Why wouldn’t he go to such great lengths? He gets all the ego stroking fun, all the extra press, and maybe gets to see one of his favorite people in the White House. He doesn’t have anything to lose really. It’s not going to damage any of his businesses. Sure a couple of his TV shows went away, but they were all long in the tooth and low in the viewership anyway. Only way he actually loses anything is if he actually wins next November, being president would hamper a lot of his business dealings. One way or the other this is a stunt candidacy, the only real question is what’s the final “trick” at the end. Is he doing it to help Hillary win? Is he doing it to restoke a fame that was fading? Is he doing it because he’s realized the whole political process has gotten stupid so why not make it even dumber?
Again, I can almost agree with this, except there are MUCH better ways - smarter ways - to go about this than what he is doing. And Trump is no idiot - he has proven himself to be quite the shrewd and calculating executive. That same type does NOT just jump into the race, spend TONS of his own $$$, lose out on what he HAS lost out on (you mentioned the TV shows, but he has lost out on much more - Miss USA has gone from a somewhat big deal to being relegated to an obscure internet channel, his golf courses have lost business due to this, and much much more). If he was truly that adamant about getting Hitlery elected, there are far more efficient ways to go about it, like getting behind one of the lesser GOP candidates that he knows would never make it through the generals.
Believe me, I've been struggling with this myself. In all honesty, I WANT TO BELIEVE that somehow Trump is trolling us, because it would make it easier to ignore him. But the truth is, no matter how I try to slice or dice it, nothing makes sense.