(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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This man has never demonstrated an atom of statesmanship in his entire being. For the GOP to recognize him as "statesman of the year" demonstrates, first, that Republican accolades are for sale, and second, that the party leadership (another misnomer) places money ahead of integrity. Nice job, folks – you're fired.
To qualify for this award, you must be a blowhard, make continued promises to produce evidence against a President's birthplace and never produce it and have filed at least three (3) executive bankruptcies while all the time denying they exist, even when a liberal, lesbian talk show host produces unimpeachable evidence to the contrary.
And the winner is.....................Donald "Bad Hair Day" Trump!!!
Is anything done by the Republican Party serious? What happened to the "Compassionate Conservative" of the Barry Goldwater era? I voted for Republicans in those days. Were they then, like now, just greedy bigots and I was too young to know better?
So I guess now the conservatives are just making up "heroes" as they go. Is their talent pool so empty of real heroes that they need to create some. Cmon guys. You're giving a guy a reward for absolutely nothing.
They really do worship wealth, don't they? So much for the last shreds of Republican integrity.
Oh, it is a sad state of affairs when this is the best they (GOP) got. I suggest someone there invest in a dictionary and look it up . . . "statesman."
I think it is going to have to be someone from within their own party to "call them on this". They don't care what people on my side say, they turn a deaf ear on any independent voices, but someone in that party is going to have to say "enough" or GOP support will end up a mile deep and an inch wide
Every time I think the Republican Party can't do anything more dumb than they've already done, they prove me wrong. I used to be a Republican. I left the party when W was elected the second time. Apparently my descision was a good one. There are hundreds of thousands of conservatives like me who find what the Republican Party has become to be embarrassing and disappointing. While I am no fan of Obama, the Republican Party is in such dire shape that they will not get my vote or my money.
Thank you, Sarasota GOP! Keep up the good work! You have just made the republican party look like a bunch of clowns by recognizing Donald Trump, "Statesman of the Year"! Not to mention the fact, from the comments I've read, I do believe you have helped convert a few republicans over to the Republican Party!!! Thanks again!
please tell me this is some kind of Monty Python skit! Statesman of the year?? Even some of my most conservative friends can't take this seriously!
He's the very antithesis of a "statesman." It's like giving Assad the Nobel Peace Prize
News flash to the gated communities of Sarasota! " Trump forced his golf course into the Aberdeenshire seaside environment with no regard for the citizens' opposition and then expects to block the construction of an offshore wind farm
because his guests' free view of the ocean-scape would be compromised.
Statesman? He's a menace.
Great. He can join the rest of the carnival barkers,
Donald Trump a STATESMAN?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah
deeeeeeeeeeeeeeep breath...........and............Ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
More like a bad businessman who blew most of his inheritance in bad business deals, then figured out he could just make more money marketing his name than by actually doing anything. But a STATESMAN? Oh, please.
Soneone needs to check the water in Sarasota Florida. There's got to be a bacteria or somethng that causes hullucanations.
WELL! There you got it! This is what the republican party stands for. A bunch of selfish inconsiderate people who care only for themselves and not one bit for the struggling middleclass Americans. The Rupert Murdochs, the Koch Brothers and the 1% who have not today created any jobs for real Americans who have built this country. Why would anyone believe Mitt would create jobs and none of them have yet.
Is there a better example of how out of touch the GOP is?
In corporate workplace lingo it's what they call a 'Dog & Pony Show'. Donald Trump a "Statesman"?...That was so funny I forgot to laugh.
I think that Florida's governor must be putting something in the water down there! Ever since he was elected the most bizarre stories of the day, every day, originate in Florida. Right after they gave Trump the statesman award they gave the humanitarian award to Idi Amin, posthumously, because they couldn't think of anyone living who exhibited his idealism.
You've got to be kidding. This man continues to prove P.T. Barnum's statement, “Nobody ever lost a dollar by underestimating the taste of the American public.” Any attention paid to Trump is a waste.
Obviously I meant to say "Not to mention the fact, from the comments I've read, I do believe you have helped convert a few republicans over to the DEMOCRATIC PARTY!! Sorry for the error!
REALLY CNN! You can do better! What a mis-leading headline! Sarasota Florida? Really? What's so great about that? If he impresses all those old people down there, good for him. Is he relevant for the rest of America? NOPE.
Just another dude with bad hair.
You have got to be kidding! Well I guess it really is just another clear indication of where the Republican mind set is – obviously not on serving the people.
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the Corporate States of America,
And to the Republicans for which it stands,
One Nation, Easily Divisible,
With Liberty and Justice for sale.
You have got to be kidding. I read that and laughed. Then I read it was the Sarasota Republican Commitee and I laughed even harder. I live in Sarasota. Statesman? Everything that comes out of his mouth are lies. He never follows through with anything he boasts about. The birther issue, Running for president. He just likes to hear himself talk. He thinks Obama will start the war in Iran that it would be good for his campaign. Everyone knows it's the Republicans who are beating the war drums . They just can't wait to get us in another war. Maybe the Statesman can use his finesse to fix it.
Psychologists tell us that 4% of the population are sociopaths, totally self-focused individuals without any conscience, and that a full 64% are followers, those led around by the manipulations of others, which leaves only 32% as self-thinking, conscience driven individuals, divided among all the possible biases. When realizing that it then becomes rather easy to understand how “the money” can feel so cocky confident in their ability to spend their mega-millions to successfully con the people and manipulate public opinion. Since the supreme court has ruled to allow “the money” to spend all they want, it is now only possible to compete by spending as much as they do – and “the money” is laughing all the way to the elections.