“Both Trump and Palin also seem captivated by the idea of being president. They obviously like the idea of running for president, and spend a great deal of time talking about what they would do if they were president. They are about action, displaying power, and explaining how power should be used. Trump’s solution to Somali pirates: ‘Give me one good admiral and a few ships and I will wipe them out so fast.’ Palin on $4 gas: ‘Drill, baby, drill.’ In the words of Royal Tenenbaum, they are all about ‘taking it out and chopping it up.’

“In short, they are exactly the type of political figure our country’s founders were worried about.

“The framers were troubled — some might say preoccupied — with the potential dangers of ambition, factions, and concentrated power. They were concerned to a point about ideology, predominantly the question of how much power to vest within the newly constituted federal government in relation to that of the states. But they worried even more about the intentions and motives of their adversaries…

“For the record, I do not view Palin or Trump as a threat to the republic. But like the framers, I have always felt ill at ease with officeholders or candidates who are too enamored with the idea of holding a particular office.”

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“As they busy themselves avoiding the mistakes of 2008, Republicans might want to think back to an earlier race. As the 1992 presidential campaign got under way, incumbent George H.W. Bush had a sky-high approval rating. Big-name Democrats hesitated, and then shied away from entering the race. Bill Clinton, then the little-known governor of Arkansas, dared challenge Bush and won the prize. Obama today is far weaker than Bush was in ’91. Sooner or later a Republican will decide that you can’t win if you don’t get in.”

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“Trump said in an interview Monday that he could pour a hefty amount of cash into a Republican campaign for the White House.

“‘I have a lot and I would spend a lot if I needed to do that,’ he said.”

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“After a good week or two of snickering speculation over Donald Trump’s semi-presidential media blitz, Bernie Goldberg dropped quite the bombshell on tonight’s O’Reilly Factor: according to reliable sources, Trump has made up his mind and, yes, he is gunning for the GOP nomination. With that out of the way, Goldberg and Bill O’Reilly moved onto the second order of business: will the media ever take him seriously?”

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