Myrtle Beach, SC, Orlando, FL, March 26, 2015

Prescott Valley, AZ Correspondent-Donald Trump has toyed with and dabbled in presidential
politics over the years and more recently with the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, but he failed to follow through with the run and bowed out in the spring of 2011.  He did at one point have a lead in polling ahead of Mitt Romney before the Republican primaries but after he left the race altogether, his influence was limited.  Now, in 2015, he is talking again about making a bid for the nomination with fewer excuses than he previously made. 

The renegotiation with his television program, “The Apprentice” and his other business related commitments previously left him in a quandary as to whether he could juggle a run for the presidency but at this point in time, he is confident that he could leave the reality program and his real estate business to family members to manage while pursuing the 2016 nomination.

“The Donald” is a savvy and shrewd businessman who appears to have used past presidential aspirations for self-promotion and for a more recent publicity ploy concerning his NBC television program, but he seems to have given more critical thought to a potential 2016 bid with his recently announced plans to form a presidential exploratory committee, and says he will announce a final decision in June of 2015.  He has hired staff and political operatives in the early voting states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, and he has traveled to New Hampshire to meet with Republican state representatives and veterans groups.  Another more serious sign of commitment is his recent announcement that he would not renew his contract for his reality show, “The Apprentice.”

Though Trump is inexperienced in the political arena, he does know the ins and outs of what works to keep an economy growing and how to make the necessary adjustments to jump start a failing financial system.  He has a set pattern of negotiating skills that have benefited his reality program, his corporation, and his other businesses.  Critics question his past financial indiscretions that included four bankruptcies, casino closings, failed businesses and real estate ventures, but he has managed to beat the odds throughout the setbacks and has remained in strong financial standing.

Trump has many who dislike his past business dealings, his wealth accumulation, his luxurious lifestyle, and his self-assured persona, but he does have a number of people behind him that are fed up with the direction the country is going,  and they want him to do something to find solutions to the country’s downfall.  As Trump recently said, “I have a large following of people who are tired of seeing this country ripped off, and taken advantage of [by] everyone who does business with us. We used to be the smart one of the block, and now we’re the dummies on the block. They want to see me, and I want to see them.”

Positives in Trump’s corner are his true patriotism, his to the point criticism of current administration policies, and his willingness to expose and bring to the forefront issues concerning Obama, particularly the long standing issue of Obama’s long form birth certificate.  After much debate concerning the issue, Trump was able to help resolve some problems concerning the document.  Other positives include Trump’s ability to lay out a number of suggestions as to what should be done to stop the runaway federal government and its accompanying dangers.  In  his book, Time to Get  Tough:  Making America #1 Again, he proposed a  platform that included simplifying the tax code, attacking the national debt through entitlement cuts, accelerating energy independence, curbing unemployment,  getting tough on China, repealing Obamacare, rebuilding America’s infrastructure, controlling the borders, supporting local education, strengthening the military, caring for veterans and putting Americans back to work.

America does need a president who is not a career politician, and Donald Trump might be one of the first non-politicians to prove the case for an outsider taking control of the helm.  As Trump himself has said, he has dealt with politicians most of his life and he knows their manipulative tendencies, disloyal natures and all talk no action bluster.  An outsider, such as Trump, with years of corporate leadership ability, can observe and evaluate a politically managed mess and assess the situation with a clear view of what needs to be done in a step-by-step fashion without the entanglements and baggage that career politicians bring to the decision making process.  As his Senior Political Adviser, Corey Lewandowski, has said, “Mr. Trump has the vision and leadership skills to bring our country back to greatness.”

Thoughts on a Trump presidency bring to mind the possibility of a last minute element of surprise.  Obviously his past actions are indicative of a continual in and out high stakes presidential game, and   perhaps this time around there is a different feeling in the mix.  He exudes more of a sense of urgency with the threat of real trouble ahead for the country.  It seems that his brand of vigilance, his ability to garner the finest and most expert of professionals around him, his negotiating ability, and his business sense could bring relief at a national level.  He just might be one of the few who could as he says, “Make America truly great again!”  Once summer rolls around, time will tell the tale with the presidential dalliances of “The Donald.”

Raleigh, NC Correspondent-There is no more important event in American political life than presidential elections. As such, all candidates who announce their decision to run in upcoming elections understandably attract a lot of attention and scrutiny. One of the most controversial persons who might run for presidency in 2016 is Donald Trump. Recently, he has declared that he is seriously considering the run for the White House because he is concerned about the state of affairs in the country and thinks that he is able to improve it.  It is not the first time he exhibited interest in presidential run because he announced the same thing in 2010 regarding elections in 2012; but, at the end he withdrew his candidacy and supported conservative candidate Mitt Romney instead who, as is known, lost to democratic candidate Barack Obama. However, Donald Trump’s possible candidacy for presidential run in 2016 has raised a lot of questions among the American public.

Donald Trump is, of course, a well-known public persona who is a real estate tycoon, television character, author, and investor. His estimated net worth, according to Forbes as of March 26, 2015, is around 4.1 billion dollars, which certainly allows him to invest heavily into his potential presidential campaign. As of now, it was reported that he was taking formal steps by hiring staff in three primary states of Idaho, New Hampshire, and South Carolina to explore the possibilities. Still, his adequacy for a position of the President of the United States of America is a questionable one. There are certain things which are expected from future presidents, and it is not clear if Donald Trump meets them.

First of all, his business acumen, despite all the wealth, has been called in question by many people. He has declared several bankruptcies throughout his career; his career was basically handed down to him by his father; he publicly involved himself into petty rivalries with other celebrities such as Rosie O’Donnell; he has been married numerous times; he has no experience in politics; and, generally, he showed himself to be a person who seeks public attention. As such, many people think that Donald Trump’s latest declaration of his intent to run for presidency is nothing but a PR trick to draw attention to himself once again.

Asheville, NC Correspondent-Donald Trump is worth taking seriously. The man is an impressive businessman, to be sure. He’s built a fortune in hotels and real estate. He’s done so by being an aggressive, hard-nosed negotiator, willing to walk away from deals or buy out his oppositions. This kind of ruthlessness, though, is a poor choice in a President. The President is fairly limited in actual authority. Most of the power of the Oval Office comes from the ability to work with experts in various aspects of the policy process to reach measured solutions to real problems. Trump’s “my way or the highway” approach to leadership may do well in boardrooms, but such a hardline stance is ill-considered when the people on the other side of the table have nuclear weapons. The appeal of Trump as a political outside is representative of a recent trend in electoral politics. Every candidate, regardless of actual experience, seems to want to position themselves as distant from “political insiders.” This strategy comes about as a result of frustration with politics as normal. The problem with this impulse is that politics, like anything else, is a practiced skill. Being a congressperson or a President is very hard work, and it requires systematic knowledge of an incredibly complex system of government. That’s not knowledge one can develop overnight. It takes years of effort. That’s not to say that voices outside politics are useless to solving contemporary problems. Quite the contrary, data-driven solutions and research initiatives are an invaluable part of the policy process, and people with good ideas on ways to solve problems need to speak up. Elected leaders need to do a better job of listening to other people with ideas, but they don’t need to be wholesale replaced first.