Trump Delays Billion Dollar Development

Donald Trump, renowned as a property magnate, a failed politician and a world-class bully, today flew out of Scotland in his $100 million private Boeing 757 after visiting his proposed billion-dollar golf development. He announced that the golf course near Aberdeen would open in July 2012, but admitted that the full luxury development may not proceed.

Donald Trump In Scotland, "The market has crashed" 

He answered a question as to where on the sprawling 1,400 acre site he would locate parts of the development, by asking, “Where's the market?"

Trump went on to add,

"When I originally bought this site, the market was perceived as being very good. The world has taken lots of turns and twists... everything we do is dependent on market conditions."

The Donald’s five-year quest for planning approval of the proposed development was met with determined opposition by local residents and environmentalists and was rejected by local councillors.

The Scottish Wildlife Trust has said the development will destroy the area's natural ecosystem. With characteristic bluster, Trump has responded by saying - without any evidence – that the development will benefit the environment.

He has been bullying neighbors of the new development, including a fisherman whose property Trump referred to as "disgusting". Trump has made various legal threats against the neighbors.

However, the Scottish government intervened in 2007 and approved the project.

His admission that the development is not currently viable is little short of stunning after having boasted that he would create the "world's greatest golf resort".  The resort plans included hotel, homes, holiday apartments and a golf academy.

The Trumpster is a golfer who claims a handicap of four, although we’d rather trust an externally verified number. However, we can confirm that he owns four golf courses. Do you think he’s a touch confused between these numbers?

Birthday Award Criticises Trump's Belligerence

See the previous entry, ‘Trump A Bully In Scotland’ for essential background to this post.

Our Donald had two birthday presents on June 14 when he turned 65 years of age.

The documentary, You've Been Trumped, won the Green Award at the Sheffield International Documentary Festival. The festival judges said of the movie about Trump’s billion-dollar golf course complex:

"We hope that this award will raise awareness and hold Donald Trump to account for his environmental and social belligerence, and expose the corruption and incompetence at the heart of the Scottish authorities which let this destruction go ahead."

The judges were referring to the golf development being located in an environmentally sensitive area.

The film will now receive a wider release in Scotland.

On Fox on The Donald’s birthday, Sean Hannity gifted the Trump by saying in an interview with our Trumpeter that “Donald Trump was at one time the leading candidate to challenge President Barack Obama in 2012.”

With a hypester like that, Donald didn’t need to blow his own trumpet.

Trump went on to tell us again one of the true reasons that he gave up his presidential nomination campaign:

 “It is really cool to have a hit show.  And I have Comcast and NBC calling me, please Donald, please, we want you, we love you, we love you. So, I had to make a decision. “

Trump then repeated his recent pronouncements that if the Republicans choose a weak candidate (“a loser”) then he may run as an independent.

Hannity asked him whether Trump worried that he would split the anti-Obama vote.

As Trump’s ego knows no bounds, he replied:

“I would win or Obama would win. I don't think the Republican could win.”

Have you ever heard of avoiding the question through reasons of ego?

A clip about the movie including interview of the director, Anthony Baxter.











The trailer for You've Been Trumped.

Trump A Bully In Scotland

Last Friday, the documentary You’ve Been Trumped made its British debut at the Sheffield International Documentary Festival.

The film’s director says that Donald Trump "bullied" and "victimised" residents of a small town in Scotland.



Donald Trump The Bully (Hair On The Collar Tries To Crawl Away!)



Trump is building a billion dollar golf course development in what has been termed an environmentally sensitive area.

The development includes a 450-room hotel, 950 apartments and a further 500 homes as well as a championship-level golf course.

The festival blurb mentioned that Trump was “running roughshod over the area’s long-term residents – and filmmaker Antony Baxter when he tries to investigate the story.”

The director was even detained by the police during the making of the movie, but ultimately he was not charged.

Baxter said, "I feel the truth has not been told to the people of Scotland or the people of the wider world."

Baxter has additionally made some extravagant claims that the movie was a factor in Trump abandoning his fake campaign for the GOP presidential nomination.

He said, “Mr. Trump realized he would be under severe scrutiny if he actually ran for president, and our film had become part of that dialogue.

Naturally, Donald Trump says the complex will be "world's greatest golf resort".  

Last year, despite significant opposition, our Trumpster was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Business Administration degree from Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen.

Hmm, could it be that callow commercial considerations dictated Donald’s degree? (That is terrible alliteration, I apologise.)

As a protest, a former principal of the university gave back to Robert Gordon his own honorary degree.

