Rogue Elephant, Donald Trump Is Stampeding Out Of Control (Updated)

Okay, I have to admit I’ve been somewhat entertained by the Donald’s antics in the 2012 Republican horse-race, thus far. His needling of the President on the birth certificate issue has been amusing, even though I don’t get the impression that he’s studied the issue that closely. Trump, who has obviously been following Jack Cashill’s work, Deconstructing Obama, also recently told Hannity that Bill Ayers wrote Obama’s book, Dreams From My Father. I don’t have a problem with that at all. More in the media should be talking about it -especially now that a possible contender for the highest office in the land has accused the sitting president of massive literary fraud.

The problem is — he can not be  serious. First of all, how conservative is the “very conservative” Trump?

2008 Trump Blasts Bush, Praises Obama, Says he Can Save the World: “I think he has a chance to go down as a great president. Now, if he’s not a great president, this country is in serious trouble,” said Trump. “I think [Obama’s] going to lead through consensus,” continued Trump. “It’s not going to be just a bull run like Bush did. He just did whatever the hell he wanted. He’d go into a country, attack Iraq, which had nothing to do with the World Trade Center and just do it because he wanted to do it.”

Now that Donald Trump is claiming that the Tea Party is the be all end all, isn’t it quite peculiar his support AGAINST nearly every tea party candidate in the 2010 cycle? He opposed Sharron Angle in favor of Harry Reid (and gave Reid almost $5k to defeat her). He supported uber-Rino Charlie Crist over Marco Rubio. He supported Arlen Specter over Pat Toomey. He donated the max to Kirsten Gillibrand over Joe DioGuardi. He donated to far left congressman Anthony Weiner and Carolyn Maloney. His one “big” uhhh “conservative” donation was $50k to Karl Rove’s American Crossroads PAC. Needless to say, Karl Rove is about as anti-Tea party establishment RINO as they come. This is a man who has NEVER done anything for either the Tea Party or the Republican Party or for Conservatism, and is now running around waving all three banners as though he is the Braveheart of the Right.

Meet the Donald Trump, Sudden Right-Wing Conservative: Contributions, Abortion, Health Care, and Taxes….

Political Donations: Might as well start here:

Charlie Rangel (D-NY): 2006 – $10,000 Yes, he of corruption, tax evasion, and mass liberalism

Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) $12,000 Total, $2,000 in 2006 Re-election

Harry Reid: Donated $4,800 in 2010 to Reid to defeat Sharon Angle. $10,400 to Reid overall

Chuck Schumer: Donated $4,000 during 2010 Election Cycle

Kirsten Gillibrand: $5,800 over past 2 cycles

Ted Kennedy: $7,000

John Kerry $5,500 ($2,000 in 2004 Pres race, which he also gave Bush $2,000. How bi-partisan!)

Democratic Senatorial Committee: $116,000 (versus $30K to GOP equivalent)

Abortion:

Donald Trump Then: “I support a woman’s right to choose, but I am uncomfortable with the procedures. When Tim Russert asked me on Meet the Press if I would ban partial-birth abortion, my pro-choice instincts led me to say no. After the show, I consulted two doctors I respect and, upon learning more about this procedure, I have concluded that I would support a ban.” From his 2000 book.

“I believe it is a personal decision that should be left to the women and their doctors” – When he last considered running for President in 2009.

Donald Trump Now: “As you know, I’m pro-life…  I’m forming an opinion, I’m forming a very strong opinion but I’ll let you know in about three or four weeks if I decided to.”

Until now, I always thought of Trump as just another  a left-leaning rich guy. Now he’s talking a good talk, and has people like Michael Savage, Rush Limbaugh, and Laura Ingraham taking his conservative creds seriously. I’m just not convinced.

Another problem -The opposition researchers are going to have a field day with Trump. How many past scandals from this man’s life (that I have no interest in knowing about) are we going to be treated to? October 2012 will be a very busy month for the MSM if La Donald runs.

But worst of all, he’s now saying he’ll run on an Independent ticket if he doesn’t get the Republican nomination.

He told The WSJ:

“I am very conservative,” said Mr. Trump. “The concern is if I don’t win [the GOP primary] will I run as an independent, and I think the answer is probably yes.” Mr. Trump said he thought he “could possibly win as an independent,” adding, “I’m not doing it for any other reason. I like winning.”

Somebody stop this rogue elephant before someone gets hurt.

MORE:

Johathan Hoenig at Smart Money, The WSJ says Trump is no capitalist:

…Trump professes to support free trade, yet proposes a 25% tax on imported goods from China to level what he sees as trade imbalances in the global economy. It’s a contemptuous proposal which would immediately punish Americans by raising the price on virtually everything we buy.

He has also called for regulators to stop European stock operator Deutsche Börse’s ( DBOEY ) planned $9.5 billion buyout of the NYSE Euronext ( NYX: 37.85, +0.26, +0.69% ) , telling Fox Business Network, “I don’t want foreign countries owning the New York Stock Exchange.” If he was the president, he added, he “wouldn’t even have allowed the discussions to take place.” In a capitalist country, shareholders make that kind of decision, not regulators . Trump sees a clear role for government picking winners and losers in the economy, just the same as the previous presidents he claims to critique.

On top of that, he has pushed for a one-time 14.25% tax on the rich as a means of supplementing funding for Social Security and Medicaid, along with universal health care . Philosophically, those positions are indistinguishable from the anti-capitalist political establishment now in power.

Trump, of course, is free to run and support whatever platform he wishes, as are his many fans across the country. But despite his personal fortune, they should know his proposals and political philosophy are far from capitalist. Punitive and redistributionist taxes, centralized planning, barriers to trade and an entitlement “social safety net” are all ideas straight out of Karl Marx , not John Galt .

“You need a person like me to run this country for a while because we have to get this country back so that we’re respected again.” Trump told CNN recently.

A businessman whose proposals seek to destroy capitalism? There’s nothing to respect about that.

Ed Morrissey is  not on the Trump bandwagon, either:

this is a second coming of Perot.  Trump has the money (at least for now) to mount a vanity campaign as a third-party alternative to the two major-party nominees.  This would end up splitting the anti-Obama vote and set the President up for an easy re-election through a popular-vote plurality that would translate into an overwhelming Electoral College majority.  Liberals are not going to flock to Trump’s side for any reason, which means whatever Trump draws will come directly from those who were already inclined to vote against Obama.  It would be a nightmare scenario for Republicans in this cycle, a sort of Charlie Crist on steroids and junk bonds but with a viable Democratic opponent in the mix.The GOP should nip this in the bud now.  Can we agree that the starting position for anyone seeking the Republican nomination is that they will support the outcome of the primaries?

What can the GOP do to stop it? This is getting ridiculous.

Aaron Worthing: Trump: Give Me the Republican Nomination or I Will Give Obama a Second Term

But the thing that bothers him the most about Trump is —-the comb-over.

MORE:

Mark Levin on facebook:

Trump is NOT the real deal. He will get Obama re-elected. This is not a game. This is not a circus. He is not a conservative. He was happy to donate to Schumer, Weiner, & Emanuel campaigns last year. He was pro-choice recently and now claims to be pro-life. He sounds more & more like Ross Perot. If he runs as an Independent, Obama wins. We should not encourage this.

See also:

The Right Scoop: What you need to know about Donald Trump

That should be titled – All you need to know about Donald Trump.

Linked by David Swindle, NewsReal Blog, thanks!

Hat tip: Charles B.