Once again, Donald Trump claims he’s considering running for president and Fox News acts like it might really happen this time.
As Ellen wrote in 2012, the last time Trump pretended he might run for president:
Is there anything more stunning than the Fox News credulity toward and credibility given to phony politico Donald Trump? Never mind his debunked and discredited birther accusations. Forget his inadvertent admissions of racism. And nobody on Fox ever seems to remember or care that Trump was supposedly conducting some big investigation in Hawaii into President Obama’s birth certificate. That’s not even counting Trump's disingenuous insistence on The O’Reilly Factor that he was hosting a NewsMax debate – one night before he announced otherwise. OK, we get that Trump will do or say anything to smear Obama in a headline-grabbing way so that’s just fine with Fox. But after his last make-believe run for president just a few months ago, is there anyone who really thinks that this time he might really, truly mean it? Apparently, the three Fox & Friends hosts... do. They’re not just buying it, they were so enthusiastic I half expected them to sign up as campaign volunteers during Trump’s appearance this morning on the show.
But it was like 2012 all over again on Fox & Friends this morning.
First, however, they scared people about President Obama’s proposal to raise taxes on the very wealthy and give a tax break to the middle class. Co-host Brian Kilmeade described it as “taking from the rich and giving to the middle class through tax breaks.” “Sound like a good idea?” Kilmeade asked Trump.
As if there was a doubt what a guy like Trump would say. Of course, Trump wasn’t thinking of himself when he denounced the plan.
TRUMP: The United States is the highest taxed nation in the world, there’s nothing, nobody even close. And no other nation comes close to that, the amount of money we pay, the amount of tax we pay, and it stops jobs, and it stops a lot of other things, and frankly it sends a lot of money and a lot of jobs to other countries. …Certainly, it’s a bad idea.
…(Obama’s) dividing the country again. Whether it’s white and black, whether it’s poor or whether it’s rich or middle income, he’s a divisive guy. He was supposed to be the one that brings everyone together and he brings everyone apart. In actuality he’s a disaster.
In reality, as of Nov. 2013, the nations with the top 10 income tax rates did not include the U.S. The U.S. ranked 23rd.
But the Curvy Couch Crew must have been too excited over Trump’s upcoming speech in South Carolina to notice the falsehood. As Trump put it, the auditorium is going to be “packed in my honor.”
Kilmeade “asked” if Trump decides to run for president, “What month are you going to jump in?”
Trump replied, “I would say over the next 3 or 4 months I would jump in. …I do want to see what happens.” …It does make sense because our country needs true leadership.”
Trump will be revealing the results of that Hawaii birther investigation and Sean Hannity will be waterboarded before Trump runs for president or any other public office. And Fox News will be the last to figure that out – if they ever do.
Watch it below, from this morning’s Fox & Friends.