Donald Trump Is Totally Serious This Time, He Swears

AMHERST, N.H.—For a few hours on Thursday night, the home of Republican New Hampshire state Representative Stephen Stepanak was enveloped by a reality distortion field. Outside, in most of the state and country, the latest Donald Trump for President movement was an obvious joke. He'd played the media in 1987, and 1999, and 2007 (sort of), and 2011. No more. "We feel that the prospect of Congress changing the Constitution to allow newborn deer to be eligible to become president of the United States is an idea that is 1,000 times more worthy of serious, intellectual consideration than a Donald Trump candidacy," wrote Jason Linkins in the Huffington Post.

Yet to approach to Stepanak's home, a Trump-sized manse at the intersection of two off-roads, was to find one's way blocked by irregularly parked cars. Stepanak had tried to cap the (free) event at 200 people. On Wednesday, when the Manchester Union Leader confirmed that Trump had set up an exploratory committee, the invitation and request lists swelled. By game time, around 350 were crammed into the house. All wore white stickers with "TRUMP" printed on them in a sort of gold color. More than 100 of the attendees, according to Stepanak, were Republican state legislators.