Donald Trump is a "clean hands freak." Handshaking is "barbaric." These are Trump's words. But he'd reportedly endure this barbarity to run for president. Of course he would. Ambition trumps.

And he's Trump. So he thinks he can be president. Trump is "seriously" considering a bid. And the media is suddenly taking Trump seriously.

We can picture Trump's favorite trope on the stump: President Obama "you're fired." But Trump won't be hired.

Polls do hint otherwise. Trump tied Mike Huckabee for second, among potential 2012 GOP candidates. President Obama only narrowly led Trump in an earlier poll, 43 to 41, respectively. Thus the media ponders President Trump.

Trump is characteristically American. He brands buildings with his name. He constructs gaudy, gold-trimmed properties that, like him, scream wealth. He is the unapologetic hyper-capitalist. The industrious showman who proves there are second acts in American life.

But Trump's the apprentice in politics. There has not been a president without any political experience since Dwight Eisenhower. And five-star generals are able politicians. Trump's biography, by contrast, connotes a mastery of self-promotion and business savvy. Ike led the invasion at Normandy. Trump's legions invaded the Atlantic City boardwalk (and not so successfully).

Some Trump fans note that Ronald Reagan was an actor. But Reagan was also a two-term governor of California and was heavily involved in this nation's political discourse for two decades before occupying the Oval Office. Trump is not involved in politics. He's involved in the presidency.

Trump considered a run in 2000. But between 2000 and today, he's been involved in himself and his business. He cares about this country. But Trump has not cared enough to engage the policies and politics that shape it. Republicans rebuked Obama in 2008 for his relative inexperience. Trump has also criticized Obama as a political upstart. Yet Trump has no political experience.

Trump's not a political hotshot. He's simply a hotshot. It's apt to Trump and our time. He wants to be president because he's Trump. That should trump political experience. He's not the greatest businessman. But he is, perhaps, the most famous. He's famous for being Trump. And, in his view, that fame qualifies him for the presidency.

Yet what should we make of Trump the businessman? He's the builder of billions. A best-selling author. The star of ''The Apprentice." He's the billionaire who wants to lead America out of debt. But he's also intimately familiar with debt. "I don't like the B word," Trump said in a New Jersey bankruptcy courtroom last year. Trump businesses have declared multiple bankruptcies.

But Trump remains synonymous with dollar signs. "Money, money, money" went the lyrics, as Trump took the stage a conservative conference in February. Here was the other Trump. His appeal demonstrably more than capitalism. Trump said Obama "came out of nowhere." That won applause. But he said far more.

Trump nailed China for manipulating its currency. Said America needs someone who calls OPEC and demands the price of oil "lower fast." He spoke about blasting Somali pirates "out of the water." If he runs and wins, "this country will be respected again."

This is Trump the nationalist. He won a standing ovation that day. It's a tactic that can carry Trump far. It's the Trump people also like, unabashedly candid. He has a talent for voicing American economic anxiety.

Trump is the populist plutocrat who hates touching people. The billionaire with an everyman demeanor. His Gallup favorable rating is strongest among Americans with a partial college education. Trump personifies the American dream. He explains Americans admiration of wealth. A regular guy billionaire. (Never mind familial help.) You too could be Trump. It's easy to smile at Trump enjoying his wealth. It's how many Americans would, if they could.

Yet Trump's sympathies with the people know bounds, and that's money. Shortly after the 2008 financial crash, Trump tried to avoid paying a $40 million Deutsche Bank debt for a construction loan he personally guaranteed. Trump argued that the crisis invoked ''force majeure,'' otherwise known as the "act of God" clause. A New York Times reporter asked Trump whether buyers of his condos could also walk away from their obligations because of the crisis? ''They don't have a force majeure clause,'' Trump replied.

But Republicans respect the shrewd capitalist. And there's less to bother social conservatives as well. There are three Mrs. Trumps. But Trump also claims to have never smoked a cigarette, drank alcohol or had coffee. Last time Trump considered a presidential bid he supported abortion rights. He's now against abortion and gay marriage.

Trump's also become a birther. He's taken up the conspiracy theory that Obama was not born in the United States. And he's recently taken that theory to the "Today" show, "Morning Joe" and conservative media icons like Laura Ingraham.

Trump already had name recognition. Now he's a presidential antagonist. Trump hits Obama where few GOP contenders dare. That publicity cocktail bolsters Trump's polling. But early polls are as superficial as Trump's barometer for success. Remember Democratic nominee Joe Lieberman. Or President John Glenn. Glenn was defeating Ronald Reagan in head-to-head matchups at this point in 1983.

Trump has never won an election. John Glenn quickly learned that celebrity can only take you so far. Glenn was stiff. Glenn was also a real American hero, a senator, he personified Middle America. But Glenn got 3 percent in the Iowa caucuses and 12 percent in New Hampshire. Trump could only hope to do so well.