“I would hire him. He’s handled the tremendous mess he walked into very well. He still has a daunting task ahead of him but he appears to be equal to the challenge. He has kept his eye on both national and international issues and his visits to foreign countries have shown him to be warmly received, which is certainly a change from the last Administration.” –Donald Trump in 2009
Plus Trump in an interview with Wolf Blitzer, 2010:
BLITZER: His economic policies, President Obama says, have saved us from another depression, is he right?
TRUMP: Well, I do agree, and this did start prior to him getting there, but he also kept it going. You had to do something to sure up the banks, because the psychology of the banks and you would have had a run on every banks, the strongest and the weakest. So, you have to do something. And I hated the ultraconservative view on that. And ultraconservative is nothing should ever happen. If they go out of business, everybody said, that’s fine.
Via BuzzFeed News
Trump now simultaneously leads the Republican field and is the weakest competitor among the top seven Republican candidates against Hillary Clinton in the USA TODAY/Suffolk University Poll. Republicans can at least take some comfort in the fact that polls at this point have near zero predictive value. It is hard to believe even the current Republican Party would nominate him, although his popularity is increasing dramatically among Republicans:
Donald Trump’s popularity has surged among Republicans after dominating several news cycles with his anti-illegal immigration rhetoric, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.
Nearly six in 10 — 57 percent — Republicans now have a favorable view of Trump, compared to 40 percent who have an unfavorable one. That marks a complete reversal from a late-May Post-ABC poll, in which 65 percent of Republicans saw Trump unfavorably.
Trump continues to be unpopular among the public at large, with negative marks outpacing positive ones 61-33. “Strongly unfavorable” views outnumber strongly positive ratings by a 3-1 ratio.
In related news, David Letterman came out of retirement last week in response to Trump’s candidacy saying, “I have made the biggest mistake of my life, ladies and gentlemen.” He then presented a Top Ten List of Interesting facts about Donald Trump. The Washington Post has the full list, with some edits:
No. 10: That thing on his head was the gopher in “Caddyshack.”
No. 9: During sex, Donald Trump calls out his own name.
No. 8: Donald Trump looks like the guy on the lifeboat with the women and children.
No. 7: He wants to build a wall. How about building a wall around that thing on his head?
No. 6: Trump walked away from a moderately successful television show for some delusional bulls— … oh wait, that’s me.
No. 5: Donald Trump weighs 240 pounds — 250 with cologne.
No. 4: Trump would like all Americans to know that that thing on his head is free-range.
Letterman declared No. 3 “a tie.”
No. 3: If president, instead of pardoning a turkey on Thanksgiving, plans to evict a family on Thanksgiving./That’s not a hairdo, it’s a wind advisory.
No. 2: Donald Trump has pissed off so many Mexicans, he’s starring in a new movie entitled “No Amigos.”
No. 1: Thanks to Donald Trump, the Republican mascot is also an ass.
https://youtu.be/lfuXYh-BFoc
Updated from a post at Liberal Values
Update: Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders Generating Unexpected Excitement, But For Different Reasons