Why would anyone who's spent much of his professional life laundering money....

[enid602]

.....run for POTUS? Reference both casino bankruptcies, where there were convictions for money laundering. Reference the 2008 sale of the Palm Beach house for $50 Million more than its pre-crash price. The business deals with Sater. The luxury hotel/condo tower in Baiku, and not even in the nice part of Baiku. And if you can't support yourself by any means other than money laundering, why do it on behalf of an adversary state? He either has a lot of hutzpah, or is not too bright.

[NRaleighLiberal]

1. Hubris

[JI7]

2. He is 70 and got away with it his entire life

And he is really really stupid.

Convinced himself he is better than others. Especially the black president.

[wishstar]

3. He has never been held accountable and sees himself as invincible

He has always been able to bluff, bully or buy his way out of every problematic situation and escape legal liability. The temptation of attaining ultimate power and ability to get out of debt was irresistible

[leftyladyfrommo]

7. I am not sure he has any idea what is legal.

He has just never paid any attention to it.

[BigmanPigman]

4. It was a publicity stunt, he didn't expect to win, his ego has no bounds and his IQ

is in the double digits. You can pick any or all of the above.

[enid602]

6. Kids

But you'd think his over protective kids would say daddy you're a crook! They'll skin you alive!

[marylandblue]

10. His kids don't know anything about law either, and never faced consequences for anything

[progressoid]

12. Exactly. They live in the same bubble.

[smirkymonkey]

5. Both.

He has a lot of chutzpah AND he's not too bright.

He's also as arrogant as fuck and thinks he is invincible because he has gotten away with it for so long. He didn't realize how out of his league he was and saw no need to curtail his former behavior. He really thinks he is above the law and the rules that normal human beings have to play by.

[bdjhawk]

8. I have wondered the same thing myself

Sometimes people live lies for so long, they forget they are lies. Other parties kept him in business to do their dirty work but he believes he was the mastermind behind his empire.

Or maybe his handlers just (correctly) figured out that there was so much hidden hatred toward women and minorities that those voters would overlook the bankruptcies, convictions, etc and vote him in.

And the way he acts like a mafia "don" expecting to bark orders and get his way all of the time, he no doubt thought he could order the DoJ to back down from any investigation into his business dealings so his past would never come under the spotlight.

[enid602]

9. Fred

But even Fred Trump probably knew on some level that he couldn't run for dog catcher in Queens, given his checkered past. So ol' Fred stuck to what he was good at, and became a rich slumlord.

[marylandblue]

11. Fred Trump was the smart businessman that Donald wishes he could be

[hunter]

13. No, Fred was scum too.

Child abuse is generational. The abused become the abusers.

[marylandblue]

14. Yes he is scum, but he is the one who made the family fortune

[enid602]

15. Sister

Interesting to note that tRumpd's sister Maryanne, the smart one who became a judge is now listed as a billionaire, as she just reinvested her share of Fred's estate. I'll bet she was the favored child. And now poor tRump will most likely end up a laughingstock and penniless.

[hunter]

17. And his kid pissed it all away...

... trying to claw it all back as a money launderer and "Realty TV" star.

[enid602]

19. Gates

And that's got to be eating away at tRump. Knowing he's failed spectacularly, despite having had so many advantages. He's just a failure, like ol' Fred no doubt predicted. And with the armies of investigators and lawyers now at the gates.

[Tatiana]

16. He didn't have a choice. The Russians forced him to.

Putin decided to deploy the asset they had cultivated for so long.

Trump and his family are in so much debt to Russian oligarchs/thugs that he had to go along with what Putin wants. Hence, why he refuses to say anything negative about Russia and why he attacks the Congress of his own country while sympathizing with a nation that attacked us via cyberwarfare.

He was bought and paid for by Russia. Putin owns him.

[enid602]

22. Putin

And sadly, Putin does not wish tRump well... he just wants to bring chaos to the House of tRump and to the USA. I hope that if we finally get a sane government, it will make regime change in Russia the top priority.

[lostnfound]

18. Because he truly deeply cares about the poor. Really.

He is sacrificing it all, for the sake of some poor deplorable who he would never let into his hotel in a million years

[malaise]

20. He has both

Why is he now blaming Congress for his Russia problems?

He just had to be president by any means necessary. He trumps the United States. That is some level of madness. He has to go.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

21. It seemed like a good idea at the time.

Keep in mind he's not really all that bright, has the intellectual curiosity of a turnip, and thinks that being President is simply another reality show like "The Apprentice".

And then millions of people thought he was the best thing since sliced bread, and there you have it.

Any fucking with the election is really beside the point. He decided to run for President because he has an ego the size of the Andromeda Galaxy and has been surrounded by people his entire life who tell him how wonderful he is, how smart, such a great businessman, and so on. Plus, some women are willing to put up with him because he can provide them with all the trappings of wealth. I suspect he can't even get it up any more, probably hasn't in years. So the sex is nonexistent these days. Anyway, he ran because he could, not because he expected to win, certainly not at first. But his utter shamelessness and willingness to say anything at all carried him a long way, long enough to outlast the stupidly overcrowded Republican primary field.

And thence into the Oval Office.