# Donald Trump for President? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [February 10, 2011, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-for-president/570953 "2011-02-10T21:34:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-for-president/570953/1 "2011-02-10T21:34:58Z")
> **[Donald Trump makes his case for presidency](http://content.usatoday.com/communities/onpolitics/post/2011/02/donald-trump-obama-cpac-/1)** > > Billionaire developer Donald Trump said he'll decide by June whether to run for president in 2012. Stranger things have happened. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-for-president/570953/2 "2011-02-10T21:39:17Z")
Let me just speak as a journalist… **PLEEZE LET THIS HAPPEN!** ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-for-president/570953/3 "2011-02-11T02:47:31Z")
> [@](#): > > “I will fight to end Obamacare and replace it with something that makes sense for people in business and not bankrupt the country.” And if there’s anything he knows about, it’s bankruptcy. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-for-president/570953/4 "2011-02-11T02:56:10Z")
It’s not going to happen. Trump “considers” running every election cycle because he loves the press to cover his comments as if he could win (highly unlikely). It’s just ego gratification. ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-for-president/570953/5 "2011-02-11T03:02:42Z")
You have to be kidding me. Who’s next? Arnold Schwarzannager? Bill Gates? Also Mr. Trump regard the PRC as an enemy and apparently advocates stringent tariffs against it. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Jay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b77776/32.png) [@The\_Jay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Jay)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-for-president/570953/6 "2011-02-11T03:39:08Z")
Wouldn’t you just love to see Trump and Palin battle it out in the primaries though? ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-for-president/570953/7 "2011-02-11T03:50:49Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > You have to be kidding me. Who’s next? Arnold Schwarzannager? Bill Gates? Arnold is constitutionally ineligible to be president, and Bill has proven to be a far better businessman than Trump. Actually, given the Republican prediliction for successful businessmen as political candidates, I’d expect them to fall all over Gates. > [@](#): > > Also Mr. Trump regard the PRC as an enemy and apparently advocates stringent tariffs against it. So, you feel that supporting the economy of the PRC is more important that supporting the economy of the USA? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-for-president/570953/8 "2011-02-11T04:32:41Z")
Gates has donated slightly more money to Democrats than Republicans, and he’s also the largest single donor to family planning-related charities (read: abortion providers). Never gonna happen. ---
**Author:** ![zamboniracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9a140/32.png) [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-for-president/570953/9 "2011-02-11T21:07:48Z")
Trump’s not going to run for anything for the same reason that Howard Stern never ran for governor, those pesky financial disclosure statements the candidates are required to file. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2011, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-for-president/570953/10 "2011-02-12T01:49:43Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Gates has donated slightly more money to Democrats than Republicans, and he’s also the largest single donor to family planning-related charities (read: abortion providers). Never gonna happen. Well, yeah, plus he doesn’t scream bloody murder about paying taxes. ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2011, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-for-president/570953/11 "2011-02-12T16:27:25Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > Well, yeah, plus he doesn’t scream bloody murder about paying taxes. Didn’t he also support the proposal to introduce an income tax in Washington State? ---
**Author:** ![Regallag\_The\_Axe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/regallag_the_axe/32/445_2.png) [@Regallag\_The\_Axe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Regallag_The_Axe)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2011, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-for-president/570953/12 "2011-02-12T18:30:45Z")
> [@The\_Jay](#): > > Wouldn’t you just love to see Trump and Palin battle it out in the primaries though? Oh, man, the Daily Show and the Colbert Report would _never_ run out of jokes. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2011, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-for-president/570953/13 "2011-02-12T18:44:11Z")
> [@saoirse](#): > > Didn’t he also support the proposal to introduce an income tax in Washington State? It was to introduce an income tax, but with a corresponding reduction in property taxes. So sort of. ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2011, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-for-president/570953/14 "2011-02-12T20:49:35Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > … I’d expect them to fall all over Gates… Bill lacks the charisma to win the votes necessary. Donald would have a better chance. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2011, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-for-president/570953/15 "2011-02-12T21:27:58Z")
Less charisma that Donald Trump. I don’t care how rich you are, a comment like that has got to hurt. ---
**Author:** ![Cort](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/77aa72/32.png) [@Cort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cort)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2011, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-for-president/570953/16 "2011-02-13T03:06:54Z")
On the other hand, think of all the amazing shit we’d need to invent to work out a feasible way to chisel that quiff into Mount Rushmore. It’d be the best thing to happen to science since the Apollo missions. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2011, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-for-president/570953/17 "2011-02-13T05:04:36Z")
And who is going to be his running mate? Find out tonight on…_Celebrity Vice-President_! ---
**Author:** ![Gukumatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/74df32/32.png) [@Gukumatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gukumatz)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2011, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-for-president/570953/18 "2011-02-13T13:16:14Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > And who is going to be his running mate? Find out tonight on…_Celebrity Vice-President_! Gordon Ramsay. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2011, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-for-president/570953/19 "2011-02-13T15:00:28Z")
Trump does this every ten years or so. In 1988, the enemy was the Japanese - they were kicking our butts economically, and Trump proposed charging them for the military defense we were providing. He “ran” again in 1999 (I think), proposing a one-time tax on wealth to pay the national debt off. Now it’s the Chinese, and he promises never to raise taxes on Americans. Trump’s positions over the years are a good indicator of what the average dumbshit American is most angry about. Gore Vidal said that for some people, after a certain age, litigation replaces sex. Trump has apparently run out of people to sue, so he runs for president. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2011, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-for-president/570953/20 "2011-02-13T16:05:53Z")
zamboniracer writes: \> Trump’s not going to run for anything for the same reason that Howard Stern \> never ran for governor, those pesky financial disclosure statements the \> candidates are required to file. Nobody’s entirely sure how much Trump is worth. Trump himself claims more than $5 billion. _Forbes_ has him tied with 48 other people for being the 488th richest person in the world with $2 billion. It’s possible that even that is an overestimate. He’s constantly been engaged in schemes in which his credit is overextended by any reasonable financial analysis. I wouldn’t be too surprised to learn someday when he dies or some circumstance forces him to do a complete accounting of his assets that he’s only worth about $100 million, the amount of money he’s made in his various TV shows. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-for-president/570953.md?page=2)