Leave it to Donald Trump to try to get more publicity out of an unmitigated disaster.
In his announcement tonight that Trump is mercifully cancelling a debate that even the Republican travelling freak show was (mostly) too dignified to legitimize, The Donald justified his wholesale rejection thusly:
The Republican Party candidates are very concerned that sometime after the final episode of “The Apprentice,” on May 20th, when the equal time provisions are no longer applicable to me, I will announce my candidacy for president of the United States as an independent and that, unless I conclusively agree not to run as an independent, they will not agree to attend or be a part of the Newsmax debate scheduled for Dec. 27, 2011. It is very important to me that the right Republican candidate be chosen to defeat the failed and very destructive Obama administration, but if that Republican, in my opinion, is not the right candidate, I am not willing to give up my right to run as an independent candidate.
It says everything about Trump’s gravitas that he considers running for President less important than anchoring a reality TV show. That said, I really hope he runs. He’ll blow a bunch of his own money, and either he’ll draw a lot of votes – in which case some of Teh Stupid will be siphoned off from the vote total of Obama’s opponent – or he won’t, in which case hopefully his TV career is over, too.
What does it say about our culture that half the “serious” candidates this year vying for the most powerful job in the world are doing so because of the marketing and merchandising opportunities?