Free Republic

The drama surrounding Donald Trump's potential campaign for governor appears headed for an extended run—at least until Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino makes a formal announcement about running. Trump, appearing on an Albany radio station this morning, said he is “ready, willing and able” to run for governor but will not do so if Astorino or anybody else enters the race. Trump also ruled out taking his potential candidacy to the state GOP convention in the spring. “I really want unity,” said Trump, who is scheduled to address a GOP fundraiser in Buffalo Friday. “I want to go in there...

New York's attorney general sued Donald Trump for $40 million Saturday, saying the real estate mogul helped run a phony "Trump University" that promised to make students rich but instead steered them into expensive and mostly useless seminars, and even failed to deliver promised apprenticeships. Trump shot back that the Democrat's lawsuit is false and politically motivated. Attorney General Eric Schneiderman says many of the 5,000 students who paid up to $35,000 thought they would at least meet Trump but instead all they got was their picture taken in front of a life-size picture of "The Apprentice" TV star. "Trump...

Below there is a UPI.com thread (Chrysler Exec slams Trump on China tweet") that you can read where a Chrysler exec slammed Trump over something that the UPI.com article said Trump tweeted. Should Romney stand with Trump and back up what Trump said? Or should Romney take Trump to task and/or distance himself from Trump?

Does he already have the goods? This a ploy to drag it out and harass Obama? If not, I never want to see his mug again. He said he had something. Now this bs. Seems too smart to completely destroy what's left of his credibility. I think he already has the records. C student Obama and far left course topics. Thoughts?

Donald Trump has announced he has a “gigantic” bombshell about Barack Obama – and he’s going to drop it Wednesday! The billionaire real estate tycoon has said he has something huge on President Obama …so huge it could swing the election. Trump, a die hard Republican who considered running against Obama himself at one point, is planning to reveal the shocker via Twitter at some point on Wednesday, he said. Trump told Fox & Friends on Monday that he had “something very, very big concerning the president of the United States. “It's going to be very big. I know one...

Headline only - CNBC Reports Trump NOT running; Rush says "It's becasue he might win"... bottom line: when NBC said "apprentice" would go on with out him, he decided not to run - says Rush...

Mark Steyn says he has a soft spot for Tim Pawlenty and believes he may be the last man standing to challenge Obama in 2012. He also says Newt won’t be President and that Trump isn’t conservative and trashes his demonization of China as the single source of all that ails us. As for Mike Huckabee and Sarah Palin, Steyn says he wouldn’t advise them to enter the field of 2012 GOP candidates. He says Sarah Palin would make a better king-maker and Huckabee should stick with his successful Fox News show.

Obama mocks Trump at White House Correspondents' Dinner Maybe President Obama should deliver next year's State of the Union at the Friars Club. Last night, the commander in chief unfurled a string of sharp-as-a-tack one-liners at the annual White House Correspondents' Dinner --- many of which slammed square into his potential Republican foe Donald Trump, who was sitting in the audience at the gala... ...Obama also lobbed quips at other potential GOP-challengers such as former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, and Rep. Michele Bachman. But for most of his speech at the dinner, which is known...

The greatest president in my lifetime was Ronald Reagan. I proudly voted for him twice. In 1980 and 1984, as just about 99% of those who voted for him, I was unaware he had been a Democrat (as I had been). I was also unaware Reagan had been a union president, or as Governor of California, he signed the Therapeutic Abortion Act of 1967 and had contributed to Democrats. But so what? By today’s standards, the SIX time union president Reagan would be a Democrat union “thug.” But who cares? None of this would have made the slightest bit of...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama is mixing mixed comedy with some early campaigning at the White House Correspondents' Association annual dinner, focusing mainly on Donald Trump. With Trump in attendance, Obama said the billionaire businessman has shown the acumen of a future president, from firing Gary Busey on a recent episode of "Celebrity Apprentice" to focusing so much time on conspiracy theories about Obama's birthplace.

Fresh off the allegations that Donald Trump's various "birther" and affirmative action conspiracies about President Obama were racist, now the spotlight is being shone on Trump's long history of sexist, if not downright sleazy, comments about women. In a column for the Washington Post, Anna Holmes brings up the "Trump Rule," as described by beauty queen Carrie Prejean, in her book about the Miss USA pageant. According to Prejean, the Miss USA pageant had a requirement that contestants parade in front of pageant owner Donald Trump so he could separate out those he found sexually appealing from those he did...

