Bill Maher Loses Bet As Trump Drops Out: Half a Week’s Salary (+Steaks) Go To Letterman
Damn, just when mocking was getting good.
Donald Trump has decided against running for the White House in 2012.
Bringing wonderfully unneeded baffoonery into the Republican presidential primary as a possible contender, the man who actually calls himself “The Donald” has bowed out because “ultimately…business is my greatest passion and I am not ready to leave the private sector.”
“This decision does not come easily or without regret”, Trump added, “especially when my potential candidacy continues to be validated by ranking at the top of the Republican contenders in polls across the country.”
Which basically means he realized that he screwed up royally, has no platform, and no one would vote for him anyways. George Takei of Star Trek fame has his own take:
I was actually eager to see if Trump had the fortitude to mount a comeback after his thorough beating by SNL’s Seth Meyers and President Obama at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
Oh Trump, we hardly knew you.
From ABCNews
After a roller-coaster flirtation with a presidential bid, Donald Trump bowed out of the 2012 contest in true Trump fashion, saying that while he would not be a candidate this year, if he had run, he would have been able to win the primary and the general election.
“I maintain the strong conviction that if I were to run, I would be able to win the primary and ultimately, the general election,” Trump said in a statement. “I have spent the past several months unofficially campaigning and recognize that running for public office cannot be done half heartedly. Ultimately, however, business is my greatest passion and I am not ready to leave the private sector.”
Trump, who had contemplated running for president in years past, seemed poised take the plunge this year. He even had a tentative date set for a campaign announcement: May 25 in the atrium of Trump Tower in New York City.
According to Trump aides, the real estate mogul and reality television mogul had even settled on campaign consultants to help streer his potential presidential bid. Trump had already made two visits to New Hampshire within the last month and had a series of events planned in that state and in Iowa over the next few weeks.
In the end, however, his decision almost certainly had more to do with his lucrative NBC television contract for his “Apprentice” franchise than anything else. Trump was running out of time to decide whether he would sign on for another season of the “Celebrity Apprentice.” Sources close to Trump said negotiations ran to the 11th hours with reports of Trump on hourly calls with NBC executives throughout the weekend who were trying to convince Trump to continue to helm the show.
As an addendum, it looks like David Letterman isn’t the only one cashing in on Donald’s duck.
