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 LAS VEGAS — Donald Trump, dressed in his uniform of a navy blue suit and pale pink tie, paused in the middle of a casino floor here to crow. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 The crowd of people waiting upstairs to hear him speak, he announced, had far outstripped even the rosiest predictions. 
 
 “They were expecting 600,” he said, turning to no one in particular. “They got 1,200.” 
 
 After a short elevator ride up to a ballroom at the Treasure Island hotel, he abruptly revised both figures. “They were expecting 400,” he said, “and they got 1,450.” 
 
 He smiled broadly and stretched out his arms, as if preparing to hand out an award (possibly to himself). “Who else gets this crowd?” he asked. 
 
 Mr. Trump — developer, salesman, TV star and casino operator — has a long and rich history in Las Vegas, a city whose ample doses of glamour, swagger and kitsch seem to rival, and occasionally, complement, his own. 
 
 On Thursday, he brought his colorful, quasi campaign for president here, offering an audience of local Republicans an evening of punchy one-liners, a variety of expletives and his trademark self-confidence. 
 
 Energized by — and clearly still relishing the attention from — President Obama’s release of his full birth certificate, after weeks of pummeling by Mr. Trump, the developer broadened his critique of the White House. 
 
 He characterized Mr. Obama’s policy in Libya as incoherent, suggested that the president had failed to take sufficient action on rising gas prices and repeatedly mocked Mr. Obama’s health care overhaul. 
 
 “Obamacare,” Mr. Trump said, to loud applause, “is a disaster.” 
 
 At times, however, it seemed Mr. Trump was delivering less of a coherent speech than a series of carefully crafted zingers. 
 
 On Obama’s decision to host the president of China at the White House: “When people are screwing you, you don’t give them state dinners.” 
 
 On the military coalition in Libya today: “France wanted to go in first, and, of course, we have not seen them since.” 
 
 On his own topsy-turvy personal life: “I am a lover, not a fighter. You have been reading about that for years.” 
 
 Mr. Trump, who said he will decide by June whether he will actually run for president, is no stranger to this city of gambling, showgirls and buffets. He built a hotel-condominium in Las Vegas in 2008 that, perhaps better than any in the world, showcases his obsession with size (it is the tallest residential building in town), wealth (its windows are coated with 24-karat gold) and competitiveness (it is located a block from Steve Wynn’s self-tribute, the Wynn Las Vegas). 
 
 Given the ambiguous motivations behind Mr. Trump’s presidential exploration — is it a TV-ratings ploy, a marketing campaign, an ego trip? — it was perhaps fitting that Mr. Trump’s Las Vegas trip doubled as a social call. 
 
 Aides to Mr. Trump said he planned to attend a lavish, three-day wedding this weekend for Mr. Wynn on Friday. (Mr. Trump is staying — where else? — at the gold-flecked Trump International Hotel Las Vegas, in the building’s best suite.) 
 
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 Thursday night’s event oozed with Trumpian excess: there were huge platters of tuna tartare on crispy wonton chips, roast beef tenderloin crostini and lobster medallions with mango salsa. 
 
 Guests made liberal use of an open bar, at the center of which stood a four-foot-tall ice sculpture with the word “TRUMP” etched into the middle. 
 
 “Very Donald-esque,” said a 50-something man who loaded up two plates with food. 
 
 As Mr. Trump entered, the crowd erupted into chants of “Trump, Trump, Trump.” 
 
 But Republicans in the room, while thoroughly unified in their displeasure with President Obama, seemed genuinely split over both the seriousness and wisdom of a Trump candidacy. 
 
 Mary Fatzinger, the treasurer of a local Tea Party group, said she had already voted for Mr. Trump in online straw polls and was “praying that he runs for president.” America, she said, desperately needed his business acumen and political candor. An avowed Obama foe, she added: “We need to take our country back.” 
 
 Sipping a drink from the bar, Tony Liker, a one-time candidate for the Las Vegas City Council, dismissed Mr. Trump’s exploration of a presidential run as a publicity stunt. “I just think he’s trying to hype up his show.” 
 
 Even as Mr. Trump upbraided the country’s leadership, he reserved his greatest scorn for a New York landmark. He told the crowd he was tired of returning from Asia, where the bridges make the George Washington Bridge look like a “toy.” 
 
