President Trump?

Donald Trump seems to be testing the waters for a 2012 GOP presidential bid — but is it just a tease?

Trump's new real estate venture: The White House?
(Image credit: Getty)

Evidence suggests that Donald Trump is eyeing the White House. According to Time, pollsters quizzed New Hampshire voters last month on their feelings about 2012 Republican candidates, asking roughly 30 questions about Trump. And just yesterday, the media/real estate tycoon hit the morning TV shows saying he is "absolutely thinking about" vying for the Republican ticket in 2012 because, as he specified on MSNBC's "Morning Joe," "somebody has to do something" to keep America "great." Is this for real, or is Trump just trying to sell something? (Watch Trump explain his motives)

This is about Trump, not 2012: There's no way Trump is doing anything other than promoting Trump or one of his businesses, says David Weigel in Slate. And his "aw shucks, I've-never-done-this-before" schtick is only believable if you have amnesia, or weren't alive during his long presidential tease in 1999-2000. I'm so "completely and achingly bored by Trump," I hope he drops the pretense a little earlier this time.

"Debunking Trump"

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Why Palin, but not Trump? The 2012 Republican field "is so weak and so unsettled," Trump probably has as good a shot in states like New Hampshire as other contenders, says Mark Halperin at Time. Besides, he adds, look at "all the ways that Donald Trump and Sarah Palin are similar." To pick the most obvious: The "media is just totally smitten" with both of them, and both have "Mensa-level" abilities to shape their press coverage.

"Why Trump is in the mix"

The Tea Party would never buy it: Is Trump actually running this time? "Who knows!" says Dan Amira in New York. But could he win? No way. You think "the Tea Partiers would get behind" a guy who has given thousands of dollars to Democrats like Charlie Rangel, Hillary Clinton, and Chuck Schumer?

"Does Donald Trump want to be hired... by America?"

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