The Trump card 2012. Is Trump’s strategy backfiring?

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UYGUR: Breaking news from the Trump campaign, Meat Loaf has signed on. This singer says, not only will he‘ll vote for Donald Trump, but he will also campaign for them. No word on whether Meat Loaf will accompany Trump this Wednesday when he visits New Hampshire and keep primary state. But while Trump has the Meat Loaf vote locked up, he lost the raging bull. Robert De Niro is steaming mad at Trump and he‘s calling him out. Here‘s what De Niro told Trump.

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ROBERT DE NIRO, ACTOR: Come out, come out wherever you have.

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UYGUR: All right. He didn‘t say that. But here‘s what he actually said about Trump‘s birther obsession at the Tribeca Film Festival this weekend, quote, “it‘s like a big hustle, it‘s like being a car salesman. Don‘t go out there and say things unless you can back them up. How dare you? That‘s awful to do.” Of course, Trump couldn‘t let that one go, and he lobbed this cheap shot at De Niro.

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DONALD TRUMP, ENTREPRENEUR: Well, he‘s not the brightest bulb in the planet. I mean, I‘ve been watching him over the years. And I like his acting, but, you know, in terms of when I watch him doing interviews and various other things, we‘re not dealing with Albert Einstein.

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TRUMP: He can‘t help himself. He‘s got a comment on every day. Now, let‘s look at this celebrity tally for against the Donald. Gary Busey joins Meat Loaf on team Trump. That‘s a powerful combo. And Jerry Seinfeld is with De Niro and the Trump is nuts column. Charlie Sheen makes both lists. He came out as a birther last week, but later told an audience not to vote for Trump, because he claims Trump get this, once gave him a pair of diamond and platinum cuff links that turned out to be fake. I‘m so not surprised by that story. Anyway, Trump isn‘t just around up Hollywood, he has also whipped up the Republican Party into a frenzy as well. His shameless devotion to the birther conspiracy theory as Tea Party—and bolted them to the top of the polls. Then on Sunday, Reverend Franklin came out and support.

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REV. FRANKLIN GRAHAM, EVANGELIST: When I first saw that he was getting in, I thought, well this is going to be a joke, but the more you listen to him. The more you say to yourself, you know, maybe the guy is right.

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UYGUR: And that‘s of course Franklin Graham, and that‘s of course him coming out of the closet and saying, he‘s a birther now that Trump has given cover. Meanwhile, Karl Rove sent a strong message when he called Trump a joke, so he‘s in the anti-Trump category. So, is House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, Senator John McCain, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. They all seem to wish that Trump would go and take his birth certificate with them. But Donald Trump has proven that he‘s pre-much to honor republican people are talking about.

Man, everybody is talking about him. He sucked the oxygen right out of the race. It‘s already proven to be too much for Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour, who announced today, he‘s not running for president. Saying, he lacked the necessary fire in the bailey. Given that I‘ll live in a glass house, I will not make any bailey jokes. Let the battle for one percent of voters who supported Barbour begin by the way. Pawlenty get ready. There‘s that one percent for Grahams. As for Trump, he shows no signs of backing out yet. Of course, in fact, just when you think the story is dying down, the Trump hike machines starts all over again, and even Al Pacino has gotten sucked into this story.

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UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Just when I thought I was out, they pulled me back in.

UYGUR: All right. He didn‘t say that, either. All right.

Let me bring in Justin Elliott, reporter for Salon. com. Just in recently wrote a piece of “How Trump Could Run and Still Hide His Net Worth.” And received a handwritten response from Donald Trump referring to the person of financial disclosure form that presidential candidates have to fund. Trump wrote, quote, “Justin, I have no problem, I would in fact file early. You will be very surprised, the Donald.”

All right. Justin, you are here. He‘s unbelievable, man. He can‘t help himself. So, were you surprised when you got the letter?

JUSTIN ELLIOTT, REPORTER, SALON. COM: Well, I mean, my first reaction was, this is probably the latest events, that he‘s not running. They‘re taking the time to print out my articles right—and have—back to me. But I think the other key thing that shows that Trump is profoundly insecure about his net worth, you know, a lot of people think that he have been lying about how much—how rich he is. Over the years, he‘s throwing around, numbers like three, four, five billion. Independent estimates put a lot lower. So, clearly that‘s what I was writing about. If he declares his official candidacy at a certain point, you have to release information about how much he worth. So, that‘s the reason why people think he‘s not really going to run.

UYGUR: That‘s what I think. But can he hide his net worth or no?

ELLIOTT: Well, it turns out under the law, he can drag it on for real long time.

UYGUR: Oh, boy!

