I would say the article is accurate, I don't know about the details. I've read biographies & seen documentaries about Trump and they seem inline. In 2012 Trump was going to run but he thought the time wasn't right for his type of politics, and he was right, so he endorsed Romney instead.
Trump wouldn't have beat Obama,who was far more popular than Hillary and Biden.
Trump wasn't serious about running in 2012 or 2016.Gwen Stefini had become the highest paid TV star in 2015.Trumps 2016 run started as a bluff to make NBC make him the highest paid TV.When idiots started to take him serious and he grew in the polls he decided to stick with it.