Michael Moore says Donald Trump 'never actually wanted to be president'

REUTERS/Jonathan Alcorn

Following filmmaker Michael Moore's open letter to Ivanka Trump to convince her father, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, to end his campaign last week, the Oscar winner on Tuesday wrote an op-ed for The Huffington Post, stating that Trump is self-sabotaging his campaign.

"Donald Trump never actually wanted to be president of the United States," Moore wrote. "I know this for a fact."

He believes that, because Trump wasn't happy with his deal on his NBC show "The Celebrity Apprentice," he floated the idea that he'd run for president in the hopes of strengthening his hand in the negotiations.

"Of course he wouldn't really have to RUN for president — just make the announcement, hold a few mega-rallies that would be packed with tens of thousands of fans, and wait for the first opinion polls to come in showing him — what else! — in first place! And then he would get whatever deal he wanted, worth millions more than what he was currently being paid," wrote Moore.

REUTERS/Jonathan AlcornBut, according to Moore, Trump's plan turned out to be a real campaign, as he galvanized those in the Republican Party who were disenfranchised and ended up winning the party's nomination. Moore believes that the latest downfall in the polls by Trump is the businessman's plan to get out of the race.

"Maybe the meltdown of the past three weeks was no accident," wrote Moore. "Maybe it's all part of his new strategy to get the hell out of a race he never intended to see through to its end anyway. Because, unless he is just 'crazy,' the only explanation for the unusual ramping up, day after day, of one disgustingly reckless statement after another is that he's doing it consciously (or subconsciously) so that he'll have to bow out or blame 'others' for forcing him out."

Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton is leading Trump in recent polls in important swing states.

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