If you doubt that Donald Trump’s sudden, showy debut in the Republican Party’s tent is a possible game-changer in the 2012 presidential race, just consider how nervous GOP tactician Karl Rove seems to be about these new developments.
Rove referred to Trump as a “joke candidate” and, in the process of bashing The Donald, said that any Republican who doesn’t believe President Obama was not born in the U.S. is “nutty.”
“He was an interesting candidate who had a business background and could have contributed to the dialogue,” said Rove, George W. Bush’s key political adviser. “But his full embrace of the birther issue means that he’s off in the nutty right and is now an inconsequential candidate.”
With Trump mania starting to build, particularly among the all-important Tea Party crowd, Rove can only pray that his assessment soon comes true.
Other Republican operatives have stepped forward to snuff out the real estate mogul’s momentum by waging an anti-Trump campaign.
The Club for Growth, a very staid group of traditional conservative Republicans, is warning its followers that Trump is a wolf in sheep’s clothing, just another “tax-hiking liberal” and a “king of protectionism” who doesn’t deserve conservative support in the next election.
“Donald Trump for president? You’ve got to be joking,” Club for Growth President Chris Chocola told The Washington Times. “Donald Trump has advocated for massive tax increases that display a stunning lack of knowledge of how to create jobs. His love for a socialist-style universal health care system and his alarming obsession with protectionist policies are automatic disqualifiers among free-market conservatives. This publicity stunt will sputter and disappear just as quickly as the ‘The Apprentice’ is losing viewers.”
At one right-wing web site, Escapetyrrany.com, blogger Ben Hart noted that Trump had previously praised Obama and Hillary Clinton but also labeled George W. Bush the worst president in history.
“How can we take anything Trump says seriously when he makes a statement like that?
“And what are Donald’s policy positions? We really have no idea, except that he wants a trade war with China.
“’Bimbo Eruptions’” will also likely be a problem. Not that he’s ever claimed to be running for sainthood. Still, it will be interesting to see what comes bouncing out of the closet, Tiger Woods-style.
“And let’s not forget the $50,000 he gave to Rahm Emanuel for his Chicago mayor race. Trump just built a Trump Tower in Chicago. His big issue on that is he doesn’t want the Chicago Spire (skyscraper) to be built and wreck the view of the lake for residents of the Trump Tower.
“So Trump will do whatever Trump thinks is best for Trump.”
Meanwhile, Columnist John Avlon, a centrist with no skin in the game, said this: “I don’t even know if Donald Trump believes this stuff, but it’s playing well. I think that actually should scare the hell out of the Republican Party right now.”
While not acknowledging GOP fear, Todd Harris, a Republican strategist, said that if Trump announces his intentions on his TV show, “Celebrity Apprentice,” as some reports indicate, that move alone should destroy the Trump candidacy before it gets started.
“Donald Trump’s flirtation with a presidential campaign is all about Donald Trump,” Harris said. “When you want to launch or make an announcement to run for the highest office in the land — if not the most important position in the world — if you want to do that on your reality TV show, it shows a lack of seriousness and frankly a disrespect for the office that he’s pretending to want to seek.”
