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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Taking his talents to South Beach

Taking his talents to South Beach

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I can’t believe how much Mark Halperin is pimping Donald Trump:

On “Morning Joe,” Halperin says GOP ’12ers shouldn’t be “ignoring” or “being upset” about magnate’s remarks but “studying what Trump is talking about.”

He’s “doing and saying a lot of things that a smart candidate who is serious about running….would do.”

Here’s how we’ll find out if the Donald is running or not:

Aides to Donald Trump tell CNN that the real estate mogul will make an announcement on the season finale of Celebrity Apprentice about his intentions on running for president.

Don’t be upset, Republican candidates! An egomaniac billionaire is using your primary to promote his tv show and is making your entire party look idiots in the process, but that’s just a smart, serious thing to do.

Reader Interactions

55Comments

  1. 1.

    jibeaux

    Somewhere I saw a picture of Trump that had been captioned, “he looks like a Siamese cat that has stuck its head in a bag of curry powder.” And that is somehow EXACTLY what he looked like.

  2. 2.

    DBo18

    Halperin is a partisan creep. I always tune him out or change channels when he’s on. But, the true test of Trump’s candidacy will be his willingness to produce his financial records. That’s a requirement of running for prez. My money says he won’t do that — EVER. He ain’t running. Period.

  3. 3.

    zmulls

    It will be just after the commercial break, and he’ll announce, after much consideration, he has decided not to run for President, but will be back NEXT SEASON OF CELEBRITY APPRENTICE!!!

    My bonus bet is that he is going to announce a new series…..

  4. 4.

    Bobby Thomson

    An egomaniac billionaire is using your primary to promote his tv show and is making your entire party look {like} idiots in the process

    That’s not really fair. He isn’t making them look any worse than they are.

  6. 6.

    biff diggerence

    Come on, cut Halperin some slack.

    He needs a diversion from smelling Mooselini’s farts 24/7/365.

  7. 7.

    Ash Can

    I’m sure Halperin’s just angling for something — an interview, a job, a gig on Trump’s show, whatever.

    @jibeaux: Somehow I just can’t make that connection in my mind. Even covered in curry powder, a Siamese cat would be so much more appealing than a doughy-faced middle-aged guy with a shitty hairdo.

  8. 8.

    long ago

    I hope you don’t mind if I turn this into an A.A. meeting, but here goes:

    Hi! I’m long ago, and I used to read Sullivan.

    But ever since he started going on his latest idiocy-and-ignorance rampage about Ryan, I have stopped reading him. Cold turkey!

    And I feel much better, too! No desire to go back to that innumerate, right-wing, white-supremacist, war-mongering, hippy-puncher ever again!

    (It probably helps that he moved venues at about the same time, and I never acquired the habit of checking his new digs).

    Now pass the coffee.

  10. 10.

    cat48

    But, will he also unveil the REAL Birth Certificate for Barack Hussein Obama found by his investigators? Now that might get me to tune in near the end of the show. Any Tom,Dick or Harry can run for prez.

  11. 11.

    sixers

    Its amazing that the GOP is just standing by watching him use them. I’m guessing it has to do with how fast he bled supporters off of Romney. Don’t want to poke that insane tiger.

  14. 14.

    Dennis SGMM

    Lemme see now; tons of name recognition, embraces birtherism (We was right, Luke! That rich guy says so!), the perception by the LIVs the he knows what he’s doing, and an ego that wouldn’t fit into a dumptruck. I’ll write off Trump when he’s in the grave.

  17. 17.

    Wag

    @zmulls:

    My bonus bet is that he is going to announce a new series…..

    …Celebrity Presidential Campaign Apprentice! Where we get treated to the sight of third tier celebrities trudging through the snows of Iowa and New Hampshire going dorr to door for the Trump Campaign.

    And whoever comes up witht he most pithy/snarky anti-Obama insult gets to stay until the South Carolina Primary.

  18. 18.

    joeyess

    Can Trump legally announce his run for the Presidency on his teevee show? Isn’t that an in-kind campaign contribution?
    And how’s he gonna announce it?

    Mr. Obama……… Yeh, fiarhhed.

  19. 19.

    long ago

    @Comrade DougJ:

    Don’t do it, Doug! If you used to be addicted, then it’s better to stay stone cold sober–don’t touch a drop, a dolphin, or even a cute, cute kitty.

  20. 20.

    montana

    Halperin is a sorry example of the destructive elements of our nepotistic society. Remember, this is the same joker who in 2008, with all the certainty of a spoiled silver-spoon punk, said that the news about McCain’s numerous houses would be bad for Obama’s campaign. The dullard cannot see anything that he cannot envision as republican gold.

  21. 21.

    jibeaux

    @Ash Can:

    For that particular picture, it was great. He had this peeved expression that looked a lot like a cat that had stuck its head in a bag of powder. Unfortunately, can not find. Found some recipes, though.

  22. 22.

    Comrade Javamanphil

    Trump is the perfect Halperin candidate. All style, no substance, easily reduced into bullet points. One thing I don’t see pointed out nearly enough is just how lazy Halperin is. He is the anti-McMegan always over-simplifying and saying in 10 words things that really require 150. Trump, a reality TV “star” and failed businessman is the embodiment of all things that Halperin holds dear. May they go down together and quickly.

  24. 24.

    kdaug

    Actually, CNN said that at the season finale, Trump will announce the date on which he will make his announcement on whether he’s running.

    (Suspect NBC legal had some say on this).

  28. 28.

    JCT

    Poor, poor Republican candidates (or whatever the hell they really are) — my heart bleeds that yet ANOTHER rodeo clown is getting in their way.

