The Island of Misfit Toys

Donald Trump, overtly displeased with the Republican National Committee's persecution of His Royal Toupeeness, is threatening to quit the GOP and run as a third-party candidate for President of The Island of Misfit Toys.

Or is that quit The Island of Misfit Toys and run as a third-party candidate for POTUS?

What would King Moonracer think?

In an interview with The Hill earlier today, Trump said that, while in the past the RNC had been more than happy to accept his money, the GOP has "not been supportive" of his 2016 candidacy. Consequently, even though he currently leads all 87 (give or take a few) Republican candidates in poll numbers - something that has not taken a huge hit, even after the flack last weekend over his comments about John McCain's "hero" status - he is mulling a third-party presidential run.

The Republican businessman is under attack from many leaders in his own party who view his candidacy as a sideshow that could harm the GOP brand. The McCain flap didn't help matters in that regard; there's already been threats to try and keep him from participating in GOP candidate debates on Fox News during the campaign season. Trump says the chances of him launching a third-party run would increase if he believes the committee treats him unfairly during the primaries.

"I'm not in the gang. I'm not in the group where the group does whatever it's supposed to do," Trump told The Hill, explaining why he believes he's unpopular with the GOP establishment.

A Washington Post/ABC poll finds a hypothetical three-way race would result in Hillary Clinton getting 46%, Jeb Bush getting 30%, and Trump 20% among registered voters. That 20 percent would be really, really close to what billionaire Ross Perot received as a third-party candidate in 1992.

In a separate Washington Examiner article, Trump was asked if he believed Perot's candidacy threw the 1992 presidential election to Bill Clinton:

"Totally. I think every single vote that went to Ross Perot came from Bush. Virtually every one of his 19 percentage points came from the Republicans. If Ross Perot didn't run, you have never heard of Bill Clinton.”

There’s a lot to compare between Perot and Trump: Both are "off the chain" billionaires willing to speak "hard truths" to a political establishment that has grown increasingly out-of-touch with average voters. But Trump is missing the mark on this one; Perot was far more of a centrist than Trump, or any of the current GOP candidates, are. Perot didn’t draw votes disproportionately from Republicans.

But Trump would.

As The New York Times reported earlier this month, some party higher-ups fear Trump launching a third-party campaign could pull more votes from the Republican nominee than the Democrat in the general election next November. And that has Democratic Party leaders thrilled beyond belief. They believe they can defeat Trump if he's the GOP candidate; that belief is even stronger if he splits the Republican voting bloc.

Or, as NBC News pointed out:

The RNC has a choice to make: Does it bite its tongue and hold back on future criticism? Or does it let him go? It isn't an easy decision. On the one hand, the threat is credible - Trump has enough money (to get on the ballot) and enough name ID to affect a D-vs.-R presidential contest. On the other hand, he's held the GOP and its candidates hostage. And when you're dealing with a hostage-taker, sometimes the best approach is taking him out. But here's another question: Even if the RNC did want him to go, how does it go about doing that? After all, the RNC's job isn't to take people off the ballot. Voters - not the RNC - will decide who the GOP nominee will be.

So, is Trump is now the 2015 personification of Hermey, Rudolph, Edward Scissorhands, Rick Deckard, Willy Wonka, Jay Gatsby, Walt Kowalski, John Rambo, Travis Bickle, Jim Stark, and Pee-wee Herman searching for the basement of The Alamo? Regardless of his decision, one thing is for sure: Trump's a rebel, Dottie; a loner.

Yukon Cornelius would approve.

CAMPAIGN 2016 NEWS OF THE DAY:

From The Intercept: "Lobbyists Fundraising for Clinton, Bush, Rubio and Kasich Are Coworkers" - Politics makes strange bedfellows, indeed.

FACEPALM NEWS OF THE DAY:

From the The Milton Keynes Citizen: "Yule must be kidding! Harvester puts up Christmas tree FIVE MONTHS early" - The Unified Field Theory of Creep (the general trend of pushing events earlier and earlier) continues.

FLORIDA NEWS OF THE DAY:

From The Sun-Sentinel: "Rescuers free man with head stuck in hotel exercise machine" - A new training technique?

WEIRD NEWS OF THE DAY:

From International Business Times: "Fukushima mutant daisies: Deformed flowers spotted at Japan's disaster site" - Still waiting for the Zombie Apocalypse.

SPORTS NEWS OF THE DAY:

From The New York Post: "Jeff Bagwell gets excited by Astros, feels up girlfriend" - He's rounding first and really turning it on now; he’s not letting up at all, he's gonna try for second. The ball is bobbled out in the center, and here comes the throw, and what a throw! He’s gonna slide in head first! Here he comes, he's out - no, wait, safe, safe at second base!

VIDEO OF THE DAY:
Sharknado? OH HELL NO!

MUSIC VIDEO OF THE DAY:
Meat Loaf, "Paradise by the Dashboard Light"