Would A Trump Candidacy Really Hurt The Republicans ?

It was not too long ago that Donald Trump considered himself to be a mover and shaker within the Republican Party -- someone who could decide the nominee by giving his blessing. Trump has always had a larger than normal ego, and a lot of the "birther" teabaggers made that ego even larger by putting him at the top of the possible candidates list earlier this year. And that ego got inflated further when several candidates actually in the race made to pilgrimage to New York City to get his support.

All of that gave Trump the idea that he could have the defining debate, in which he would moderate and ask the "important" questions (which he said he could do better than any journalist). I think he thought his brilliant questioning would show lessor important Americans who they should vote for. He was riding high, filled with his own self-importance.

But even the nut-jobs running for the Republican nomination knew that would be a fiasco which would reduce participants in the debate to the status of bad actors in a reality TV show. Only two of them said they would attend Trump's debate -- Gingrich, who will whore himself out to anyone at any time and any place, and Santorum, who was just desperate for someone to notice he's in the race. The other candidates ran for the hills.

Trump was forced to abandon his debate. While that would shock a lesser ego back into reality, it just angered Trump. How dare they not recognize his position as "kingmaker" and pay homage to his importance! He would have to show them how wrong they were.

This past week Trump changed his voter registration -- from Republican to Independent. His spokesman said it was to preserve his ability to run for president himself if the party didn't nominate the right candidate (although he didn't say who that candidate would be). Personally, I think it was just his way of throwing a tantrum. After all, he could run an independent campaign for the presidency regardless of what party he was registered in. He was just soothing his ego.

But it does bring up the point of whether he would actually make a run for the presidency as an Independent. Just the thought of that scares a lot of Republicans and makes a lot of Democrats joyous, since Trump could probably pull a lot of teabaggers away from the Republican Party -- especially if Romney was the party's nominee. I see it a little differently, and I think Trump running as an Independent could actually help the Republicans.

That's because I don't think any of the current Republican candidates can beat President Obama. And if the nominee is Romney, a whole lot of discouraged teabaggers could just sit the election out -- and that would seriously damage the Republicans down-ballot. Trump running as an Independent wouldn't help the Republican presidential nominee, but it could get those anti-Romney teabaggers back into the election booth -- and voting down-ballot for other Republicans running for office.

And that's where I think the real election is going to be in 2012 -- in the down-ballot races. After the president gets re-elected, will he have a Democratic Congress to help him accomplish something, or will he have a Republican Congress to obstruct everything he tries to do? A Trump candidacy could get disenchanted teabaggers back to the polls and help the Republicans hang on to the House of Representatives.

Trump is not going to be elected president. They idea of that is ludicrous. But no Republican is going to be elected president either in 2012. I hope Trump doesn't run (and I doubt he will, because he's too stingy to part with the many millions that would require), because I don't want him helping Republicans down-ballot. Let the anti-Romney teabaggers stay home in 2012.