Bob Schieffer Says Donald Trump Is Racist For Wanting To See Obama's Grades BOB SCHIEFFER: I want to go on to what, to what Donald Trump said after he said this is out and everything. He said, “We need to at [Obama’s] grades and see if he was a good enough student to get into Harvard Law School.” That’s just code for saying he got into law school because he was black. This is a ugly strain of racism that’s running through this whole thing. We can hope that that kind of comes to an end, too, but we’ll have...

Donald Trump presidential poll has now received more than a phenomenal 1 million responses! And the online poll continues to show that Americans overwhelmingly favor Trump as their preferred candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012. Online participants in the ongoing survey, a non-scientific poll, also support Trump by a wide margin in a head-to-head matchup with President Barack Obama. As of Tuesday afternoon, the poll had received 1,026,891 responses, the largest poll ever fielded by Newsmax. If the election were held today, Trump — who says he is seriously considering a run for president in 2012 — would...

Billionaire Donald Trump, who's eyeing a run for the White House, gave a sizeable campaign contribution to President Barack Obama's chief of staff as he ran to become Chicago's mayor, a recent report highlighted. The Illinois Review, a coservative blog, reports that Trump gave Rahm Emanuel $50,000 in December 2010. Those numbers came out in January, 2011, but are being pointed out now because of Trump's possible presidential bid. This isn't the first time Trump has donated to candidates in Illinois, but it is the largest contribution. State election records show Trump also gave $5,000 to George Ryan, the Republican...

In bridge, a trump card is held in reserve for winning a trick. In politics, Donald Trump is anything but reserved and appears to think he might trick enough voters to win the next presidential election. There's plenty to draw on when critiquing a possible Trump candidacy. His multiple marriages (three) and affairs provide fodder for the media and contrast poorly with President Barack Obama's "family values" image as husband of one wife and father of young daughters, whom he clearly loves. In recent weeks, Trump has been trying to gain a toehold in the evangelical community, which is especially...

I think it is a bad political strategy for conservatives to attack Donald Trump this early in the game. The conservative media, many conservative blogs, the liberal media and Freepers are going after Trump for his ideological inconsistencies. The liberal media will use all its powers to destroy ANY GOP candidate for president. That is a given. They want Barack Obama re-elected, even if the entire country is collapsing around them and regardless if the GOP candidate was as spotless as Jesus Christ. But, conservatives are going after Trump also. This early in the game that is a bad strategy...

Don’t be fooled by the Donald. Take it from one who knows: I’m a South Jersey gal who was raised on the outskirts of Atlantic City in the looming shadow of Trump’s towers. All through my childhood, casino developers and government bureaucrats joined hands, raised taxes, and made dazzling promises of urban renewal. Then we wised up to the eminent-domain thievery championed by our hometown faux free-marketeers. America, it’s time you wised up to Donald Trump’s property-redistribution racket, too. Trump has been wooing conservative activists for months and flirting with a GOP presidential run — first at the Conservative Political...

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - Questions about President Barack Obama's birth certificate continue to make news as Sarah Palin, Donald Trump and others question the his citizenship. Now the so-called "birther" issue will be the subject of a vote at the Indiana Statehouse, and Donald Trump has weighed in on what's going on here. A committee in the state Senate will vote Monday on a birther resolution. State Sen. Mike Delph (R-Carmel) is a proponent of the birther movement. He wants proof pf American citizenship required for candidates for president, and he points to his pocket copy of the Constitution for support....

Call them "born again" undecideds: Republicans exploring bids for the presidency in 2012 have ramped up their religious fervor and sharpened answers to questions about faith in an effort to court social conservative voters in key early primary states. "I believe in God. I am Christian. I think the Bible is certainly, it is 'the' book," real estate mogul Donald Trump told the Christian Broadcasting Network last week after catapulting to second place in a poll of unofficial GOP presidential contenders. But as voters begin to scrutinize the lives of a wide-open field of unofficial GOP presidential contenders, several personal...

For a loosely organized coalition, the tea party has displayed remarkable unity since it emerged in early 2010. But that discipline is being tested in the run-up to the 2012 GOP presidential primary as three top Republicans aggressively court the conservative movement. Those Republicans – former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, Rep. Michele Bachmann and billionaire developer Donald Trump – are motivated by distinct agendas that may or may not include a presidential campaign. But all three would-be candidates are forcing tea party activists to make some important decisions as they try to grow into a more enduring force in American...