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BREAKING: Donald Trump Begins Not Running for President

By James Poniewozik | @poniewozik | February 11, 2011 | +

Donald Trump is perhaps the most successful Presidential noncandidate our political system has ever produced. You may recall when he illustriously didn’t run for President in 1988 after fanning much media speculation that he would. He followed that up by dramatically not running for President with Ross Perot’s Reform Party in 2000. Now a dozen years have gone by in the political cycle, and here is Donald Trump again, showing up at the conservative CPAC conference and with his former Celebrity Apprentice Piers Morgan and making noises that he is “seriously considering” running for President.

This blog appears in the entertainment section of time.com and thus is probably not the place for prognostication about Presidential contenders. On the other hand, it is the perfect place to talk about Donald Trump, who, let’s just be clear here, is not going to run for President.

Listen: I’d love to be wrong about this, simply for entertainment purposes. (And as far as the world is concerned, Trump is now primarily an entertainer.) But what we know about Donald Trump is: he loves attention and to be treated fawningly. As long as he is an exciting potential candidate, stringing along the press until summer or so, that is what he will get, not just from celebrity journalists whom he picked as the winner of a game show.

But what Trump does not like is losing, humiliation and being made to look bad publicly. And if Trump runs for President (on the GOP ticket, as he has been flirting with, or as an independent), he will lose, be humiliated and be made to look bad. Once Trump were to actually get into the race, he would have to be taken seriously by the political media, his inconsistencies parsed, his business history audited, his personal foibles exhumed.

As it is right now, everybody is willing to give him a pass on this right now, because, let’s repeat, Donald Trump is not going to run for President. But there’s a symbiosis; he gets exposure and gives the political media a handy, attention-getting story during these slack, silly months before actual candidates actually declare. See also: stories on a potential Michael Bloomberg candidacy, potential Democratic challengers to Barack Obama, a Vice Presidential switcheroo, &c. Enjoy the show while it lasts.

Related Topics: 2012 election, donald trump, politics, Uncategorized

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  • http://www.stevebeste.com Steve Beste

    Trump should messenger his hairpiece to Mubarak to facilitate a safe exit and quick transition.

    Trump for President of Egypt!

  • http://avidguydave.wordpress.com avidguydave

    Make no mistake about it – warts and all, Trump would very likely clean Obama’s clock in a general election were he to actualy run & get the GOP nod. Especially if unemployment stay at or above 9%. I’m no fan of the Trump we see on Celebrity Apprentice, but, when you actualy hear his views on getting business re-invigorated & people back to work he makes a lot of sense that the majority of Americans (on both the left & right) would agree with. And everyone knows he has the experience and know how to get things accomplished and create jobs.
    I grant you that he is no doubt very thin skinned, hates to loose, and loathes any news coverage of him that is not drooling with praise. But – if he IS serious this time around (and thats a BIG if) he could, IMHO, very likely be the next oocupant of the Oval Office.
    It’s his to loose.

  • http://djtrudeau.wordpress.com djtrudeau

    Being a good businessman is not the same as being a good President. I find Trump entertaining and love to hear his opinion on things but the guy is one hissy-fit away from an international incident the second he hears something he doesn’t like. As James pointed out, this behavior plays well in the entertainment world but not in actual campaigns.

  • http://jimfromla.wordpress.com jimfromla

    “he has the experience and know how to get things accomplished and create jobs”

    Really? What government experience does he have? I hope Americans don’t confuse an egomaniac who made money in real estate with someone who oversees the business of everybody. And what kind of jobs will he create? Post office workers? More military positions? Get real.

  • http://sarah332011.wordpress.com sarah332011

    I think that Donald Trump is exactly what this country needs. He went bankrupt and came back to be bigger and better. Our country is in economic devastation. He knows how to come out of bankruptcy, we need someone like him.

  • johnkennel

    Besides, is there a single politician who DOESN’T want to “reinvigorate” the economy and get people back to work? It’s all well and good to say it. You can even have a plan to do so. But it takes more than pretty words and good ideas to succeed. Every Presidential candidate, including Obama, has had to learn this lesson upon entering the Oval Office. The suggestion that Trump will somehow, due to his vast experience in public policy, be able to bend the U.S. political system to his very will and finesse the global system pretty easily.

    I’m not saying that he doesn’t have good ideas, but everyone who runs for President has good ideas. No one takes all that time and effort so they can get a ride on Air Force 1. But it’s going to be rough for pretty much anyone and I don’t see how Trump could possibly do better just because he hit upon the novel idea that the America needs to have a better economy.

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