As Hillary Clinton holds a 10 percentage point lead over Donald Trump, let’s look back on his 2000 presidential campaign #ClintonVsTrump
By Stranga The Great
Hip Hop Vibe Staff Writer
In political history, a candidate like Donald Trump never won the nomination for a major political party. For many reasons, Donald Trump is different, to say the least. But, it cannot be overlooked that he is a voice for a large number of people.
Unfortunately, to another large portion of people, Donald Trump has left them shocked and appalled. The comments he has made during his presidential campaign have turned many away from him. This is sad, seeing the reputation he built.
Before the 2016 campaign, Donald Trump was the American dream and the businessman hip hop adored. On many early Nelly records, Trump is shouted out, Mac Miller has a song named after him, Master P and 50 Cent also received Trump co-signs. Now, it is safe to say that Trump has lost his hip hop card.
Currently, Donald Trump trails Hillary Clinton by ten percentage points in the polls, 41% to her 51%. Still, there is a lot of time and anything can happen. But, Hip Hop Vibe has decided to recount Donald Trump’s original presidential campaign, which took place in 2000, although he dropped out of the race.
Donald Trump’s 1988 Oprah interview about running for president:
Back in 1988, Donald Trump paid a visit to Oprah in Chicago, where he spoke on politics. His interview took place during the end of Ronald Reagan’s presidency and he spoke on George Bush, Michael Dukakis, and Jesse Jackson, the final three candidates of that election. Gaining fame for his business acumen, Trump said he had no desire to run for president, but he was tired of the country being “ripped off” and wouldn’t rule out running, as he felt he’d win.
Trump at the 1988 Presidential Convention:
Often, it is said that Donald Trump was always a Democrat, which isn’t necessarily true. In the past, he did show support to Ronald Reagan and George Bush, even though he denied that during debates with Jeb Bush. While he did support Democratic candidates, he supported the Republican Party in 1988 and seemed very impressed with the future Vice President, Dan Quayle.
Donald Trump’s 1998 People Magazine interview:
The main excerpt, which was used for the photo above, is the often-shared quote of Donald Trump on if he would run for president, how, and why. If that quote is to be taken seriously, it explains much of what Donald Trump says and does, now. But, it does little to explain his 2000 run, which seemed like a more serious campaign.
Jesse Ventura recruits Donald Trump to run for president as a member of the Reform Party:
Throughout American political history, there have always been two major political parties. Most contemporaries have always seemed tired of the two parties and accused them of being the same, more or less. This reasoning is why Third Parties have always been prominent in politics, with some parties making noise, from time-to-time.
Most-recently, the Reform Party made noise, when Jesse Ventura won the Gubernatorial election in Minnesota, giving power to the party. Hoping to build on this momentum, Ventura recruited Donald Trump in 2000 to represent the party. Briefly, in 2000, Donald Trump ran on the Reform Party ticket.
While Donald Trump did eventually drop out of the race, he did win 15,000 votes in the California Primary. Quite a bit, in terms of his speech and delivery, and style of message has changed since Trump’s campaign from sixteen years ago. But, several videos have been compiled from this run for people to watch to see Trump’s evolution.
Donald Trump 2000 presidential press conference:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMlz4J4tYbM
Donald Trump’s decision to not run in the 2000 Presidential Election:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUEHf1QGeZk
Follow Stranga The Great on Twitter @StrangaTheGreat.