(Erik Tanner/Contour by Getty Images) In 1980, a 34-year-old Donald Trump said he didn't want to be president. Politics was a “mean life," he told a TV reporter while sitting in his Fifth Avenue apartment. Three and a half decades -- and a lot of mixed messages -- later, Trump would change his mind and enter what you could argue is one of the meanest campaigns in recent memory. But he spent years wavering about whether to run. And as uncertain as he seemed about entering politics, Trump also gave confusing messages about what he believed, report The Washington Post's Robert Samuels and Shawn Boburg in a great long read, a story based off "Trump Revealed," a book written with more than two dozen Post journalists coming Aug. 23. Trump criticized Ronald Reagan. He embraced Bill Clinton. He was "disgusted" by Bill Clinton and called Ronald Reagan his role model. He changed parties seven times between 1999 and 2012, including a stint to consider a run under the Reform Party. Donald Trump speaking to Larry King in 1999 about the possibility of running for president. (AP Photo/Marty Lederhandler) Donald Trump, Bill Clinton, and Billy Crystal attend a golf charity at Trump National Golf Club in New York in 2008. (Rick Odell/Getty Images) But for a candidate with a history of inconsistencies, Samuels and Boburg also found evidence that Trump has been very consistent on three big themes, themes he reiterated even when he didn't want to run for office: 1) America is on the wrong track, 2) the rest of the world is laughing at us and 3) projecting strength is the answer. Those core beliefs seemed to drive Trump into the "mean life" of politics to seek the White House -- and get closer than most. More than two-thirds of voters ages 18 to 30 say Donald Trump is a racist, writes Mic.com's Emily Cahn. That's according to a new poll conducted GenForward and commissioned by the University of Chicago's Black Youth Project and the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Even 58 percent of young white voters agree with the statement that Trump is a racist: Mic.com / Source: GenForward, made by Graphiq The Fix's take:
It's not just young voters. Even Trump's supporters -- white evangelicals -- say he has a problem with race, writes The Fix's Aaron Blake It's the lowest mark they give him in this new poll from Pew Research Center:
But we question what impact this will have in 2016. So far this election cycle, we haven't seen evidence that Trump's unpopularity is working to Democrats' advantage. The Post's Vanessa Williams and Scott Clement recently analyzed exit polling across 25 states and found this: "African Americans account for a larger share of Democratic primary voters this year than they did in 2008, but that is because of older black voters, not higher participation by younger black people." Speaking of polls! Let's talk everything you ever wanted to know about them (Rob Carr/Getty Images) | 