Politics

The Trump card: running as an independent

Alex Brown Contributor
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Donald Trump hasn’t formally announced his presidential candidacy, but the real estate tycoon already has a contingency plan if he doesn’t score the Republican nomination.

Trump told the Wall Street Journal Monday he would likely run as an independent candidate if he didn’t land on the top of the GOP ticket.

“The concern is if I don’t win [the GOP primary] will I run as an independent, and I think the answer is probably yes,” Trump told the Journal, saying he thought he “could possibly win as an independent.”

Trump spoke in a video interview, saying his potential run was a not a stunt to drive up ratings for his NBC show “Celebrity Apprentice.” He said he wanted to campaign because the “country is in trouble.” Trump has garnered recent support among conservative Republicans, which some have speculated is because of his skepticism that President Obama was born in the United States.