Guy Molinari, the former congressman, borough president and longtime Staten Island political powerbroker called the real estate magnate turned reality television star "a son of a bitch--and you can quote me on that" during a brief interview earlier this week. The Politicker caught up with Molinari before a town hall hosted by Michael Grimm, a Molinari protege who was elected to Congress last fall.

"He is creating so many problems for us and for the legitimate candidates," Molinari said. "He is not qualified."

Molinari said he was holding out hope that his friend Rudy Giuliani would run again.

Of Trump, he said, "It becomes a game to him. He is enjoying the game."

Molinari said he clashed with the developer when he served as Staten Island BP. Molinari however seemed to be unconcerned about the prospects of a President Trump. Or even a candidate Trump, for that matter.

"He will not run," Molinari said. "He will absolutely not run."

"Donald's from Brooklyn," Schumer explained. (But wait, isn't he from Queens?)

"I used to see his father driving the Cadillac that said 'FT' down Ocean Parkway when I was playing on the street," Schumer reminisced. (Trump's father was named Fred Christ Trump.) "So I'm not going to be critical of Donald Trump. All I say is, as a Democrat, the more Republicans in the primary, the merrier."

Of course, Trump has also donated money to Schumer's campaigns over the years. When asked if he thought that Trump would run, the senator kept mum.

"You'll have to ask him," he said.

"I'm really honored and I'm really proud that I was able to do something that nobody else could do," Trump said.

Then he seemed ready to move on from a controversy that he had done much to stoke.

"Hopefully when I sit down to interviews people don't start talking about birth certificate, birth certificate, like they've been doing.  So I feel like I've accomplished something really really important and I am honored by it," he said.

Trump held court for nearly 30 minutes, and proves unsurprisingly adept at ducking questions.

Note: Trump is the father in-law of the Observer's publisher, Jared Kushner.

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The news was reported this morning by the New Hampshire Union Leader.

Last month, Giuliani spoke to the local G.O.P.'s Lincoln-Reagan Dinner, but aides were careful to characterize that visit as repaying some old debts to friends and supporters.

But the next visit would seem to give a greater indication that Giuliani is still seriously considering the race. The parties hosted by Lamontagne, who lost a Senate bid last year, are expressly designed to host potential presidential candidates. Tim Pawlenty and Rick Santorum have already attended events there; Herman Cain is doing one next week; and Newt Gingrich is booked for later in May.

In his remarks last month, Giuliani promised he had learned a lesson from his disastrous 2008 run, and assured the crowd that--if he were to run again--he would engage in the kind of down-home retail campaigning New Hampshirites have come to expect. Last time around, he effectively pulled out of the state and finished a distant fourth.

Not surprisingly, his New York City donations skew even more toward Democrats, and again, reflect a certain pragmatism more than any discernible political ideology.

Since the 1989 election cycle--which began counting in November of 1985--Trump has given $137,894 to city candidates, with all but about $11,000 going to local Democrats.

One of the smallest, but most noticeable contributions--in light of recent events--was Trump's $150 contribution to the re-election campaign of Councilman Anthony Weiner in 1997.

Perhaps the two had more in common back then.

In his 2000 campaign book, The America We Deserve, Trump endorsed a single-payer healthcare system, which has been one of Congressman Weiner's favorite issues over the last few years.

Since then, Weiner has moved on to Congress and become a champion of the fighting left, and Trump has become a reality show host and Birther Republican candidate for president--personas which now bring them into conflict.

Weiner wasn't the only liberal future member of Congress to receive Trump money. Carolyn Maloney got $1,000 for her Council re-election in 1989. And Jerrold Nadler got $500 for his unsuccessful run for city comptroller that same year.

But, as he did at the state level--where he contributed to three different attorney general candidates last year--the casino baron hedged his bets.

Former congresswoman, Liz Holtzman, received a total of $7,000 running against Nadler that year, a race she eventually won.

Trump seems to have a special place in his heart for comptrollers, giving liberally to Alan Hevesi and Bill Thompson during their years as the city's chief financial officer. Trump's largest contributions were to Harrison Goldin, the comptroller who served from 1974 to 1989.

Trump gave him a combined $20,229 on November 1, 1985--money which officially went toward Goldin's run for mayor four years later. In 1988, Trump gave Goldin another $3,000.

But he also gave to David Dinkins' mayoral campaign in 1989, to the tune of $2,250 dollars. And just in case, he gave to the Republican, Rudy Giuliani, too: a $3,000 check in April of 1989.

Of course, Dinkins won that race. Trump gave $5,500 to the mayor's re-election effort in 1993, with zero contributions to Giuliani.

But Giuliani won the re-match that fall, and by the next spring, Trump was a Giuliani backer again, donating $5,000 in April of 1994. He added another $2,700 in the succeeding years, and an extra $500 to Giuliani deputy Fran Reiter.

