Update 1: A New NBC/WSJ Poll has Trump at an astonishing 17%, tied for second with Mike Huckabee behind Mitt Romney (21%). I know this is probably just a little surge by people who know nothing of Trump’s politics pre-3 weeks ago, and he is making an interesting splash right now. It’s like he found a Tea Party manual sitting around somewhere and suddenly adopted all of those positions (and then added birthirism for good/bad measure).

Update 2: 2008 Trump Blasts Bush, Praises Obama, Says he Can Save the World: “I think he has a chance to go down as a great president. Now, if he’s not a great president, this country is in serious trouble,” said Trump. “I think [Obama's] going to lead through consensus,” continued Trump. “It’s not going to be just a bull run like Bush did. He just did whatever the hell he wanted. He’d go into a country, attack Iraq, which had nothing to do with the World Trade Center and just do it because he wanted to do it.”

Update 3: Now that Donald Trump is claiming that the Tea Party is the be all end all, isn’t it quite peculiar his support AGAINST nearly every tea party candidate in the 2010 cycle? He opposed Sharron Angle in favor of Harry Reid (and gave Reid almost $5k to defeat her). He supported uber-Rino Charlie Crist over Marco Rubio. He supported Arlen Specter over Pat Toomey. He donated the max to Kirsten Gillibrand over Joe DioGuardi. He donated to far left congressman Anthony Weiner and Carolyn Maloney. His one “big” uhhh “conservative” donation was $50k to Karl Rove’s American Crossroads PAC. Needless to say, Karl Rove is about as anti-Tea party establishment RINO as they come. This is a man who has NEVER done anything for either the Tea Party or the Republican Party or for Conservatism, and is now running around waving all three banners as though he is the Braveheart of the Right.

Meet the Donald Trump, Sudden Right-Wing Conservative: Contributions, Abortion, Health Care, and Taxes….

Political Donations: Might as well start here:

Charlie Rangel (D-NY): 2006 – $10,000 Yes, he of corruption, tax evasion, and mass liberalism

Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) $12,000 Total, $2,000 in 2006 Re-election

Harry Reid: Donated $4,800 in 2010 to Reid to defeat Sharon Angle. $10,400 to Reid overall

Chuck Schumer: Donated $4,000 during 2010 Election Cycle

Kirsten Gillibrand: $5,800 over past 2 cycles

Ted Kennedy: $7,000

John Kerry $5,500 ($2,000 in 2004 Pres race, which he also gave Bush $2,000. How bi-partisan!)

Democratic Senatorial Committee: $116,000 (versus $30K to GOP equivalent)

Abortion:

Donald Trump Then: “I support a woman’s right to choose, but I am uncomfortable with the procedures. When Tim Russert asked me on Meet the Press if I would ban partial-birth abortion, my pro-choice instincts led me to say no. After the show, I consulted two doctors I respect and, upon learning more about this procedure, I have concluded that I would support a ban.” From his 2000 book.

“I believe it is a personal decision that should be left to the women and their doctors” – When he last considered running for President in 2009.

Donald Trump Now: “As you know, I’m pro-life… I’m forming an opinion, I’m forming a very strong opinion but I’ll let you know in about three or four weeks if I decided to.”

That’s comforting, he will let us know in 3 or 4 weeks what his reformed views on abortion are.

Taxation: Forget raising taxes, Trump wanted to tax, at 14.25% the net wealth of “the evil rich.” Money that was already taxed. Of course, he played the “I’m raising taxes on myself” card to prove his selflessness. (Ironic given his inability to settle his own debts…) His 1999 plan:

Raise $5.7 trillion to erase the nation’s debt and save $200 billion in annual interest payments
Use the savings to save Social Security and slash taxes for the middle class
Increase his personal tax bill by at least $725 million.

Healthcare,: “I’m a conservative on most issues but a liberal on health. It is an unacceptable but accurate fact that the number of uninsured Americans has risen to 42 million. Working out detailed plans will take time. But the goal should be clear: Our people are our greatest asset. We must take care of our own. We must have universal healthcare. Our objective [should be] to make reforms for the moment and, longer term, to find an equivalent of the single-payer plan that is affordable, well-administered, and provides freedom of choice. Possible? The good news is, yes. There is already a system in place-the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program-that can act as a guide for all healthcare reform. It operates through a centralized agency that offers considerable range of choice. While this is a government program, it is also very much market-based. It allows 620 private insurance companies to compete for this market. Once a year participants can choose from plans which vary in benefits and costs.”

Here is your Republican Nominee. If you choose to have him.

Meet Donald Trump: Democrat Donor, Abortionist, Single Payer Supporter, and Taxer

Here is your Republican Nominee. If you choose to have him.

Trump says he is likely to run