Trump International described Anthony Baxter as "a fraud" without “credibility”, “professionalism and integrity” and called the movie “a poor attempt at making money off the Trump name.”

Next month, the documentary will be screened in Manhattan at the IFC Center.

The name of the series in which it will be shown?

‘Stranger Than Fiction’!

Trump ‘Abducted By Aliens ’; Boeing Bargain; Saudi ‘Friends’

In his muddled speech to the Faith and Freedom Coalition conference in Washington last Friday, Trump at one stage went into an attack on Saudi Arabia for inciting the NATO campaign in support of the Libyan rebels. (This is not a correct reading of the politics, but never mind ...)

In mid-sentence, Trump appeared suddenly to realize that he was attacking his customers and quickly interrupted himself to say, “by the way, I have many friends in Saudi Arabia. They buy apartments from me all the time. I like them. They’re nice people. ”

What in this speech is more nauseating? His sycophancy or his hypocrisy?

Last night, Katie Couric told Jay Leno on The Tonight Show that Donald Trump “can be a very, very nice person with a good heart. But I think he was just acting like a jackass for a while . . . It’s as if he was abducted by aliens temporarily.”

Abducted by aliens! That’s going into the books along with Obama’s “carnival barker”.

Recently, Trumpeter bought a Boeing 757 private jet from Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen for a tidy $100 million. Even billionaires buy used. Allen had bought from a Mexican airline who in turn had acquired it from a Danish operator which first flew it in 1991. So, very much a used jet.

The 757 is a substantial upgrade from the much smaller Boeing 727 that The Donald previously used.  Forbes reports that the market for used private jets is suffering from weak demand. Nowadays, used private planes cost half of the 2007 level.

So, possibly Trumpster has acquired a bargain, leaving enough change to refashion the interior of the jet to his taste.

The Donald’s PR machine showed the plane off to The New York Post.  The plane as delivered to Trump apparently seats 43 persons in plush comfort.  That compares with the 230 that it would seat in an all-economy configuration as a commercial passenger jet.

As you’d expect, the plane now has suede-covered ceilings and much gold leaf in several areas including, of course, the bathroom.

Captain John Dunkin, one of the two pilots, told the Post mentioned that the plane is equipped with a 52 inch TV with a thousand pre-programmed movies.

Naturally, our favourite buffoon continues to say that he may yet join the nomination race. We can note that the Boeing 757 is indeed a presidential jet. Obama and Bush used the same model in their presidential campaigns.

Trump: Pepperoni With Palin; Ryan “Death Wish”; Never Give Up?

Donald Trump still appears delighted with the media attention he attracted for his fake presidential nomination campaign (even though his brand has suffered).

He has continued titillate the media with claims that he may yet decide to compete in 2012 as an independent.

Trumpo met with Sarah Palin on Tuesday night for a pizza dinner in Times Square. (The PR angle is that they split a pepperoni pizza.) The Trumper claimed that Palin urged him to run. She certainly is not going to confirm that lie.

Instead, she made predictably meaningless comments about how she values Trump’s “independence “  and that she and The Donald share a "love for this country and a desire to see our economy put back on the right track."

No word on how many publicists were employed for that drivel. But it does confirm that this certainly was not a true summit meeting of our favourite Republican spoilers.

What they do share is a love of quitting. Palin did not complete her term as governor of Alaska. Trump quit the 2012 GOP nomination race before it had even started. Makes you wonder about his book published in 2008. I believe the title was “Trump - Never Give Up. How I Turned My Biggest Challenges into Success”

 Yesterday Trump told ‘Fox and Friends’ that Paul Ryan’s budget plan could be a "death wish" in 2012. To bolster his case, he referred to last week’s congressional election in upstate New York, where a Democrat beat a Republican in a very, very solidly Republican seat. The upset was widely ascribed to the Republican candidate having supported the Ryan proposal to replace the present Medicare system with a voucher system.

That was Trump’s analysis. He told Gretchen Carlson that Ryan’s “plan caused a loss in an area that never loses for a Republican, you know that, in upstate New York.  An impossible loss.”

However, it is also true that a Tea Party candidate split the potential Republican vote, allowing the Democrat to win the seat. That is much the same as would happen in 2012 if Trump runs as an independent.  But let’s not spoil Trump’s story with facts.

Trump: Two Cent Writer, Failed Candidate, But A Carousel Success. Obama’s Still Laughing.

