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True to his word, flamboyant real estate developer and television impresario Donald J. Trump has entered the Republican Party's 2016 presidential nomination race as his party's 12th announced candidate.There has never been such a lengthy list of candidates in the country's 239-year political history, according to Washington archivists.
Trump made his announcement official on June 16, two days after turning 69. He did the same thing in the 2012 presidential election run-up and then bowed out at the end. This time around, he is on record as saying he has the staff, the money and the combined personnel expertise to win the nomination.
(Forbes ranked Trump as the 133rd richest person in the U.S. in 2015 with a net worth of $4.1 billion. Trump has always disputed that figure, arguing his net worth is at least $8.7 billion. Computer guru Bill Gates was ranked as the wealthiest individual in the U.S. with an estimated net worth of $81 billion. Worldwide, Trump was ranked the 405th wealthiest individual, tied with 12 other billionaires at $4.1 billion.)
Trump's initial test comes Aug. 6, the Republican Party's first formal publicly-staged television debate. His second test arrives Sept. 16 on CNN's debate. Curiously, Trump is expected to be one of the 10 candidates selected on both debate panels.
While he has no hard-core political background, either as a campaigner or as an elected public servant, strangely enough, not as many TV pundits are writing off the six-foot-three Trump this time around as they did in 2012.
Even though he skirted commenting on the country's immediate issues in 2012, such as the economy, immigration and health care, this time he is on record as having some vague vision on how to deal with certain foreign affairs events.
For example, in a recent interview with Fox News anchor Greta Van Susteren, Trump said he had the solution to eradicating the terrorist threats in the Mideast, largely coming from the ISIS group.
"All I can tell you," he told Van Susteren, "it is a foolproof way of winning, and I'm not talking about what some people would say, but it is a foolproof way of winning the war with ISIS. And it will be absolutely, 100 percent - they'll at minimum, come to the table but actually they'll be defeated very quickly."
Pressed for details, Trump backed off in his typical confrontational fashion, but noted as the interview ended, "If I run, and if I win, I don't want the enemy to know what I'm doing. Unfortunately, I'll probably have to tell at some point, but there is a method of defeating them quickly and effectively and having total victory."
Now wait a minute, Mr. Trump. As a bonafide graduate of the New York Military Academy in 1964 at the age of 18, you were taught and understood the U.S. military's chain of command protocol. So why haven't you yet passed on to President Barack Obama or his Pentagon executives your military or economic ideas on how to defeat the ISIS quickly?
Could it be because those ideas are really balloons, filled with hot air?
Whether they are or not, Trump has already spoken at least twice to town hall gatherings in New Hampshire and was scheduled to do so again on June 17. He also has shared his views recently with the state Republican convention group in Raleigh, NC.
So we at least know this time around, the Donald is a little more serious about running for President of the United States than he was in 2012.
Could he, by some divine guidance, ever win the presidency? Never. Could he at least win the Republican Party's nomination to go up against the Democrats' Hillary Rodham Clinton? Not a chance.
But he may heat up the national political scene to the point where really sincere and creditworthy individuals decide to enter the game.
And that's the way it is at this moment.
