Despite Signing Pledge, Donald Trump May Run As A Third Party Candidate

During the first GOP debate, Donald Trump refused to pledge his support to whoever became the party’s nominee. His refusal upset the Republican National Committee, and voters who worried that a third-party Trump might split the Republican votes, effectively giving the Democrats control of the White House.

While all the other GOP candidates pledged their support to the Republican party’s candidate of choice, Trump stood in defiance.

In September, Trump finally made the pledge to support the eventual GOP nominee. Trump’s surrender came after meeting with the Chairman of the Republican National Committee, Reince Priebus.

“The best way for the Republicans to win is if I win the nomination and go directly against whoever they happen to put up. For that reason, I have signed the pledge,”

That announcement put everyone at ease, but now Trump seems to be backing out of the deal he and Reince Priebus had struck.As Politico reported, the pledge was not legally binding, and one campaign advisor said the pledge was worthless.

“We’re all going to sign it, but it’s meaningless because it’s not binding, and Trump is going to do whatever he wants anyway. And to see Reince standing up there next to the guy who has destroyed his autopsy, it’s just ridiculous.”

It looks like that advisor was right. Trump is now saying that he may indeed launch a third-party bid for the White House. He cited his initial requirement of being treated fairly. If he feels as though his campaign isn’t being fairly treated, his pledge becomes void.

“When I did this, I said I have to be treated fairly. If I’m treated fairly, I’m fine. All I want to do is [have] a level playing field.”

Donald Trump has done exceptionally well in the polls since he began his campaign. He has also received the largest crowds of all the candidates running for president. Trump’s popularity remains to baffle commentators and analysts.

Many political insiders predicted Trump seeing a swift decline in poll numbers after a few weeks of being on the top. That theory has been put to rest as it’s now been months since the real estate mogul took the lead.

Throughout his campaign, the billionaire-turned-politician has made some very controversial comments. Whether it was about illegal immigrants or veterans, each time he has said something offensive, his poll numbers have not declined.

After the recent terrorist attacks in Paris that claimed over a hundred innocent lives, Trump has made more controversial statements. This time, it has to do with surveillance on mosques in the United States.

Mr. Trump said he believes that we should closely monitor “certain” mosques to protect the country from future terrorist attacks. That idea has obviously angered many in the Muslim community, as well as others.

If he were president, he’d also like to see waterboarding brought back. As the AP reported, Trump has promised to be the toughest of all the candidates when it comes to dealing with terrorists and others who want to harm the U.S.

“I would bring it back, yes. I would bring it back. I think waterboarding is peanuts compared to what they’d do to us,”

Trump also said he would not rule out a database on all U.S. Muslims. He suggested that there should be systems beyond databases so that the government can track Muslims.

“I definitely want a database and other checks and balances. We want to go with watch lists. We want to go with databases.”

His response to the Paris attacks had garnered criticisms from his GOP rivals as well as others. The systems that Mr. Trump has suggested are thought to be unconstitutional by most legal experts.

[Photo by Scott Olsen/Getty Images]