Damn, just damn
Trump announced he would not run for president on May 11, 2011. If you will recall, Trump was a major proponent of the theory that Mr. Obama was not born in the United States and was therefore disqualified to serve. He also implied that Mr. Obama did not earn his way into Columbia and Harvard via merit, and went so far as to offer a $5 million reward to anyone who could produce his transcripts.
As it happened, Mr. Obama was able to produce his long-form birth certificate from Hawaii on April 27. Five days later, Obama announced that he ordered a successful strike on the Bin Laden hideout in Pakistan. “General Motors is alive and Osama Bin Laden is dead” was a motif subsequently employed by every Democrat in every rally for the next 16 months.
By releasing his birth certificate, Mr. Obama discredited the birther movement. Then he killed Bin Laden. The poll numbers were safely swayed in his favor. Trump bowed out almost immediately. But why? Because he knew he couldn’t win? Not exactly. He bowed out because the Democrats didn’t need him anymore.
As conservative writer Kyle Smith wrote in his New York Post article on May 30, “The only people who want Donald Trump to run for the Republican presidential nomination are Democrats.” This was just two weeks before Trump decided to run. Smith – and many others of his ilk – were disgusted that Trump was dipping his feet in, yet again, because Trump donated almost exclusively to Democrats until the last few years.
So why is Trump finally running this time? It’s actually quite simple. Hillary Clinton has been tapped. She is set to be our next president. But she’s toxic. Benghazi. Fast & Furious. “Clinton Cash.” Email-gate. General Petraeus was indicted for the type of behavior she engaged in. Mrs. Clinton is currently the subject of an FBI investigation.
Add to this the almost inevitable ebb and flow of the body politic. It is rare for one party to take the White House for more than eight consecutive years. Republicans have secured both chambers of Congress. If a Republican is elected, the president would be able to dismantle many of the Obama mandates before their full implementation. Including Obamacare.
In short, history and present events suggest that a Republican will probably take the White House, but the Democrats are more desperate than ever to keep it. So what do they do? They finally play the Trump card.
Trump — a billionaire who has given countless millions to Democrats for decades — is spouting extremely hard-right talking points that serious Republican candidates are unwilling to publicly espouse but also unwilling to openly eschew. He knows what he’s doing. He will certainly garner significant Republican support because of his vitriolic rhetoric, which undoubtedly speaks to immutable frustrations on the far right.
So he has a giant lead in the polls. He has proven that he can actually win the nomination. If he does, all he will have to do to guarantee Democratic victory is lay down. Flop. On purpose. Give it away.
But he doesn’t even have to get the nod. He already said he’d consider running on a third party ticket. If he does, he’ll take a substantial number of Republican votes and very few Democrat votes. Either way, Hillary wins.
