The United States of Trump?

Image via WikipediaDonald Trump is a well-known real estate mogul and reality TV star who is worth $2.7 billion, according to Forbes magazine.  Now he's making noises about turning the White House into the Trump House.

Trump says he won't actually make a decision before the conclusion of his NBC show "The Celebrity Apprentice" in June, in which he finally tells some D-list entertainer that they've been "hired".  If he does run, it'll be as a Republican, as if that party needs more sideshow acts willing to challenge incumbent President Barack Obama, in 2012.  Some believe Trump won't run because this is all just a big publicity stunt, meant to goose the ratings for his TV show.

"The Donald" has many things in his portfolio:  hotels, office towers, casinos, golf courses and beauty pageants.  He's made lots of money in his time.  Unfortunately, he's also lost lots of money through divorces (he's on his third wife) and bankruptcies (four, at last count).  Most of those buildings Trump puts his name on are actually owned by someone else, apparently figuring that "Trump Estates" will bring in more clients than "Wingdorff Manor".  (If there is a real Wingdorff Manor somewhere, our apologies.)

Trump follows the usual conservative talking points (against abortions, same-sex marriages, gun control, Obamacare, etc.) that are almost mandatory if you want to be a good Republican in the 21st century.  What might give the GOP pause is that in the past, Trump has contributed to candidates from both parties.  At one point, he was even registered as a Democrat.

But what Trump has been getting headlines for is his insistence that President Obama was not born in this country, and that he should release his birth certificate.  The White House, hoping to put an end to this "birther" stuff once and for all, finally released Obama's certificate online for all to see.  It shows that the President was born in Hawaii in 1961, two years after it became a state.  (One wonders why the President has let this go on so long.)  Trump being Trump, he took the credit for bringing the issue to a  head.  Now he's on to questioning how in the heck Obama got into Harvard.

If there is one basic reason why Trump shouldn't even be considered as a presidential candidate, it is this:  The United States is trillions of dollars in debt, and in danger of defaulting on its loans.  And Trump, who has had a history of financial problems, is the man to fix it?

No matter how much a Trump candidacy would mean to his ego, there is little chance that voters would say "you're hired"  once they've looked beyond the bluster and the hair.  If anyone shouldn't be quitting his lucrative day job(s),  it is Donald Trump.