Trump Withdraws From Presidential Race. Declares Victory

By Art Gallagher

The Donald announced that he won’t be a candidate for President and that he will continue as the star and co-producer of Celebrity Apprentice raising “lots and lots of money for charity.”

He then said he would have won the Oval Office had he run.

With Trump and Mike Huckabee both out, the race for the 2012 GOP nomination will be a lot less entertaining. Time will tell if that is good or bad. Entertaining gets people to pay attention.

I don’t believe Trump was ever serious about seeking the nomination. Yet I liked the role he was playing. He, more than anyone was able to lay a glove on Obama. He got under the candidate in chief’s skin. Taking politically incorrect positions actually helped Trump’s agenda. He created room for “real” candidates to take on the President.

If he had his druthers I think Trump would have played the gadfly through the summer. But NBC needed to let their affiliates know if Celebrity Apprentice was going to be back on the air in the fall. The Donald made the business decision he was always going to make.

Hopefully Trump will continue to speak out. He can do the country a service positioning himself as a conservative counter punch to Michael Moore and his ilk.