ELLIOTT: As long as he officially doesn‘t say, he‘s a candidate, and he says, I‘m out there testing the waters as long as he doesn‘t run ads, do a few other things, he doesn‘t trigger the 30-day deadline to file this personal disclosure. So, you know, the first primaries can be win, January, he may have eight months.

UYGUR: Oh, boy! That means we have a lot of Trump unfortunately going forward. You know, but when you ask him about his financial, when you ask him about bankruptcies for example, here‘s what he said. He said, look, quote, “we‘re using the law to our advantage. That shouldn‘t be embarrassing. That should be smart. When I explain it to people, they get it. But a lot of people don‘t know. They say, Trump filed for bankruptcy, it‘s not personal, it‘s just business.” Now, if the average homeowner come and says, look, it‘s not personal, it‘s just business, I‘m underwater, I‘m not paying the mortgage. They say, oh deadbeat, how can you do that? You had a contract et cetera. So, for rich people, contracts are irrelevant, they could just declare bankruptcy whatever they want and get out.

ELLIOTT: Well, I think, actually his first bankruptcy, and we should say I believe he‘s had more bankruptcy than he has had wives, and he‘s had three wives. But his first bankruptcy I believe is early ‘90s involving a failed casino. He owed the bank so much money that they couldn‘t—they bailed him out, because they needed him essentially. So, yes. The certain point if you‘re rich enough, you owed a bank enough money, the need you.

UYGUR: That‘s absurd. All right. So now, the other issues just come out is apparently he has not voted as much as he had said that he had voted. He had missed the 2002 general elections, he skipped 21 years of primaries starting in 1989. So, how does he‘s going to explain that? Well, we got a video of that. So, let‘s watch.

ELLIOTT: Sometimes, you‘ll have a primary where republican is even mentioned, and where there is no Republicans, or where he‘s expected to get four percent of the vote and I‘ll be in a foreign state or I‘ll be in foreign country doing business. And am I supposed to drive back when the Republican is, you know, considered to get three percent of the vote, or there is no republican even running. So, a little bit of that. But in terms of the general election, my record is very good. I mean, general speaking, I like the vote. I‘m a believer in voting, I will tell you.

UYGUR: All right. First of all, I thought it was Gretchen Carlson in there, but they just did a fill in the blank. But anyway, onto Trump, is that going to be convincing to primary voters when he says, come out and vote for me. And he just told everybody, no, primaries, that was busy.

ELLIOTT: No. I don‘t think Trump is even particularly political, I mean, I don‘t know that he could pass a high school civics class. This is the guy, we shouldn‘t take at face value that he‘s a republican. I mean, he ran or he talked a lot about running on a reform party ticket in 2000. A colleague of mine at Salon.com today reported he gave $30,000 to Ed Rendell, democrat in Pennsylvania, six months ago, $50,000 to Rahm Emanuel. I don‘t even think he‘s a republican.

UYGUR: Really? Wow! Fifty thousand to Rahm Emanuel. But on other hand. It‘s not the most liberal guy in the world. Anyway, but Ed Rendell, a strong progressive, is on the show all the time. All right. So, you know, we can‘t figure out where the Donald is going or leaving. But he loves the attention. So, my guess, you write another article, he‘ll write you another handwritten note.

ELLIOTT: Yes. And this is all by, I mean, he lives off his brand. A lot of buildings that bare his name, he doesn‘t own those buildings. He‘s licensing his name, so it‘s all.

UYGUR: You‘re getting another letter, OK. Watch yourself, Justin. All right. Justin Elliott, of course, from Salon.com. Thanks for joining us.

ELLIOTT: Thanks a lot.

About William Brighenti

William Brighenti is a Certified Public Accountant, Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor, and Certified Business Valuation Analyst. Bill began his career in public accounting in 1979. Since then he has worked at various public accounting firms throughout Connecticut. Bill received a Master of Science in Professional Accounting degree from the University of Hartford, after attending the University of Connecticut and Central Connecticut State University for his Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees. He subsequently attended Purdue University for doctoral studies in Accounting and Quantitative Methods in Business. Bill has instructed graduate and undergraduate courses in Accounting, Auditing, and other subjects at the University of Hartford, Central Connecticut State University, Hartford State Technical College, and Purdue University. He also taught GMAT and CPA Exam Review Classes at the Stanley H. Kaplan Educational Center and at Person-Wolinsky, and is certified to teach trade-related subjects at Connecticut Vocational Technical Schools. His articles on tax and accounting have been published in several professional journals throughout the country as well as on several accounting websites. William was born and raised in New Britain, Connecticut, and served on the City's Board of Finance and Taxation as well as its City Plan Commission. In addition to the blog, Accounting and Taxes Simplified, Bill writes a blog, "The Barefoot Accountant", for the Accounting Web, a Sift Media publication.
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