 “You come home,” he said, “and we are like a third world nation. You land at La Guardia. It’s broken, it’s dirty. I don’t mind going over potholes in my car. I don’t like doing it in a plane.” ||||| Real estate developer Donald Trump unleashed a tirade of profanity in a speech at a boisterous Las Vegas casino as he assured a crowd of adoring supporters Thursday night that he is seriously weighing a presidential run and will make a decision soon. 
 
 Donald Trump speaks to a crowd of 600 people during a gathering of Republican women's groups, Thursday, April 28, 2011, in Las Vegas. Trump's flirtation with a White House bid continued Thursday night... (Associated Press) 
 
 Donald Trump speaks to a crowd of 600 people during a gathering of Republican women's groups, Thursday, April 28, 2011, in Las Vegas. Trump's flirtation with a White House bid continued Thursday night... (Associated Press) 
 
 Donald Trump speaks to a crowd of 600 people during a gathering of Republican women's groups, Thursday, April 28, 2011, in Las Vegas. Trump's flirtation with a White House bid continued Thursday night... (Associated Press) 
 
 Donald Trump greets supporters before speaking to a crowd of 600 people during a gathering of Republican women's groups, Thursday, April 28, 2011, in Las Vegas. Trump's flirtation with a White House bid... (Associated Press) 
 
 Donald Trump speaks to a crowd of 600 people during a gathering of Republican women's groups, Thursday, April 28, 2011, in Las Vegas. Trump's flirtation with a White House bid continued Thursday night... (Associated Press) 
 
 During a 30-minute stump speech focused mostly on foreign affairs, Trump sprinkled in a number of insults directed toward the nation's leaders. 
 
 "Our leaders are stupid, they are stupid people," he said. "It's just very, very sad." 
 
 The setting was fitting for the casino mogul whose moniker is draped across the gold-tinged Trump International Hotel & Tower just off the Las Vegas Strip. An open bar greeted more than 1,000 people, waiters passed hors d'oeuvres and a Trump impersonator entertained the crowd. 
 
 At one point, a woman in the lavish reception at the Treasure Island casino on the Las Vegas Strip yelled out that Trump should run for president. 
 
 "I think I am going to make you very happy," the developer said. 
 
 But he later said: "There is a really good chance that I won't win because of one of these blood-sucking politicians." 
 
 Trump blasted President Barack Obama's handling of Libya, Iraq, China and Afghanistan, and in one of his many curse-bombs, he lamented the nation's focus on building schools in war-torn Afghanistan, while neglecting education in the United States. 
 
 He said he wouldn't help struggling nations such as South Korea or Libya without payment and promised to use swear words while negotiating with China. 
 
 "I'm not interested in protecting none of them unless they pay," he said. 
 
 A frequent critic of the federal health care law passed last year, Trump said the Supreme Court should decide the dozens of lawsuits challenging the legislation and urged district courts not to waste their time on it. 
 
 Trump has created waves by questioning whether the president was born in the U.S. Obama produced his detailed Hawaii birth certificate on Wednesday, and Trump eagerly took credit for the reveal. 
 
 Trump's visit to Nevada came a day after he traveled to New Hampshire, which is set to host the first presidential primary in 2012. Nevada's caucus is scheduled to be the third presidential contest next year. 
 
 Trump hosts the successful reality series "The Celebrity Apprentice" on NBC. 
 
 "I would have to give a lot of stuff up," he told the casino crowd Thursday. "But you know what? It is peanuts compared to the importance of this country."
– A jubilant Donald Trump assured a crowd of supporters in Las Vegas last night that he'll make a decision on a White House run soon—and his choice will make them "very happy." Trump, in an expletive-packed speech focusing mainly on foreign affairs, called the nation's leaders "stupid people" and crowed about the release of President Obama's birth certificate, reports AP." He did it because we went after him hard," Trump said. "We're tough negotiators like this country needs." Trump told the crowd at the Treasure Island casino that America should take over the oil fields in Iraq and Libya, and demand payment for protecting other countries. "While we're spending billions of dollars being policemen of the world, China is spending billions of dollars a day buying the world," he said. Trump got plenty of cheers, but the Republican crowd seemed split over how serious he really is about a presidential bid, the New York Times notes.