WASHINGTON — Donald Trump says he’s through with the GOP and is eyeing an online power play to get his bold-faced name on the ballot in next year’s presidential election.
The Donald’s newest political designs fell short of a declaration of a quixotic, go-it-alone run for the White House. But his hinted-at plan and flirtation with online political outfit Americans Elect show that his skyscraper-sized ego wasn’t dampened by the blunder that preceded his announcement in May that he would not seek the GOP nomination.
This is not the first time the mercurial, loud-mouth mogul ditched the Republican Party. He went Democrat in 2001, but returned to the GOP fold two years ago.
This time, Republican dysfunction was the last straw, his lawyer told the Daily News.
Trump is “extremely disappointed with the manner in which the Republicans are handling many things, including the recent payroll tax issue,” said his special counsel, Michael D. Cohen.
After a campaign-like period when Trump was all over the news in railing that the President was ineligible for office because of an alleged citizenship issue, Obama silenced the real estate baron by grudgingly producing a birth certificate.
Without naming names, Obama also took a shot at Trump, decrying the role of “sideshows and carnival barkers.”
Characteristically undeterred, the free-from-the-GOP big shot now says he might align himself with Americans Elect, a presidential nomination website that brands itself as a non-partisan, non-profit initiative to empower voters over political parties. The site invites Americans to register and vote in an online nominating convention next June.
Last week, Trump tweeted that there were “thousands of e-mails from folks urging me to seek the Americans Elect Presidential nomination.”
With the 2.3 million ballot petition signatures that Americans Elect has collected, and Trump’s large online following, “a merger between the two is something that should bring concern to both parties,” Cohen boasted.
Trump’s political cred took a hit earlier this month when several Republican White House hopefuls passed on a debate he was slated to moderate for the conservative outlet Newsmax. Some said they feared The Donald would challenge them for the GOP nomination.
Notably, dark horse candidate Jon Huntsman, the former Utah Gov., told Fox News that he was not going to kiss Trump’s ring.
Trump responded by calling Huntsman and libertarian Rep. Ron Paul (R-Tex.), who’s leading in the polls ahead of next month’s Iowa caucuses, “a joke.”
With Daniel Beekman
jstraw@nydailynews.com