You’ve heard of the expression, “your two cents’ worth”.  Trump will earn rather more than two cents by writing a book for conservative imprint, Regnery Publishing, on restoring American greatness. The gushing press release unsurprisingly made no mention of Trump’s previous foray into political policy books, “The America We Deserve” published in 2000.

In that book, he expounds several ideas belonging more to the leftwing of the Democratic Party than the GOP. For example, he had a plan to impose a one-time 14.25% tax on individuals whose net worth exceeds $10 million. Fun reading for the Tea Party, I'm sure.  

The hypocrite’s book is out of print, but you can buy it on Amazon for two cents. Really, a used copy for two cents plus p&p of course. If you ever were bored enough to want more of Trump’s two cents’ worth, you only have to pay two cents for the privilege.

http://www.amazon.com/America-Deserve-Donald-Trump-Shiflett/dp/1580631312/ref=cm_cr_pr_pb_t

Trump won’t let go. He’ll milk his campaign for his forthcoming book, I mean his fake nomination campaign for all its worth. He told Fox that he might join the race for the Republican nomination if the candidates are too weak.

He said, "Stranger things have happened”.
(Although that could be challenged.)  
"I would not rule it out, no."
Thanks Don.
Please don’t tease the media anymore.

The Donald said that the candidates who have so far announced their intention to win the GOP nomination for presidential candidate would not be able to beat Obama. Trump did think that Huckabee could’ve won, but of course The Mick has quit. Hey, both these guys are cowards. They’ve deprived us of much-needed entertainment. Comedians and late night hosts should be suing Trump for loss of income.

The Trumpeter will be looking after his own income through contracting with New York City to run the Central Park Carousel. Under the ten-year deal, he pays the City of New York Department of Parks and Recreation a total of $2.75 million over the period.

By all accounts, his temporary management of the carousel has been a success. In the Eighties, he did something very similar in rehabilitating Wollman Rink. In the case of the carousel, the previous operator had left it a “filthy, decrepit hovel” according to the New York Daily News.

(Let’s draw a curtain across the details of the hovel conditions, which are far too unsavory for the fine sensibilities of this respectable blog – at least when it comes to people other than Trump. However, no holds barred for any dubious activities by Trump.)

In another bit of irony, the owner of New York One - the previous carousel operator – namely  Thomas Makkos had some years ago jointly with his wife combined two apartments on the 55th floor of the Trump Tower condominiums on Fifth Ave, spending $5 million for the privilege.

Something is going right for Trumpo and it is sweetly ironic that this success is a carousel, after President Barry Obama called him a carnival barker. Say what you like about cautious Barry – that man has superior judgement.

Following his successful turn at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, Barry is not keeping the jokes on hold. During the President’s visit to a school in London, someone suggested finding an investor for the winning design project that Barry was examining.  Obama responded, “Donald Trump? I have some connection with him.”

Oh, how we laughed.  Or was Cameron laughing at his favourite Bin Laden joke?

(Namely:

How’s your hiding place?

On a scale of Ann Frank to Osama Bin Laden.)

Donald Trump Quits With Trump Brand Damaged

The Donald has quit. He has announced that he has “decided not to pursue the office of the Presidency”. 

Let’s look at the reasons for this quitting, no the reasons for this cowardice:

The Official Reason

“... business is my greatest passion and I am not ready to leave the private sector.” Bah! BS of a particularly malodorous nature, sir. Next!

Trump supports Democrats More Than Republicans

Trump has in the past contributed more money to Democrats than to Republicans. He has contributed to some of the Republicans’ favourite enemies, including Hillary Rodham Clinton, John Kerry, Charles B. Rangel and Edward Kennedy. The Donald’s excuse is that he needed to contribute to the Dems for business reasons, as his primary place of business is New York. You may also think that these contributions were some time ago. Nope. He gave $50,000 to Rahm Emanuel for his campaign to become mayor of Chicago.

Trump’s Past Policies Anathema To Republicans

It’s little wonder that Trump did contribute to the Dems. His own position on polices was definitely not Republican. Trump was once a supporter of abortion rights; gay rights; a one-time tax of 14.25 percent on the wealthy; a universal government-paid health care and the bailout of the auto companies. He reversed all these policy positions entirely in his current fake race for the Republican nomination.

Trump’s Missing Worth Certificate

Trump had said that he would release his financials as to his net worth at the time of announcing his bid for the Presidency. Could it be that the real figures were so much lower than his public claims that it would have damaged his brand? And talking of damaging his brand ....

