There is a growing chorus of voices, from Bill Cosby to Lawrence O'Donnell, proclaiming the candidacy of Donald Trump is fake, but personally I'm not convinced.
Trump is egomaniacal enough to believe he can win, and I have no doubt that he would sell his soul at a discounted price if only to attract more attention to his brand. And what better way to do that than to run for president?
It has become clear that the campaign for the Republican nomination is more about boosting one's entertainment-media profile than actually running for the presidency. Those who actually want to be president are polling near the bottom of the pack.
Billionaire real estate mogul and television star Donald Trump leads all other likely Republican contenders for the presidency in 2012 by nearly double-digits, survey data released Thursday showed.
The Democrat-affiliated firm Public Policy Polling, in their latest monthly update on Obama's potential Republican challengers, found that at 26 percent, Trump is leading the runner-up -- former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee -- by nine percent among Republican voters nation-wide. [...]
The poll also found that a full 23 percent of Republican voters would not cast their ballot for a candidate who believes the president is an American citizen.
That last number should tell you why Trump has been beating the birther-horse so hard, even though that horse died some time ago.
Lets assume for a moment that his candidacy is indeed a fake, and consider the damage he is currently doing to the Republican brand in the name of his "fake" campaign. He is polling far ahead of the pack, meaning a lack of his presence may deflate voter enthusiasm a great deal, and he is going out of his way to attack the supposed establishment front runner, Mitt Romney.
Washington – Potential presidential candidate Donald Trump says he's a better businessman than a leading GOP hopeful in 2012, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.
Trump tells CNN's "State of the Union" that he has a "much, much bigger net worth. I mean my net worth is many, many, many times Mitt Romney."
Trump describes Romney as a "small business guy." Trump says he's created thousands of jobs and built a "great company."
I consider Mitt Romney to be the only remote chance Republicans have of actually challenging President Obama in a general election, and Donald Trump is launching staph-laced raw beef into the crowd right now while attacking him. That's not something you do unless you're trying to win the nomination.
If Trump's candidacy really is fake it may be the most politically-expensive practical joke ever.