Watching Donald Trump’s son speak at the Republican Convention, I heard him refer to his father as “the candidate who has never run for political office…” But this is just not true.
And its not the first time he’s been referred to as such. His supposed “first-time candidate” status has been a fairly big selling point of ‘Donald Trump 2016’. So is there collective amnesia or just blatant apathy for facts and reality?
All I’m seeing from that article is that one time he ran to be the Reform Party candidate in 2000 which is close enough to meaningless I’m willing to say he hasn’t. All the others are just variations on “he didn’t run, but polls indicated he may have done well in the primaries had he tried.”
Looks like the only actual “campaign” was 2000 but only California votes are mentioned.
The rest look like head fakes.
He certainly hasn’t run a full on campaign before.
He ran in 2012, I remember it specifically. I think the only thing that’s different this time is he and his campaign happened to catch fire (and this was only due to the current “throw em out” attitude of much of the electorate).
Also, his 2000 campaign was for the Reform Party candidacy, which is not a public office.
Huh. I guess I mistook the hype surrounding his possible candidacy for an actual (if short-lived and pathetic) one.
No need for this to stay open.
He ran for the Reform Party nomination to be president of the United States, which IS a public office.
He’s simply not and has never been a politician. He’s not even a first-time thinker.
So, if I run for Senator on the Neon Whig Party, but I drop out in a couple weeks, am I a politician now? 
He didn’t win that nomination, and thus did not run for president of the United States. It may be a minor point, but it’s the kind of word play all politicians engage in.
The claim in the op is “the candidate who has never run for political office.”
Let’s face it, if a Trump PR said the sky was blue, I’d go outside with a Pantone book to check.