The Polls, The Polls

Bottom line, his poll ratings slumped from 26% to 8%. Trump may be a cartoon, but he’s not a cretin. The abysmal fall in his ratings following Obama’s release of the long-form birth certificate showed him that his race was over.  The Don said that he was "very proud" of himself for forcing Obama’s hand, but it turned out to be a death certificate for Trump’s campaign.

Of course, he couldn’t restrain his lying. He told Rolling Stone that he was "number one in the polls".

In his announcement today, he said that he was “top of the Republican contenders in polls across the country.” He went on to state he would have won, “I maintain the strong conviction that if I were to run, I would be able to win the primary and ultimately, the general election.”

If you believe that his fake campaign was intended to boost ratings for ‘Celebrity Apprentice’ .... It turns out that the audience for that show skews to the Democrats. According to research obtained by The Atlantic, the audience for "Celebrity Apprentice" is among the most liberal in primetime television. One wonders how the allegations of racism in his fake campaign were received by this audience. So, his campaign damaged his brand and he quit.

This is bad, bad. I was looking forward to the debates and the ads, the ads. You may have no idea just how easy it would have been to run attack ads against Trump. Why vote for a guy who throws little old ladies out of their homes and is being sued for misleading investors?  That’s even before we talk of his companies’ bankruptcies.

We needed candidates who could say things like, “In the old days, when you have a war and you win, that nation’s yours. ” Yup, we should have just grabbed Iraq’s oil for ourselves, Don-Don.

It is all over. The Palin-Trump ticket just couldn't get off the ground - like Trump Airlines.

Nevertheless, this site will not waver in its determination to examine the phenomenon that is Donald Trump. Our favourite cartoon candidate of yesterday is still our favourite businessman buffoon of today.

Lawsuits Mean Trump Slump, Not Headed To Stump?

The Donald has had a slump in the polls to a mere 8% following the success of the Bin Laden mission. A majority of Republicans polled have an unfavourable opinion of him. Admittedly, Obama's chances of a Republican candidate that is as easy to beat as Trump were never that strong, but one can live in hope - hope that now seems to be receding.

With hindsight, it seems that raising the birther issue has on balance damaged Trump even among those Americans who are drawn to the idea of a maverick businessman who can save the country (as they see it). Obama' release of the long-form birth certificate deflated the Trump campaign a little too efficiently. Barry may have to run against the Rombot, which would make for a boring campaign, except for the healthcare debate.

Now the knives are out for The Donald, whose brand may never recover from the press revelations. Yesterday, the New York Times ran a lengthy piece on The Donald having licensed his name to real estate developments in which he did not invest or have any management role at all. Many buyers bought on the strength of the Trump name and subsequently lost their deposits when these developments were never completed. Some 300 such buyers are currently suing Trump. The licensing arrangement between the real estate developers and Trump stipulated that the existence of the license agreement itself was not to be disclosed.

The article also refers to Trump University launched by Trump in 2005 to train students in real estate and general business, charging as much as $35,000 for a program. State regulators forced him to change the misleading name to Trump Entrepreneur Initiative, which is being sued by former students, who cite misleading marketing materials. One student described the tuition as  “almost completely worthless.” Trump also licensed his name to something similar called the Trump Institute, which was closed down in 2009. After the Texas attorney general began investigating Trump University, the company closed down in Texas.

Well, The Donald can console himself that he has the "number-one selling tie in the country" or at least that's what he told Rolling Stone in an interview published today.

Would you believe that The Donald has been imortalized in poetry? Me neither, but Timothy Hutchens at http://onthenewsstanza.blogspot.com/2011/04/some-card-that-trump.html has verse for your attention.

Donald Trump Roasted, Upstaged and Then Fired By Indy 500

The last two weeks have been eventful for The Donald. There was the Trump Triumph of prodding Obama into producing his long-form birth certificate. Sure, Obama was tactically brilliant. The percentage of Americans believing the birther conspiracy fell to 10%. But Obama's action also could be viewed as elevating Trump to national standing as a potential candidate, which may have been Obama's intention.

The next day he swore repeatedly in a speech in Las Vegas, embarrassing Republicans including Lindsey Graham of South Carolina who called it “unpresidential”. The theme of the speech was his criticism of Obama’s policies, mostly in foreign affairs. The level of his critical thinking is best demonstrated by his comment, “Our leaders are stupid.”

That same week, last Saturday, our favourite cartoon candidate was roasted by comedian Seth Meyers and, of course, President Obama at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.

Meyers’ routine seems to have been an ordeal for him as Trump did not smile once during Meyers’ onslaught. Trump later lambasted Meyers as having “no talent” and being a “stutterer”.

