2012 Contender: Donald Trump

Continuing our march through the Republican contenders for 2012, today we stop at the clown tent. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Donald Trump, and you can keep him. Strangely, some people are seriously claiming that Trump just might be the true conservative we’ve all been looking for, which just goes to show that you can fool some of the people all of the time.

Who Trump Claims To Be. . .

Here’s who “the Donald” claims to be today:

● He’s an economic conservative.
● He’s pro-life.
● He opposes gun control.
● He wants to repeal and replace ObamaCare.
● He opposes foreign aid.
● He supports fair trade and wants to slap import tariffs on China to force them to rebalance their currency.
● He believes the US should leave Iraq and Afghanistan.

Ok, sounds somewhat conservative. But is any of this true or is he just telling people what they want to hear? For that, let’s look at his background.

Who Trump Really Is. . .

In 2001, Trump switched from the Republican Party to the Democratic Party. While he was a Democrat, he considered running for President as a Republican in 2004 and running for governor of New York as a Republican in 2006. In 2009, he again became a Republican, but not before describing himself in 2007 thusly: “[I am] very much independent. . . I go for the person, not necessarily the party. I mean, I vote for Republicans and I vote for Democrats.” Ok, so let’s look at how his independence swings by looking at who he’s donated money to:

Harry Reid
Ted Kennedy
Charles Rangel
Charles Schumer
Rahm Emanuel
John Kerry
Tom Daschle
Joe Biden

That’s a rogues gallery of far leftism. He’s also praised Nancy Pelosi, penning her a congratulatory note after her election as speaker. Clearly, Trump is neither Republican nor loyal, as further evidenced by his statement today that he intends to run as an independent if he doesn't secure the nomination.

What Trump Really Believes. . .

Trump’s conservative views also appear to be new-found. For example:

● Trump claims to oppose ObamaCare, but in the 2000 election, when he jockeyed to run as a Reform Party candidate, he favored universal health care: “[I’m] conservative on most issues, but a liberal on this one.” Even during his CPAC speech he said he wanted to replace ObamaCare “with something that makes sense for people in business.” That’s Business-Roundtable speak for getting health care off corporate balance sheets and onto taxpayer backs. That puts TrumpCare to the left of ObamaCare.

● Trump claims to be pro-life, but admits he was pro-choice until recently. In December 1999, he said: “I believe it is a personal decision that should be left to the women and their doctors.” His conversion is supposedly based on a friend telling him he was happier having had a child they originally intended to abort.

● In his 2000 book The America We Deserve, Trump proposes a "one-time" 14.25% tax on personal estates and trusts over $10 million. Things like this are never one-time, and Trump certainly has shown no restraint to only do bad things once, as evidenced by his history of serial bankruptcies discussed below.

● In The America We Deserve, Trump said he “generally oppose[s] gun control, but I support the ban on assault weapons and I support a slightly longer waiting period to purchase a gun.”

● In 2000, Trump campaigned to limit campaign contributions and ban soft money. This is an idea pushed by liberals to silence their opponents.

None of that is conservative. At best, it’s solid RINO.

His Business Credentials Also Send Up A Red Flag

Trump’s business career also sends up a huge red flag because he’s a serial abuser of the bankruptcy system.

● In 1991, Trump filed bankruptcy, costing bondholders hundreds of millions of dollars. He ended up losing 50% of the ownership of his casinos to the bondholders.

● In November 1992, Trump’s Trump Plaza Hotel was forced into bankruptcy. Trump lost 49% of his ownership in the hotel and he lost his role in the day-to-day operations of the hotel.

● In 1993, Trump was forced to give up Trump Shuttle because he could not afford to pay his $900 million in personal debt and $3.5 billion in business debt. He was also forced to give up his then-latest Manhattan real estate project. His name was kept on the building so the new owners could charge a premium for the condos.

● In 1995, Trump combined his casino holdings into the publicly held Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts, which was unable to meet even the interest payments on its $3 billion debt. In 2004, Trump Hotels filed for bankruptcy. Trump lost his CEO position and half his ownership interest -- down to 27%. The company re-emerged as Trump Entertainment Resorts Holdings.

● In 2008, Trump again failed to pay his debts and was sued by his creditors.

● In February 2009, Trump Entertainment Resorts filed for bankruptcy, at which time Trump was forced to resign from the board.

There is nothing inherently un-conservative about filing bankruptcy. But Trump has shown a pattern of using the bankruptcy system as part of his business plan. This should call into question not only his business credentials as it shows a history of bad deal making and mismanagement, but also his respect for private property and how he is likely to respond to adversity, i.e. does he always look for the easy way out?

The Candidate

Finally, with all that said, I am enjoying Trump the candidate. Trump has been merciless in blasting Obama on all issues strange and ridiculous, e.g. the birther issue and the “Obama is a Muslim” issue. I like this because Trump has a big enough platform to make these attacks meaningful, and thereby force Obama to deal with them, but he also lacks credibility as a Republican representative and therefore we don’t get tarred by his buffoonery. But that comes with two huge caveats. First, this only remains true so long as Republicans don't lend him any credibility, or else we risk adopting the blame for his ridiculousness. Secondly, Trump is only entertaining as long as no Republicans actually consider supporting him. The clowns are funny, but no one would suggest letting them run the circus.