Is Trump's White House run a publicity stunt that took off?

I think it’s ego and hubris run amok.

I don’t think it was PR, but I do believe that he was surprised by the success of his bid.

Initially, I think Trump thought it was a good way to gain more influence and attention while sticking his fingers in the eyes of the political powers that be. It was his own, wholly owned, reality TV show.

Along about the ‘shoot somebody in the middle of 5th Avenue’ comment, it dawned on him that people were taking him seriously. VERY seriously.

The fact that he had very little ground organization and was blindsided by the super-delegates and delegate thievery of Cruz points to the fact that it was not a real bid in the beginning. Trump is a good manager. If he’d planned a real bid from the outset, he would have hired insiders that knew how the dirty political games are played.
And probably lost.

Trump is a media creation. It’s quite possible that he originally did it for brand, but the media turned it into a legitimate candidacy.

I think that only works to a certain, narrow point, @DoNotKnowMuch.
Ben Carson was a media creation, too, that now barely warrants an hysterical footnote.

Rand Paul was an early media darling for much the same reason as Trump (he was a running joke IMO) and an early flame-out.

@ibstubro – I don’t think you understand the discrepancy in coverage. Trump’s coverage is off the charts. You can’t compare, for example, Carson’s 54 minutes of ABC, CBS, and NBC evening news coverage from Jan to Nov 2015 to Trump’s 234 minutes.

Trump has been everywhere for the entire election. When Sanders was filling 20k-30k stadiums, he got essentially no coverage. Trump started getting some crowds after the media had spent most of its time covering (and creating) him. There is really nothing else to compare it to.

Take a look at msnbc.com right now. Their top 10 “news” articles include Trump-related articles for 1 – 9, and an article about Obama and the opioid epidemic.

My first thought was that it was, or that it was a joke. Kind of like when Howard Stern ran for governor (or whatever it was he ran for). I love Howard Stern but not as a politician.

I knew from the beginning that conservative voters would be stupd/evil enough to vote for trump in large numbers.
I was right, as usual.

Remember: Everyone thought it was hilarious that Ronnie Ray-Gun was running for President, too.

The sitting government in both parties created Trump.

Trump IMO is a very calculating businessman who I do not think makes decisions simply to get the limelight. He might do so knowing his next venture will get him front page exposure….but it is the payoff at the end is what matters most in his approach to what he undertakes. The run for president is undoubtedly his biggest endeavor and he so far and decimated all his opponents. Yes I would say even Donald is surprised at how easy it was and it was easy because the GOP put up a bunch of weak tit goombas who failed to connect with the voter base. Donald knew he would chew them up and spit them out….but what motivated him the most is he knows Hillary inside out and is not intimidated in the least by Bernie Sanders. He viewed this election as a slam dunk and he has the momentum to make this election one for the history books.

Establishment politics is what created the Trump rise to power…IMO it is way overdue.

One thing (among many) that makes me nuts about Trump’s cam-con is how unprofessional his TV spokespeople are—rude, defensive, strident, and so clearly—like their boss—blatantly clueless about the world outside the Trump bubble.

… oh—and again like their windbag boss—scornful of other opinions and viewpoints.

He considered the piss poor competition on both sifes & took his chances
Trump & Eeh-merry-ka…a match made in heave hell