The following night we discovered that Obama had ordered the mission to kill Osama bin Laden, which gave an extra dimension to the words he used to mock Trump’s firing decisions in ‘The Celebrity Apprentice’, "These are the types of decisions that would keep me up at night. Well handled, sir."

Obama also said:

“Donald Trump ... he’s taken some flak lately, but no one is prouder to put this birth certificate to rest than The Donald. Now he can get to focusing on the issues that matter. Like, did we fake the moon landing? What really happened at Roswell? And where are Biggie and Tupac?”

The audience laughed and applauded while The Donald fumed.

The next day, Obama’s speech announcing the killing of Bin Laden pre-empted ‘Celebrity Apprentice’ and drew the biggest TV audience for any Obama speech.  Many have remarked on the irony.

Trump was recently selected to be the driver of the pace car for the 100th anniversary of the Indianapolis 500. Now, he has cancelled citing “time and business constraints”. Not everyone is convinced. Some believe that the Indianapolis Motor Speedway withdrew the invite as Trump is seen as a divisive character due to his birther speeches.

The Wig Trumpet has said he would announce whether or not he would run for the presidential nomination after the current season of ‘Celebrity Apprentice’ ends on May 22. Most likely, we will have to wait until June to find out if Don-Don will take on the fight.

Trump Scores, Obama Scores Even Bigger, Trump Is "Carnival Barker"

People don’t believe that Donald Trump’s hair is real,  much less that his presidential candidacy is real.  But Trump today scored a victory in his bid for credibility when President Barack Obama released his long form birth certificate in an attempt to reaffirm that he was born in the USA.  

Trump had brought this issue back into the media, embarrassing the Republican establishment.  A Gallup poll showed about a quarter of Americans believed that the President was “definitely” or “probably” born in another country. Obama did not mention Trump by name, but he did say, "We do not have time for this kind of silliness."  Silliness - that’s The Donald in one word, but far from unique.

Obama tried again. He went on to say that Americans would not be able to solve pressing problems "if we get distracted by sideshows and carnival barkers.”.

Carnival barker! That’s The Donald in two words. Brilliantly succinct.

In a New Hampshire press conference, Trump rushed to take credit for the release of the birth certificate, as he should. He told the press, “I’m very proud of myself because I've accomplished something that nobody else has been able to accomplish."  

Obama has in one fell swoop elevated a buffoon to the status of a real contender, complicating the Republicans' attempt to take the Presidency next year.  If Trump were to compete with Obama next year, Obama would easily win.

The birth certificate release won’t stop Trump from pursuing his complaints about Obama’s education.  I'll post on that once I have the guts for explaining Trump's darker side. The mainstream media tends to avoid this bitching about Barry's education as it is downright unpleasant.

Back to something lighter. Trump had semi-promised George Stephanopoulos (ABC, Good Morning America) that he would now release his tax returns once Obama had released his birth certificate.

Sure, sure – there’s a better chance of Al Gore being elected President.

Now, can we have proof that The Donald’s hair was born in this country?

Dumbest Guy in the Room. (Is that still true if the 'Jersey Shore' cast is there too?)

The Donald has said that he would impose a 25% tariff on all imports from China. Subsequently and even more ridiculously, he amended this to a 25% to 40% tariff range. He may be a billionaire, but he is also a dunce who hasn’t heard of the World Trade Organization. America would of course be subject to retaliatory measures and penalties if it did what Trump is suggesting.  He’ll say anything to get attention, of course. I’m starting to think that he’s the Democratic Party’s Manchurian candidate – in this case, programmed to upset any possibility of the Republicans winning in 2012.

He has in the past contributed more to the Democrats than the Republicans.  (The Dem recipients even include Charles Rangel.) Trump’s excuse is that he works in New York City, and has no choice.

Trump hasn’t voted in the NYC primary elections since 1989, according to the New York City Board of Elections. Is he a man who gives a damn?  He did furiously deny this accusation, but apparently, he also didn’t vote in some presidential primaries.

In case you - like me - think that Trump isn’t serious about his candidacy, be aware that conservative columnist and Fox News commentator Charles Krauthammer has called Trump “destructive” and compared him to Al Sharpton (nice one Chucky, or is that comparison about their hair?). Incidentally, Robert De Niro last night compared Trump to a car salesman.

Trump phoned Krauthammer and persuaded him that his candidacy was serious. Krauthammer now believes Trump is definitely campaigning for the Republican nomination.

