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If he can't win the Republican nomination for president, Donald Trump says he'll "probably" run as an independent. White House staffers--who are already not-so-subtly cheering Trump's spectacular descent into birtherism--must be doing a collective fist pump at the news. What's better for President Obama than having one egomaniacal reality star taint the entire GOP with the stench of birther conspiracy theories? Having that egomaniacal star split the Republican vote in the general election.



Trump explained his 2012 intentions in a video interview with The Wall Street Journal's Kelly Evans. He again insisted his candidacy was not a publicity stunt or a hoax. He also further detailed his thoughts on policy. Perhaps most interesting was his thinking on national security.

Trump said he is "only interested in Libya if we take the oil," and that if he were President, "I would not leave Iraq and let Iran take over the oil."

This position highlights Trump's outsider status in Washington. Only a political novice would see lefty protest signs screaming "NO BLOOD FOR OIL" and, instead of refuting the charge that the war on terror is a cynical ruse to secure petroleum resources, counter that, No, look, see, blood for oil is actually a pretty good trade off.

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