Trump bows out

He was never officially in and now he’s out. Real estate and reality TV mogul Donald Trump flirted for weeks with a 2012 GOP presidential run and came to top Republican voter polls after a high profile proto-campaign in which he rehashed the conspiracy theory that President Obama was not born in the United States but has been passing off a forged birth certificate for years. Trump said he hired detectives to look into the matter. Trump’s announcement today that he will not run comes with typical bravado.

“This decision does not come easily or without regret, especially when my potential candidacy continues to be validated by ranking at the top of the Republican contenders in polls across the country. 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 was humiliated when a fed up Obama called upon authorities in Hawaii, where Obama was born, to release his original so-called long form birth certificate and, the same week, mocked Trump at the White House Correspondents dinner, pointing out that he was now free to take up other conspiracy theories.

Trump’s release:

After considerable deliberation and reflection, I have decided not to pursue the office of the Presidency. This decision does not come easily or without regret; especially when my potential candidacy continues to be validated by ranking at the top of the Republican contenders in polls across the country. I maintain the strong conviction that if I were to run, I would be able to win the primary and ultimately, the general election. 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.

I want to personally thank the millions of Americans who have joined the various Trump grassroots movements and written me letters and e-mails encouraging me to run. My gratitude for your faith and trust in me could never be expressed properly in words. So, I make you this promise: that I will continue to voice my opinions loudly and help to shape our politician’s thoughts. My ability to bring important economic and foreign policy issues to the forefront of the national dialogue is perhaps my greatest asset and one of the most valuable services I can provide to this country. I will continue to push our President and the country’s policy makers to address the dire challenges arising from our unsustainable debt structure and increasing lack of global competitiveness. Issues, including getting tough on China and other countries that are methodically and systematically taking advantage of the United States, were seldom mentioned before I brought them to the forefront of the country’s conversation. They are now being debated vigorously. I will also continue to push for job creation, an initiative that should be this country’s top priority and something that I know a lot about. I will not shy away from expressing the opinions that so many of you share yet don’t have a medium through which to articulate.

I look forward to supporting the candidate who is the most qualified to help us tackle our country’s most important issues and am hopeful that, when this person emerges, he or she will have the courage to take on the challenges of the Office and be the agent of change that this country so desperately needs

Thank you and God Bless America!

Long seen by Democrats as a stunt candidate, Trump was increasingly becoming a less-than-serious choice on the right.

Erick Erickson, the founder of right-wing blog site RedState, was set to interview Trump tomorrow. Erickson wasn’t surprised by the news that Trump decided against running.

“I think Donald Trump finally had to take seriously the fact that many didn’t take his bid for the Presidency seriously and he was either going to have to change some minds or change his mind,” Erickson wrote today. “It’s a lot easier to change one mind than many. Likewise, for the first time in a very long time, the maestro of media spin let a story spin out ahead of him beyond his control… Trump does not like story lines he cannot control.”

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