Famous conservative Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer, like many elite Republicans, has been dumping all over Donald Trump in the last few weeks. He's called him a "provocateur and clown" who's "unserious." It was a vicious low blow to whip out the bilious "p" word against America's most respected and moral businessman. So Krauthammer was understandably terrified yesterday when his secretary told him that Trump was on the line. As he recounted on Fox News last night:

It was a surprise, and when my secretary told me, I put on a helmet and a flak jacket as I answered the phone. I expected a tirade, which he had every right to do given what I have been saying about him. In fact, he was courteous but very calm, and he made his case, rather than sort of attacking everything I said about him. Simply, he made his case: "I'm a serious businessman, I'm a serious candidate"...I give him credit for the way he conducted himself.

Most newsworthy, though, is the impression Krauthammer took away from his chat with the unserious clown provocateur: He said Trump will "absolutely" launch a bid for the presidency. And let's hope he is! We sure don't want to spend the next year writing posts about Tim Pawlenty.

The other interpretation here is that Trump is just blowing up the scale of his grand hoax. Maybe he fooled Charles Krauthammer. Trump may have tricked the No. 1 conservative columnist in the country into going on teevee to say that Trump's run is the real deal.