It’s been amply established that if Donald Trump succeeds in essentially buying the presidency, it will amount to putting a schoolyard bully in the White House. Well, in case there was any doubt, Trump all but eliminated it in an interview yesterday with The Hill. He gave what amounted to an ultimatum to the Republican National Committee–treat him fairly during primary season, or he will run for president as a third-party candidate.
Trump told The Hill’s Kevin Cirilli and Bob Cusack that he thinks the RNC has been “very foolish” with him since he got into the race last month, especially after treating him as “their fair-haired boy” when he was just a donor. When Cirilli and Cusack pressed him on the rumors that he was considering a third-party run if he didn’t get the Republican nomination, Trump replied that “so many people want me to” go that route in the event he doesn’t get the nomination. If the GOP establishment doesn’t treat him fairly, he said, “that would be a factor” in his thinking.
Trump must have a pretty foolish definition of “foolish.” Hours after Trump swiftboated John McCain on Saturday by saying he wasn’t really a war hero because he was a POW, the RNC rushed out with a burning statement saying that there was “no place in our party or our country” for that kind of talk. Um, Donald? How is calling for basic decency a sign that the RNC is being “foolish” and not willing to treat you fairly? Then again, we are talking about a guy who finds it acceptable to plaster a private cell phone number on social media.
On the surface, it sounds like yet another moment of craziness from Trump. Well, in a sense, it is–he’s crazy like a fox. Trump almost certainly knows that if he makes a third-party run for president, it will likely hand the presidency to the Democrats on a silver platter. By my estimate, a reasonably competent Democrat starts out with 245 electoral votes. In other words, the GOP has almost no margin for error. A Trump third-party run would make things mighty interesting in a lot of states that a Republican absolutely has to have in order to chart a politically realistic path to 270.
Trump tacitly confirmed my hunch earlier today, when he told a gathering in Laredo, Texas that he was pretty sure he would get the nomination in any event. Considering this came just hours after all but announcing he would make a third-party run if he didn’t get the nomination, the conclusion is obvious–Trump is levying blackmail on the Republican establishment. He’s giving himself an out in the event the GOP blames him for making Hillary Clinton president. His response would be, “Well, the Republicans didn’t treat me fairly–otherwise, I wouldn’t have gone that route.”
I have to admit, I’m somewhat hesitant to start chanting, “Run, Donald, run!” On one hand, the GOP is already quaking in its boots at the prospect of a Trump third-party run. Two Republican strategists told The Hill that if Trump bolts, the GOP would stand virtually no chance in 2016. But what does it say about the state of our political discourse that a guy can even talk about running for president after he plasters a private cellphone number on social media and swiftboats a war hero? Nothing good, in my book.
