I love me some Donald Trump!

Your papers, please.

First off, let me say that I don’t honestly think that Trump will be running. I think he’s a great businessman (and if you don’t believe me, just ask him; he’ll be sure to tell you how he feels on how great of a businessman he is), and part of being a great businessman is being a good showman. One of the hallmarks of a good showman is that he can attract attention to himself, and when the spotlight is on, he knows how to keep it on himself. How can he better keep it on himself than to keep the whole “is he running?” question going?

So why do we, here at The Billy Blog’s Institute for Campaign Excellence (We're cold as ICE, and we are willing to sacrifice!), love The Donald? Well, it’s not so much of a love for the man as it is a love for what he’s doing and the way in which he’s doing it, as well as what he represents. You see, most people who appear as possible candidates for president are career politicians, afraid of “rocking the boat,” and so not only will they not dare to say anything controversial, but they may avoid any campaign specifics, or even any legislative votes on tough issues that could be brought up later! (See: Obama, Barack) Other possible candidates for the presidency are ideologues who may have a strong stance on one issue (or even a handful), and that stance may resonate with some voters, but they may become deferential on other issues so as to not seem too extreme or scare other voters away, and, let’s be honest, everybody knows they don’t really stand a chance anyway. (See: Kusinich, Dennis; Paul, Ron; Nader, Ralph)  Then, you occasionally get the lame, ultra-boring candidates that really have no business being in the running but somehow manage to stay in the race because the media, secure in their dislike for certain politicians, prop up said candidates as much as possible in a concerted effort to unseat the incumbent.  (See: Kerry, John)


How is The Don different? Well, for starters, he’s not afraid of rocking the boat. It’s very rare that you find an interviewee who will challenge the interviewer (at least for political interviews), question the questions, and generally be forthright in saying what he feels, but that’s what Trump provides. Some talking heads in the media have tried to poke fun at his interjection of “excuse me” countless times throughout the course of an interview, but I think it is very refreshing.

 PS, Chris Matthews - you're a douchebag.

I actually really like it, because it keeps the journalists somewhat honest and it means that they can’t just ask pointed questions to make an interviewee look bad.

Would you want to interview this guy???

Perhaps the biggest leap Trump made in my estimation of him came from his reaction to Obama releasing his long form birth certificate.  You see, although the issue had been simmering for a couple of years, Obama dropped his resistance to the birth certificate issue as soon as its utility as a tacit race card was outweighed by the liability of increasing doubt the issue was fomenting.  So, Obama, displaying obvious annoyance at the silliness of the issue, announced the release of the birth certificate and proclaimed the need for attention to be focused on more serious matters, like flying to Chicago later that day to tape the Oprah show.  What was the catalyst of change?  None other than Donald Trump himself. 

So how did Trump react when Obama finally released his birth certificate?  Well, do you remember that kid in elementary school who, whenever you beat him in a game you were playing, would insist that he won because you didn't know what the rules were?  Or, he might say that you finished with a higher score, but he wasn't trying to score as many points as possible, but was aiming for some other goal instead - and he would insist it so forcefully that you honestly couldn't tell whether that was really the case or not - do you remember how royally pissed off that would make you, because it robbed you of your complete victory?  Well, that is exactly what Donald Trump did, on a national stage.  "Oh, your birth certificate?  How about your transcripts?"

Buy my stuff, and you can be like me!

So what is Trump doing? He’s building a brand. Well, I guess he’s building on a brand, since pretty much everyone already knows who he is, but you get my point.  Let's face it, The Donald doesn't care if you like him or hate him.  He knows, though, that the more you see of him, the more you're likely to like him or hate him more, and you're more likely to watch his show if you hate him than if you don't give a crap about him at all.  He's a classic heel, someone you love to hate, and he's totally playing the role.  I love how he has been able to turn "election 2012" into his own personal ego-fest.  Go Donald!