The Apprentice  

The SMH reports that Donald Trump is following in Sarah Palin's footsteps as the latest Republican joke candidate for President - and he wants Libya's oil - Newsmaker: Donald Trump . Finding a decent wig is probably also a high priority for him.

By this stage of his career it should be easy to dismiss Donald Trump as a TV huckster and failed real estate tycoon with a fraudulent shock of hair and an unnerving sense of self-belief. ...

Trump first agitated for high office in 2000, when he considered putting his hand up for the Reform Party, an after-thought of the independent Ross Perot's two failed presidential bids. Back then Trump cast himself as a pro-business liberal, going so far as to advocate for a once-only 14.25 per cent tax on personal estates and trusts to help retire the national debt.

Trump was pro-choice and supported universal healthcare. This time around Trump is anti-abortion, anti-gun control and anti-foreign aid.

He has aligned himself with the howling fringe of America's dissolute far right, the Birthers. These conspiracy theorists believe Barack Obama was born in Kenya, not Hawaii, and that his presidency is invalid. (The release and endorsement of Obama's birth certificate by Hawaii's health director only seemed to inflame the mob.)

But it is Trump's recent declarations on foreign affairs that have excited the crazies and left many in America desperately hoping that Trump has simply hijacked their nation's grand democratic traditions as part of a low-rent publicity stunt.

''With respect to Libya, I'm interested in Libya if we take the oil. If we don't take the oil, no interest,'' he told Fox News this week, prompting the question, ''How do you think that would impact our relationship with other Arab nations if we go in and say, hey we're taking all the oil?''

''Who cares?'' squawked Trump. ''Who cares? They've been taking advantage of us for years.''