Donald Trump Now Says He’s Mulling Third Party Bid

The same guy who will be hosting a Republican Presidential Debate at the end of the month now says he is still thinking about running for President:

Donald Trump will host another Republican White House hopeful on Monday when former House Speaker Newt Gingrich travels to New York to pay his respects to the real-estate mogul and reality TV star.

But as much as “The Donald” relishes his role as Republican kingmaker, he won’t close the door on his own independent presidential bid once the next season of his reality TV show, “The Celebrity Apprentice,” wraps up on NBC next spring — a prospect that could spell doom for the eventual GOP nominee.

“I absolutely have another bite,” Mr. Trump said in an interview. “If the economy continues to be bad and if the Republicans choose the wrong person, I would do it.”

The American electorate is increasingly dissatisfied, in the face of persistently high unemployment and gridlock in Washington. That’s a ripe environment for third-party presidential bids.

And Mr. Trump possesses the two things an independent candidate needs to wage a serious bid.

“You need a big name, and you need big money,” he said. “And guess who’s got that?”

What Trump actually has is a new book coming out today, and Season 5 of Celebrity Apprentice premiering in February. It’s no coincidence he’s sticking his nose back in the Presidential race again. Expect this to continue throughout the spring, right up to the Season Finale of Celebrity Apprentice in May, after which he’ll tell us he’s “thinking about running,” then announce he isn’t. And the idiotic media will follow him around like the slavish lap dogs to celebrity that they’ve become.

FILED UNDER: 2012 Election, Environment, US Politics, , , , , , ,
Doug Mataconis
About Doug Mataconis
Doug Mataconis held a B.A. in Political Science from Rutgers University and J.D. from George Mason University School of Law. He joined the staff of OTB in May 2010 and contributed a staggering 16,483 posts before his retirement in January 2020. He passed far too young in July 2021.

Comments

  1. mattb says:

    Again, if Romney needed another way to get out of this debate, his advisers should look no further than this.

  2. Tsar Nicholas II says:

    All true, but the really scary thing is that if Trump ever did make a third-party run probably around 10% of Zombieland would vote for him. As idiotic as the media is the public even is worse.

  3. Obbop says:

    “There’s class warfare, all right, Mr. (Warren) Buffett said, but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning.”

    “There has been class warfare going on,” Buffett, 81, said in a Sept. 30 interview with Charlie Rose on PBS. It’s just that my class is winning. And my class isn’t just winning, I mean we’re killing them.”

  4. Franklin says:

    @Tsar Nicholas II: 10%? I think that would be plenty to guarantee an Obama victory. If it weren’t for the fact that Trump is an egomaniac, I would assume that was his goal.

  5. James in LA says:

    Trump has laid a trap and only Huntsman and Paul resisted. Trump is not your friend, and never will be. I never saw Ross Perot moderate a debate of GOP primary candidates, and that sucking sound you hear is disillusioned GOP votes going to Trump.

    One seriously wonders if the GOP will simply stay out of it next year out of sheer embarrassment. There is no where to hide from this stuff, and even people who do not tune in until just before will be greeted with an unspeakable amount of video evidence as to who’s belfry has a bad case of the bats.

    Since Macaca, the politics of white-lying your way across the country have become a huge loser. We politely call it flip-flopping.

  6. waltm says:

    Since Larry Harmon isn’t around to run any more, somebody has to take his place.