Trump has been working the phones. He called Eliot Spitzer (CNN, In the Arena) on Friday to complain that he was worth much more than Spitzer’s on-screen speculation. Trump claimed that he was worth much more than the Forbes estimate of $2.7 billion The Donald also told Spitzer that he’d release his financial records when he formally enters the campaign.

I’ve seen the Forbes figure as $2.4 billion, but never mind. In any event, Forbes calls him 153rd richest in USA. Forbes also calls him the ‘Dumbest Guy in the Room’ for his suggestion to  George Stephanopoulos (ABC, Good Morning America) that the US should ‘reimburse’ itself for the money spent on the Iraq war by seizing the Iraqi oilfields – by military force.

Of course, if he had to win, it might not be all bad. In Melania Trump, we’d have a former Sports Illustrated Swimsuit cover model as First Lady. I had first thought that Sarkozy might then visit the White House more often, but I now recall that Trump dated Carla Bruni!


 

The Donald's Extra Gift For The Dems

Now just suppose Trump's will really try and secure the Republican 2012 presidential nomination and is not just hyping to increase The Celebrity Apprentice ratings.

Sure, that's far-fetched, but let's just fantasize. The Republican establishment will try and crush the nom. If they fail, Trump runs for president without even a tiny chance of winning. Obama then walks the race in 2012, winning say 56% to Trump's 43% or so. A landslide by modern standards. A gift for the Democratic party.

But if the Republican succeed in ensuring that Trump is not nominated, there's a even bigger gift for the Dems. Trump claims he will run as an independent if he doesn't secure the Republican nomination. That's an even bigger gift for the Dems in splitting the Republican vote.

Trump as Ross Perot - oh, bring it on.

(To recap that history, Perot split the vote in 1992, electing Clinton. He tried to repeat the favour in 1996, although his contribution that year was irrelevant as Clinton slightly out-polled Dole and Perot combined.)

Newsweek: Trump Trails Obama By Only Two Points

It seems Newsweek can't afford decent pollsters, or can't resist a misleading set of polls. (OK, they're not alone in that.)

Their recent poll shows Trump trailing Obama by only two percentage points (43-41) in a straight match. I refuse to supply a link to what is complete garbage. Gaddafi is about the only politician who couldn't handily beat Trump in a straight match.

The supposed buzz about Trump is more about a Howard Beale moment - y'know the "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore" line from the 1976 movie, Network. (Although the support for Charlie Sheen is a more exact equivalent to Howard Beale.)

The Newsweek numbers are not nearly duplicated elsewhere and can be safely ignored.

Donald Trump And His Fans

Yup, The Donald - who claims that Obama was not born in the USA - at first produced a birth certificate which the New York City Health Department said was not an official document. Then he did come up with the real thing, utterly spoiling the grand irony of it all. Swine!

Pollsters say that Trump and Huckabee are tied for hypothetical second place for the Republican presidential nomination for 2012. These chuckabees have 17% each, Romney has 21%.

Eric Cantor, Republican majority leader in the House, is a little peeved at The Donald pressing the birther issue as he knows it undermines Republican credibility with the key voters - those in the middle.

Cantor told CNN that he didn't "think Trump was really serious" in bringing up the birther issue.

You and I know differently.

By the way, arch-conservative Ann Coulter is also not a fan of The Donald. She told Fox that "Obama has produced his birth certificate" and that "every responsible, conservative organization" has rejected this conspiracy theory.

At this rate, the Dems have a lock on 2012.

The Donald Is "Beauty"

I like the Apprentice. Its an entertaining show. But is The Donald presidential material?

We'll examine just how suited Donald Trump is to the Oval Office in this blog.

First, a note of pure class.

The Donald says, "Part of the beauty of me is that I'm very rich. So if I need $600 million, I can put $600 million in myself. That's a huge advantage...over the other candidates."

Sure he's rich, but what strikes me in that quote is that he refers to the "beauty of me".

Is it just me? Am I the only one who does not find The Donald a thing of "beauty"?

Or am I missing the point? Is The Donald planning a campaign based around his "beauty"?

Ah, he is planning to appeal to beauticians. Maybe that's not it.

Wait, beauty is perception, yes - but beauty is also projection!

Now we've got it. The Donald is outstanding at projection!

I look forward to The Donald's beautiful presidential campaign. May he spend a billion or two of his own money and bankrupt himself as he did in 1991, 1992, 2004, and 2009. Am I missing any here?

And I haven't even mentioned his hair yet.