(CNN) – Business mogul Donald Trump will be recognized as the 2012 Statesman of the Year by the Sarasota, Florida, Republican Party the day before the Republican National Convention opens in Tampa next month.
Tickets for the August 26 dinner go as high as $1,000 per person, which include a private meet-and-greet with Trump, according to an invitation flyer for the event.
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Trump has endorsed the presidential run of presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney, though Trump's repeated questioning of President Barack Obama's birthplace and birth certificate have overshadowed events where they have appeared together.
Trump initially flirted with his own run for the presidency, but dropped out of the field in the spring.
He has appeared this year at state-level Republican Party events, such as a fundraiser for the North Carolina GOP last month, where he stood by his so-called "birther" comments and said waging war with Iran may be "good politics" for the incumbent.
Rep. Vern Buchanan, who is the subject of four federal and Congressional investigations into his business practices, has donated at least $15,000 in conjunction with the event, according to the August invitation. Buchanan is the head of fundraising for the National Republican Congressional Committee, which works to elect Republicans to Congress.
- CNN's Steve Brusk and Gregory Wallace contributed to this report
From CNN Politics
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Last chance for America and Freedom........DUH................TRUMP!!!
Has the GOP crossed over into La-La Land totally? I miss the old days when they were just stupid every so often!!!
What a joke...nothing more needs to be said.
@zisee
Yeah, Trump earned his money after filing bankruptcy several times and the banks bailed him out at taxpayers expense. Incidentally, did you get any of it back and if so please tell me how and where to file to get mine back. Remember taxpayers are always suppose to get returns on "bailout money". This guy is in the 1% so he pays almost nothing in taxes.
Statesmen of the year?! Who is giving out this award? Trump himself? The man is a racist birther and an embarrassment.
Good, we need a straight shooter like Trump. he dosnt need your piddling millions in re-election funds, he cant be bought (like the kennedys refusal to take funds from questionable sources). hate his hair, but love his directness. you wont find anyone else with more balls and Mitt would do well to make him Vice President. At the very least, he can afford his own jet air travel to engagements.
Hey Trump, how's your birther movement coming along now-a-days? President Obama has shown his birth certificate, yet you are still raising questions about the President's birthplace! Well, I have a suggestion...Can you please show us your videotape of President Obama's mother giving birth to him in Kenya? Perhaps your videotape of this live birth will clarify things once and for all! Sucker!
Let's all relax. I can call Hitler a humanitarian. The GOP in Sarasota can call Trump a statesman. Even republicans don't like Trump.
Statesman of the year?!! LOL you guys are whacked!!
In additional to being a racist – clearly shown when he tried to prove that our first black president wasn't a citizen, Donald Trump is an incompetent pig. He has bankrupted four companies, his sons hunt, with his permission, endangered species, and he is a disgusting example of what it means to be a human being.
We must get the Trump name out of New York City. We have a great city and the Trump is a blight on our skyline.
Somebody tapped into an Onion headline and thought it was real.
zisee.......you are truly an 'interesting' person......
And don't take that as a compliment.
GOP laundering money back to the top 1% again with awards.
And the "Dumbness Award of the Year" goes to....M Bachmann, ah no....S Palin, ah no again....H Cain, no still not quite there yet... Got it! "Blowfish" Trump... Well, almost..it really goes to the Repugnicant party for this ridiculous distinction. "Statesman of the Year"? Are you really THAT insane? How can anybody with half a brain consider this preposterous claim? Does the Republican party even know what a "Statesmen" is? Huntsman is a statesman, and he got 1% of the Repug primary vote. The Donald is a blowfish.
sorry zisee Trump inherited his money, yes he made money, he also declared some bankruptcies. Just what has he ever done has a statesman, unless you count being the leader of that extreme false the birther movement.
I nominate Donald Trump for Secretary of Foreign Affairs. Statesman of the Year seems to be a stretch, unless you figure that of all the Republicans, Trump has done the most. Ah, now that makes sense!
I don't understand how this man goes bankrupt four times and gets credit for being a genius and to think some idiots wanted him to Run for President. He's the poster child for the double standard the wealthy have in this country, His companies took on more than they could chew four times, four times and they ended up renegotiating or screwing over thier debtors. If you owned stock in his casino Company you lost 99% of what you owned. Yet this clown can do this again and again. Millions of Americans same situation with their mortgages some took on more than they can chew, some lost equity, you name it but there is no renegotiating for them. Don't celebrate this guy, as americans we have very short attention spans we forget and forgive to easily but this guy should not be celebrated in any way
There is new proof that Donald Trump is not a citizen of the United States.
Mayor Bloomberg please force Trump to remove his name from his buildings.
He is an embarrassment to the great city of New York.