Is Donald Trump Going To Run For President As A Third Party Candidate In 2012?

He's back!  When Donald Trump announced that he was not going to seek the Republican nomination, everyone pretty much assumed that he was not going to run in 2012.  Well, that assumption was totally wrong.  The truth is that there is a very, very real possibility that Donald Trump is going to run for president as a third party candidate in 2012.  Right now, Donald Trump is not pleased with the Republican frontrunners and he does not think that they can beat Obama.  If Newt Gingrich or Mitt Romney gets nominated, that would make a Trump run for president much more likely.  He is very much talking like he is getting ready to run for president, and he is doing most of the things that would be necessary to run for president as a third party candidate.  So will it happen?  Well, with Trump you can never be sure.

But it would be a huge mistake to write Trump off.  He is extremely popular and would make a formidable third party candidate.  The truth is that the country is not excited about Obama right now, and there would not be much enthusiasm for a Gingrich candidacy or a Romney candidacy either.  There has never been a time in modern American history when conditions have been so ripe for a third party candidacy.

So why didn't Trump just run for the Republican nomination to begin with? After all, he was leading in some of the polls?

Well, Trump realized a few things. First of all, he is too socially moderate to attract the support of the social conservatives that play a huge role in the Republican primaries.

In addition, the whole birth certificate thing kind of backfired on him after Barack Obama produced that "birth certificate" of his.  Of course we all know that birth certificate is fake, but the mainstream media bought it and they pounded Trump over the head with it.

So Trump stepped back and did not throw his hat into the ring.

But now conditions seem promising for an independent run and Trump sounds like he is very seriously considering a run for president as a third party candidate in 2012.

Just consider what Trump said during a recent Fox News interview....

"If the Republicans, and I've said this to you a number of times, if they choose the wrong person, and the economy will continue to be bad, because we have people who absolutely have no idea what they're doing leading the country, I think it continues to be a possibility"

He also told Fox News that a final decision would not come until May because of his television show....

"As you know, I can't do anything until May because of the ridiculous laws that talk about equal time, meaning that I have this big television show, so I'm not allowed to do anything. Would I like to do something sooner? Perhaps I would. But the laws preclude me from doing anything until May"

Another interesting Trump quote recently appeared in an article in the New York Daily News....

"Come May, when the Celebrity Apprentice is completed, my contract to NBC is completed, I'm a free agent, as the expression goes," he said. "I can make a decision. You know, obviously it would have to be as an independent."

Trump is thinking about it.

Will he pull the trigger?

Nobody knows.

But he is definitely keeping a high profile politically. In fact, Trump will host the Newsmax Republican debate in Des Moines on December 27th.

That should be interesting.

A lot of people dismissed Trump's talk of running for president before as a "publicity stunt".

Well, in his new book Trump reveals just how close he was to running....

"I was so close (to running) that I had already prepared the Public Financial Disclosure Report required of a presidential candidate. That's a big deal because the Trump Organization is a private company, and people don't know what I'm really worth. So, I had the independent firm Predictive, which is used by government agencies and top companies like GM, Visa, Pfizer, and others, prepare valuations on branding, and we filled out the other areas of the long and complex presidential Public Financial Disclosure Report."

Don't count out a run for president by Donald Trump in 2012.

Someone is going to emerge as a very viable third party candidate during this upcoming election season.

Someone is going to shake up the race for the White House.

In fact, it might be more than one person.

The 2012 election season is going to be very exciting, that is for sure.

So don't count out Donald Trump. There is a very real possibility that he may actually run.