donald Trump.  Actually, his bazaar actions have already shown where other candidates have just barely touched on some serious issues where Americans are needing resolutions.  Trump could, in his own weird way, force the discussion, as occurred in the 2012 Republican debates, when some candidates were driven even further to the right than they had wanted to be.

As examples, we can all remember when the then GOP debate candidates were asked which of them would turn down a 10 to 1 tax deal, and they all raised their hands in support.  Yes, we also remember when Mitt Romney was forced into a corner when he referred to his ridiculous “self- deportation” claim, or his statements of having, “binders full of women”.

Oh yes, having Donald Trump in the race could be very interesting and his focus could be potentially devastating to some of the other serious candidates. 

 

Or, Donald Trump could just become the next “OOPS” presidential debate candidate.

Stay tuned.  It will only get better from here.

Copyright, G.Ater  2015