New Political Party Created For Trump

This political year seems to get more interesting every day. It's starting to look like regardless of who the Republicans nominate to run against President Obama, there will be a bevy of fairly well-known candidates on the ballot in the presidential race. Last week we learned that former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson is dropping out of the Republican race, and will be seeking the nomination of the Libertarian Party. Now there is more evidence that Donald Trump is seriously considering a third-party run for the presidency.

After having to cancel his own self-moderated debate of Republican candidates because most of those candidates refused to appear in it, Trump told the media he was still considering a run for the presidency as an Independent if the GOP didn't nominate the right person. He even went so far as to change his party affiliation from Republican to Independent. At the time, I thought it was just an example of "sour grapes", since Trump had been embarrassed by his failed attempt at moderating a debate.

But it's beginning to look like he may have been serious. Some Trump supporters in Texas have filed the necessary paperwork to create a new political party -- a party that would run Donald Trump as its presidential candidate. They have named their new party the "Make America Great Again Party". That name's not gonna fly, because Texas has a rather strange law that says a political party name must be no longer than two words, but the point is that the first concrete action has taken place to get Trump on the ballot. Maybe he's really serious about running. When asked about the new political party Trump said:

"I am aware and flattered by this filing by my supporters in Texas. I have not authorized anyone to act on my behalf and am not a candidate for president at this time. I will not, however, rule out a third-party candidacy if the Republicans nominate a candidate who cannot defeat Obama and I recently changed my party registration in New York state to preserve my legal option to appear on the ballot in all 50 states if I do decide to run."


While it's true that Trump has not announced his candidacy, I find it hard to believe the party was created without his knowledge and consent. He still might decide against running, but I'm now starting to believe he really is considering running for the office.

The new party doesn't guarantee Trump will be on the Texas ballot. Any party that didn't make a certain threshold of votes in the last statewide election must gather a few thousand signatures (of voters who didn't vote in either party's primary) to get ballot access. The Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians, and Greens have already qualified for ballot access, but Trump's new party would have to wage a signature drive after the Texas primary in early April. I imagine he could easily get those signatures. Texas has an abundance of birthers and teabaggers.

Now all Trump has to do is get "supporters" to take his new party to 49 other states.

(Since the Republicans and Democrats have animal mascots to represent their parties -- the elephant and the donkey -- I thought Trump's new party needed its own mascot. What could be more perfect for a Wall Streeter like Trump than a pig?)