I believe Trump IS serious. I saw a short video clip of a Trump event somewhere earlier this week. He had his whole family come on stage and kissed each one, sons included.
Regarding taking a pay cut; At what point don’t the dollars seem so important? I’m guessing that it’s in the neighborhood of $9 Billion. I think he has groomed his sons and daughter to take over the business(es) and run them as he would.
The clincher for me was just this week, when in response to questions regarding the NBC, PGA, NASCAR, et al breaking the business deals they’d had with him, he said, “Restoring America to her former greatness is more important than my business.”
You may be right. Trump is saying a lot of the things I have been thinking for a while and, as a bonus, the reactions he is getting from the media and members of the uniparty elite is making the election a lot of fun to watch.