With the 2012 presidential election just around the corner, buzz surrounding possible candidates is growing by the day. Perhaps the largest and most interesting storyline in the campaign speculations is the deliberations of real estate mogul and reality television star Donald Trump, who delivered a pro-business, anti-foreign aid message in a recent speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference.
Though rumors of Trump’s presidential bid have been circulating for months, the billionaire’s speech at the CPAC on Feb 10 finally added some clout to the whispers. In his speech, Trump hinted at not only the possibility of running for the presidency, but also the platform under which he would do so.
“Countries like China, like India, South Korea, Mexico, and the OPEC nations view our leadership as weak and ineffective and have repetitively taken advantage of them to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars a year,” said Trump. “When they talk about raising your taxes, I think raise the taxes on some of these countries that are taking advantage of the United States.”
While Trump’s views on today’s hot-button social issues are not loyal to one particular political party, Trump struck a chord with conservatives by focusing heavily on what he knows best: business. It remains to be seen, however, whether these economic ideologies will resonate with the general public.
“Less taxes for me sounds good! My only concern is I wouldn’t want the Chinese to cancel business with America as a result,” said Josh Fanaroff, a sophomore business major. “‘With that economy and government you never know what to expect, and it can be changed so quickly.'”
Although Trump’s speech has made major waves in the political world recently, this is not the first time that his name has been thrown into the mix for president. In 2000, Trump tried to run as a third-party candidate under the Reform Party and had subsequently speculated about running in both 2004 and 2008.
“There is no way that he would nod from the Republican Party nor make a good candidate,” said Kevin LaCherra, a sophomore government and politics major. “There are plenty of other, more qualified candidates with his level of economic expertise. To me, this is more or less a publicity stunt.”
If Trump does decide to run for the republican nomination in 2012, the path to the presidency will be not be an easy one. He will enter a strong, yet heavily divided pool of political heavyweights, such as Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, Sarah Palin, and Ron Paul, all of whom Trump openly dismissed in last week’s speech.