Trump not running for president
(CNN) - Real estate mogul and television celebrity Donald Trump, who generated a media publicity blitz by saying he might run for president in 2012, announced Monday that he will instead remain a businessman.
"After considerable deliberation and reflection, I have decided not to pursue the office of the presidency," Trump said in a statement.
With his typical bravado, Trump maintained that he would have won the Republican primary and the general election, but recognized 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 said in the statement.
Trump's flirtation with running for the Republican nomination included his demand that President Barack Obama make public his full birth certificate from Hawaii.
Obama previously had provided a shorter version that serves as the public record in Hawaii, but amid the media glare on the issue raised in part by Trump's repeated questioning of whether the so-called long version of the document existed, the president released it last month.
At an NBC presentation of the network's fall line-up, Trump, star of "Celebrity Apprentice," said "NBC has been amazing. This will be our 12th season and I have to say I love 'Celebrity Apprentice.'"
"I will not be running for president as much as I'd like to," Trump added.
Full 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!
Donald J. Trump
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The best man for the job is not running any longer....How sad!
Wow, what a surprise.
Like any one gives a s%^t one way or the other.
The way he is getting slammed in the polls I was started to fear that Trump would attack the American public the way he attacks anyone who says anything negative about him. I think we have now had more people announce they are not running than who are running!
Biggest LOSER on the planet! Sometimes I wonder how he even runs his business. What a Moron...
I would like all the avowed Right-Wing Swifites on here to take a look at the collection of protoplasm passing for presidential candidates for 2012. Palin, Bachmann, Gingrich, Romney (which one today), etc. and then you wonder why your party is such a farce?
By the way, Donald, why don't you explain to the "average man" how you managed to file three executive bankruptcies one day and were still a billionaire the following day!!! Did you plan on running the country with the same executive acumen you ran your real estate empire – into the ground?!?!?!?!
I do not understand how we give this man such credibility. Of course he wasn't going to run. The man trades in air time, ratings, and general public attention. The more he is on air, the more he generates rating for the projects he really cares about...such as celebrity apprentice, book deals, and his own ego. The media is equally to blame, knowing full well that he has stated that he was thinking about running in the past, only to reveal it was a ploy to promote other projects. Why oh WHY do we not learn from our mistakes. Is America that shortsighted?
No Kidding, Chump.
Now on to real news
Now that his show is over, he doesn't need any more publicity. Thanks to all of the media for contributing publicity to him. Morons.
He says he's convinced he would have won if he had chosen to run. This is his way of not actually having to face competition...or losing. If you try something and lose, you're brave. If you don't try something, and then tell people you definitely WOULD have won, you're a coward. A REAL man would have just thrown his hat in the ring and said, "Bring it on!"
This guy hides behind money and power because he has no real guts of his own as a man. He takes what he wants though financial aggression, but when he realises his money can't buy him something, or make up for what he lacks in his own character, he backs off with his tail between his legs and says, "I would have won had I been in the race."
Step up or get lost.
The only person he's trying to convince of his superiority is himself.
Blleeeeecch!!!
So he wasted all our time with his rantings and ravings and like all spoiled people laid a path of nonsense for naught.
that doesn't rule out self-appointed dictator
didn't every candidate that Trump has publicly endorsed lost?
Good. Now hopefully he'll slither back to his gold plated, reality TV snake hole and start to reflect on how the American people are not as stupid as he thinks we are.
I'm glad and then I'm not. Glad because of the obvious, not so glad because I wanted to see him show the American people and his followers what a class act clown he is. This is the one and only time I would enjoy watching someone make a total fool of himself, since he did it halfway already, why not see the rest. Now that would have made a good reality show.
Now if we could just get this bozo off of television......
I told everybody that he was just trolling.
Amazing what his ego, and the need to do PR, will make this idiot do! He has finally reached the point of no return in losing all credibility with the majority of the American people. Welcome to Palin World, Donald!!
OMG to think he for a moment he thought he could possibly win this office!!!! He is Delusional at best!
Mr. Trump has made right decision not to run for US presidency in 2012. This position requires a great deal of extra-ordinary passion towards not only domestic but as well as global outlook, which must be mature & well articulate. Currently Mr. Obama & his team are rightly positioned and it will be difficult for republicans to find a good challenger. Waiting now to hear from Mrs. S. Palin soon about her distorted version to manage national & international affairs.
Funny – he says he'll continue to "push for job creation".....uh, being one of the big business tycoons getting the benefits of "job-creating tax breaks"....can't he just actually provide jobs? That would be more helpful than listening to his drivel.
I assumed this was a joke from the beginning - Pres. Obama's stingers at the Correspondent's Dinner hit Trump like a bullseye, and Obama was just getting warmed up.
Trump is just another piece of s*it republican who thinks they can run this country after destroying it 8 years before Obama.
He done anumerous of time in the past that he wanted to run for presidency.I said to myself "Here we go again!"When I read the latest news,I said"I new it he was bullshitting!"Like he has done in the past.
The big bag of wind has just burst, thank god!!