But Dean had held elected office. True, he and Trump were both Clinton supporters. True, Trump, has praised both the Clintons up until his recent run for president. I think the there is a big difference between Dean and Trump. Dean never pretended to be a Republican or a conservative.
Also, to carry out your analogy, Dean had the self-discipline and the intelligence to build a multi-billion dollar empire. He also had the discipline to come out from under a debt load of over a billion dollars.