The Men Behind the 'Draft Donald Trump' Movement

[Judi Lynn]

The Men Behind the 'Draft Donald Trump' Movement
By MICHAEL SCHERER Michael Scherer – 22 mins ago
Did you hear about Donald Trump? He tied for first place in the CNN poll, after coming in second in the NBC/WSJ poll. He wrote a scathing letter to the New York Times, and another to Vanity Fair. He is considering running as an independent. He met with Mike Huckabee. He has a beef with Bill Cosby. He talked with Reince Priebus. He thinks Obama is hiding something. It goes on.

The Donald is back big time in the national news cycle, after decades of comings and goings. The current notoriety all centers around his potential presidential run - though he also just bought a winery in Virginia, which he will rename, wait for it, "Trump." (See twelve Republicans who could be president in '12.)

So here's some more Trump trivia to add to the veritable bonfire of Trump news. As there is no Trump campaign at the moment, Trump supporters have two main ways of supporting the Trump effort, such as it is. One is called DraftTrump2012.com, which has been put together by the celebrated and controversial Roger Stone, a GOP operative who helped put together Trump's abandoned 2000 bid for the Reform Party ticket. The website accepts Pay Pal donations, and is registered through Federal Election Committee, but has yet to post any reports of its haul. The goal of the group, says Stone, is to hire staffers in early primary states to begin independent grassroots organizations on Trump's behalf. Trump says that though he is happy for Stone's support, Stone is not working for him in any official capacity.

The second independent draft Trump effort, ShouldTrumpRun.com, which does not accept contributions, is far closer to the man itself. It is being run by a close friend of Trump, Stewart Rahr, and a senior executive at the Trump Organization, Michael Cohen, who keeps an office down the hall from Trump, on the 26th floor of Fifth Avenue's Trump Tower. The idea for this effort sprang from a conversation Cohen and Rahr had last year over drinks in Rahr's Manhattan apartment, which is in a Trump-branded building. A poll had just come out showing some interest in a Trump candidacy in New Hampshire. (Watch "Fringe Presidential Candidates.")

More:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/httpswamplandblogstimecom20110412themenbehindtheduelingdrafttrumpwebsitesxidrssfullnationyahoo

[no_hypocrisy]

1. Roger Stone also managed the candidacy of Kristin Davis, the Wall Street Madam,

when she ran for government last November.

[KoKo]

2. Post with Scandal Photo's from DU's Administrator, "Skinner"

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x853802

Skinner ADMIN Donating Member (1000+ posts) Journal Click to send private message to this author Click to view this author's profile Click to add this author to your buddy list Click to add this author to your Ignore list Tue Sep-21-04 05:49 PM
Original message
Roger Stone in Sex Shocker! (National Enquirer and Star pics) BIG DOWNLOAD

Edited on Tue Sep-21-04 08:15 PM by Skinner
In case you missed the big story of the day, it sounds like GOP Operative Roger Stone may be source of the fake Bush TANG Memos. If you're wondering where you've heard the name "Roger Stone" before, here it is:

THE ENQUIRER COVER:

A much larger version of this graphic is available here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/images/homepage/st... (150KB)



THE ENQUIRER INSIDE:

A much larger version of this graphic is available here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/images/homepage/st... (320KB)



THE STAR COVER:

A much larger version of this graphic is available here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/images/homepage/st... (164KB)



THE STAR INSIDE:

A much larger version of this graphic is available here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/images/homepage/st... (183KB)

[Jefferson23]

3. The birther racist crowd he so courts, looks like he is inviting

the climate change deniers too.

It's Cold Outside..So where's the Global Warming?

http://shouldtrumprun.com/welcome/

[checks-n-balances]

4. Calling this guy a "Slimeball" would be a compliment to him

Stone, I mean.

I'm still trying to find the right words to describe Trump. "Egomaniac" has always come to mind ever since he published a book about himself back in the eighties, when conspicuous consumption was beginning to be celebrated & enshrined by the Reagan/Bush admin.

[annabanana]

5. THE Roger Stone? The one who was

supposedly behind the torpedoing of Spitzer?

[Hestia]

6. So? Why do we care about what's his name? Why spread this mess here? n/t

[medeak]

7. former pharmaceutical wholesaler...puke!