With Giuliani limited to two terms, and Michael Bloomberg financing his own campaign, Trump gave to a few Democrats in the 2001 mayor's race. He contributed to Hevesi's campaign back in 1999, and chipped in a couple thousand to Peter Vallone, Sr., but saved most of his money until after the Democratic primary. In the weeks leading to the run-off between Mark Green and Freddy Ferrer, Trump gave more than $6,000 to Ferrer. After the run-off, Trump gave $4,500 to Green, in late October, a few weeks before he was defeated by Michael Bloomberg.

In the years leading up to the 2005 race, he sprinkled a little money around to Council Speaker Gifford Miller and Borough President Virginia Fields, but mostly sat out the campaign's stretch run, save for a couple of $1,000 donations to Bill Thompson's comptroller campaign.

A few more Thompson contributions counted toward the comptroller's '09 mayoral campaign (though they were made in 2005 and 2006), but Trump otherwise sat out the mayoral race. His last contribution to any city candidate was $4,950 to Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz back in 2007.

A spokesperson for Trump did not return a request for comment.

Below is a spreadsheet with all of Trump's local donations. (Note that the first on the list, to Ruben Diaz Jr., is actually from Trump's son, Donald Jr.)

Trump NYC Donations

Two weeks after Ms. Rice lost the Democratic primary, Mr. Trump bet $5,000 on the Republican candidate for attorney general, Dan Donovan, a social conservative who was being advanced by Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Two weeks after that donation, Mr. Trump hedged the bet and gave $12,500 to Mr. Donovan's opponent, Eric Schneiderman, who had positioned himself as the most-left-leaning candidate in a field of progressive Democrats, running on a platform of staunch support for gun control, organized labor, and a woman's right to choose. (Last week, Mr. Trump said he became pro-life "years ago.")

Mr. Schneiderman turned out to be the jackpot, winning with 55 percent of the vote.

Mr. Trump's habit of making high-roller bets in a given race isn't new, and his New York donations seem to favor gambling on the candidate with the best odds at the expense of any deep-seated political convictions. Since 1999, Mr. Trump has given nearly $400,000 to New York Democrats and a little less than $200,000 to New York Republicans--a contradiction that Mr. Trump will have to address if he actually hopes to convince Republican primary voters that he's one of them.

But in New York, some are defending Mr. Trump's pragmatic donor philosophy. "There's nothing wrong with that," said Carl Paladino, the Buffalo real estate developer and last year's Republican gubernatorial nominee, who like Mr. Trump was criticized for contributing to Democrats like Hillary Clinton and Chuck Schumer, who are generally considered anathema to most die-hard Republicans. "I have to agree with him on that. You give money to people who are going to go out there and do that job," said Mr. Paladino. "Republican, Democrat--it doesn't matter. I had them throwing that at me, too; same crap." Mr. Paladino easily won the G.O.P. nomination despite these and other controversies.

"You can accuse me of the same thing. I'm a New York businessman," said John Catsimatidis, the billionaire supermarket magnate who donated heavily to Bill and Hillary Clinton, as well as to Republicans. "I support both sides, too. So, am I a Democrat? Am I a Republican? I'm the same businessman Donald Trump is."

(Mr. Catsimatidis is also embracing Mr. Trump's other policies, including expressing skepticism over President Obama's citizenship. "I probably believe that he is a citizen," Mr. Catsimatidis said, but he speculated there is "probably something on the birth certificate he doesn't want people to know about ... Maybe the birth certificate says he's a Muslim and he doesn't want people to know about it.")

In the 2006 AG's race, Mr. Trump donated $20,000 to the coffers of Republican Jeanine Pirro, a few months before he started giving to Andrew Cuomo, who went on to win, with a little more than $20,000 in Mr. Trump's cash.

In March of 2008, with control of the State Senate suddenly up for grabs, Mr. Trump gave $50,000 to the Senate Republican Campaign Committee, which was trying desperately to retain a thin majority. But, a few months later, he also gave $55,000 to the State Democratic Committee, whose party still controlled the Assembly and the governor's mansion.

Throughout 2009, even after officially registering as a Republican, Mr. Trump kept giving to Mr. Cuomo's ostensible reelection bid, while also sprinkling money on David Paterson's gubernatorial campaign--with a $5,000 donation in January of 2010, just before the governor's prospects finally imploded. (After that, it was all Cuomo.)

A top adviser to Mr. Trump, Michael Cohen, referred questions to Mr. Trump's main office. A message left there was not returned.

One Democrat who received a donation from Mr. Trump--Democratic Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz--said he recalled facing off against the young real estate tycoon when he was managing his father's property's in southern Brooklyn.

"His father wouldn't meet with us," said Mr. Markowitz--then an organizer with the Flatbush Tenants Council. He said he met the younger Trump only a handful of times, but recalled, "He was charming and tough-assed."

But even those who share common ground with Mr. Trump question his electability, particularly when much of his public persona consists of relieving people of their employment on national television in the midst of a recession. "Anyone who has that smirk on their face when they fire people on TV," said Mr. Paladino of his fellow real estate developer-turned-Tea Party stalwart, "I think that leaves a lasting impression on people."

apaybarah@observer.com