    Meanwhile, according to Steve Benen the most “serious” of all of them, Mitt Romney has signed on 100% to Ryan’s new Raw Deal. Between RomneyCare and this he might as well be wearing cement shoes on the Titanic.

  30. 30.

    Dave

    Can’t we just hope he is serious? I for one would love to see the GOP hang itself by having this buffoon as its candidate.

  32. 32.

    rickstersherpa

    Since the biggest thing Trump has done the last 4 weeks is jump on the Birther bandwagon, I guess this Halperin giving a wink and a nodd.

    From a careerist incentive standpoint, making comments like this will get Halperin in with Trump and because it is the type of thing that provokes these kind of blog entries, more face time on morning joe and more speaker fees to business and right wing groups.

    Tis very sad for the country.

  33. 33.

    JGabriel

    DougJ @ Top:

    Don’t be upset, Republican candidates! An egomaniac billionaire is using your primary to promote his tv show and is making your entire party look idiots in the process, but that’s just a smart, serious thing to do.

    To be fair, it was the Republicans who made themselves look like idiots. Trump’s co-opting and assumption of the GOP for his own commercial (in both senses) purposes wouldn’t be feasible in a non-idiot party.

    .

  34. 34.

    piratedan

    I’m guessing Trump’s candidacy will last as long as his ponzi scheme of a campaign continues to suck cash out of the wallets of the unsuspecting. He’s attempting to perfect what Lil’ Miss Delaware did in the last election, make it his new profession, running for election.

  35. 35.

    Amir_Khalid

    I’m not too worried about a buffoon like the Donald running for POTUS. He is about as likely to become POTUS as I am. For all his big talk this shameless self-promoter knows fuck-all about the substance of domestic or foreign issues, and he displays a level of petulance, entitlement and attention-seeking you wouldn’t tolerate in your four-year-old. But he is an entertaining diversion.

    It’s Halperin’s ilk in the media, and their ardent love for even the most unserious of Republican presidential hopefuls, that strike me as the greater cause for concern.

  37. 37.

    NonyNony

    I can’t believe how much Mark Halperin is pimping Donald Trump

    Is that a rhetorical “I can’t believe”, a sarcastic “I can’t believe”, or a sincere “I can’t believe”?

    Cause I can believe it. What makes for “better” political reporting – Tim Pawlenty vs. Obama or Trump vs. Obama? The political journos are dying for spectacle and Trump would be spectacle at a level that possibly no other potential Republican candidate would be able to provide.

    Don’t be upset, Republican candidates! An egomaniac billionaire is using your primary to promote his tv show and is making your entire party look idiots in the process, but that’s just a smart, serious thing to do.

    First of all – called it.

    Second of all – how can they complain, Doug? He’s a BILLIONAIRE! Don’t you understand that the truly rich are the only worthwhile people out there and if Trump wants to make money on the backs of Republicans who happen to be poorer than him that that is his God-given right? Are you some kind of Commie or something?

  38. 38.

    AAA Bonds

    I’m not prone to this sort of thinking, but I half believe that Trump is purposely kneecapping the Republicans.

    How wide is the birther vote split already in the primaries? Pretty wide.

    Of course, the real way to screw ’em would be to run as a birther-independent, since even the birther-iest Republican candidate will be forced to shut up about it in the general election.

    I can only pray such a thing will come to pass.

  40. 40.

    BerkeleyMom

    My son wants to see The Donald win the nomination then host a special season of “Vice Prsidential Apprentice” to choose his running mate.

  41. 41.

    RIRedinPA

    I’m sensing campaign stops that are replete with cirque du soleil performances, a conga line of B and C level celebrities (please tell me The Hoff is going to endorse The Donald), perhaps a Mike Douglas style set where The Donald will talk about how awesome he is and why that is awesome for America.

  43. 43.

    kd bart

    I can’t be the only one who gets a kick out of Jon Stewart’s continous mockery of Donald Trump on The Daily Show?

    “Trump 2012. I’m hired.”

  44. 44.

    joe from Lowell

    @Ash Can:

    In a long 30-minute speech on the floor of the Senate late Tuesday afternoon, Inhofe said he believes massive vote fraud occurred in the monitored election

    Of course it did. Do you have any idea how many black people there are in Ivory Coast?

  49. 49.

    chopper

    this primary is gonna be awesome. it’s gonna be so thunderdome. two idiots enter! one idiot leaves!

  50. 50.

    Bruce S

    This is great. Donald Trump is the greatest GOP candidate because he’s totally full of sh*t and Mark Halperin is perhaps our greatest Beltway pundit, for the same reason. Greatness recognizes greatness in the cause of greatness. This commentary brings a new seriousness to Morning Joe, which is the greatest cable news show…because…well, you know.

  51. 51.

    Bruce S

    SpotWeld – April 14, 2011 | 12:06 pm · Link

    When did the GOP become a circus sideshow… ?

    This kind of demeaning remark is absurd. The GOP is not the sideshow, it is the circus. We know this because they have elephants. Of course, they also have wonderful sideshows.

    Here’s one of them:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTzFsKBTqDc

  52. 52.

    JoyousMN

    I’ve long thought that Halperin’s political instincts were right on par with Mark Penn.

  53. 53.

    kc

    I can’t believe how much Mark Halperin is pimping Donald Trump

    Mark Halperin’s not a pimp. He’s a whore.

  54. 54.

    Ruckus

    What I can’t believe is that you’re having trouble believing Halperin is a big ole pimp.

    @kc:
    He’s whoring himself out as a pimp

  55. 55.

    patrick II

    but I half believe that Trump is purposely kneecapping the Republicans.

    I have thought so too. It just seems he so blatantly highlights the worst of the republican party that I can’t help but think he is having fun gaining publicity and screwing republicans at the same time.

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