"I happen to believe that Trump makes a great leader and a great negotiator," Rahr told me last week, when I caught up with him. Worth $1.4 billion, according to Forbes, he is a former pharmaceutical wholesaler, who now passes his time largely with philanthropic ventures. He also owns one of the most expensive estates in the Hamptons, and is known to the society pages as "Stewie Rah Rah, The #1 King of Fun." (He once created a business card that looked like a $1 billion bill, with a photo of himself golfing with Trump and former President Bill Clinton.) Rahr first met Trump about 15 years ago, when he was first making his fortune, when he asked Trump to pose for a picture at a book signing.

[NothingRight]

8. We can only hope that Trump, Bachmann, and/or Palin run

The best word to describe Trump is megalomaniac. He has become so big that he feels bound to nothing except that which he wants. He has run out of playthings and has decided that this president thing looks good.

We can only pray that he runs, and that he will try to court the female vote by bringing Bachmann or Palin with him. It would guarantee us another 4 years, not only to progress the agenda, but to begin training the next progressive candidate.

If it were not President Obama right now, who would it be? The establishment Democrats are almost as sad as the establishment Republicans. Where is our Tea Party? It is time for a Progressive Movement that reminds people of what real movements can accomplish.

[starroute]

9. Here's some required reading on Trump and Roger Stone

Roger Stone has been around forever -- he and Karl Rove both go back to the Young Republican National Committee in the early 70's. His unsavory connections with Donald Trump are less well known, but Wayne Barrett laid them out in 2004 in some articles for the Village Voice.


http://www.villagevoice.com/2004-04-13/news/a-dirty-trickster-s-bush-bonanza/

A Dirty Trickster's Bush Bonanza
The man who stopped Miami recount makes gaming millions
By Wayne Barrett Tuesday, Apr 13 2004

Roger Stone, the dirty-tricks hobgoblin of Republican politics, has exploited his Bush connections to become an influence-peddling force in the $13 billion Indian gaming industry. ... The longtime GOP consultant's reward for fomenting the "Brooks Brothers mob" that shut down the Miami-Dade recount in 2000 was an invitation within days of Bush's election to serve on the Department of Interior transition working group—helping, in his own words, to staff its Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). Stone has since used this unannounced perch to market himself to tribes and developers from Louisiana to California, earning fat fees and contingent percentages of future casino revenue. . . .

Stone sent notes on Bush-Cheney Presidential Transition Foundation letterhead to tribal leaders, asking them to support the appointment of Neal McCaleb as head of BIA. ... Stone also helped by submarining McCaleb's top competitor, an Indian leader named Tim Martin. A kiss-of-death letter endorsing Martin appeared "out of the blue," Martin remembers. It was signed by Donald Trump, a client of Stone for 20 years who was all over the media at the time for having funded an anti-Indian advertising campaign in New York while simultaneously trying to do Indian projects in California and Connecticut. . . .

The letter reinforced the irony of Stone's role in the BIA transition, as he and Trump had just been fined $250,000 in October by the New York State Lobbying Commission for Trump's secret funding of Stone-directed ads blasted by tribal leaders as "racist." Tying a tribe proposing a casino that would've competed with Trump's Jersey empire to "drug trafficking, money laundering, the mob, violence, and the smuggling of illegal immigrants," the ads featured pictures of cocaine lines and drug needles.

[msanthrope]

11. Roger Stone also financed Al Sharpton's 2004 campaign--after Trump introduced them.

Roger Stone, a millionaire political consultant who began his career as a 19-year-old Watergate dirty trickster, virtually took over the Sharpton campaign in the last quarter of 2003, according to reports in the New York Times (January 25), Salon.com (”A GOP Trickster Rents Sharpton,” February 3) and New York’s Village Voice (“Sleeping with the GOP,” February 3). Stone and Sharpton were introduced two years ago by Donald Trump, the celebrity millionaire, said the Times. Stone brought in Charles Halloran to replace Sharpton campaign manager Frank Watkins, a longtime advisor to the Jesse Jacksons, Junior and Senior, who resigned in late September. (In the Village Voice article, Sharpton says Watkins was fired.) Halloran previously managed the New York gubernatorial campaign of far-right billionaire Tom Golisano, on the Independence Party line. He also managed a mostly white, conservative party’s attempt to unseat the first Black-led government of Bermuda.

http://www.blackcommentator.com/76/76_cover_sharpton.html

[flamingdem]

10. Ah, the dirt on the Donald! nt