[MuttTheHoople]

I thought I remembered talk in 1987-88 that the Democrat Party should push for Trump to be their candidate against George H. W. Bush.

Trump has always struck me as an old-school moderate Democrat- liberal on social issues, but strong on law-and-order and patriotism.

[mass55th]

Found this article from 2016. It tells about Trump giving a speech at The Rotary Club in New Hampshire in 1987. He had been invited to speak by Mike Dunbar, an area Republican activist:

The True Story of Donald Trump’s First Campaign Speech—in 1987

Also, this NY Post article from February of this year reports that Doug Schoen, Trump's one-time pollster said:

"When I conducted Trump’s first private presidential poll in 1987, he was planning to run as a moderate independent, not the hard-right Republican he is today. He was once a registered Democrat.”

Donald Trump wanted to be president — in 1988, new book reveals