Trump Follows Huckabee Out Of The Race

The last few days have not been kind to Republican voters who are still searching for a strong candidate to oppose President Obama in the 2012 election. First, a couple of very flawed candidates made it official that they are running for the nomination -- Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul (both of which have more baggage than a busload of ingenues). Then Mike Huckabee, who has been a frontrunner in all the polls, decided his heart wasn't in it and took himself out of the race.

Now Donald Trump, who has the ego of a frontrunner, has decided that he will not make the run for the nomination. Trump said:

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.

Passion for business? That's a nice way of saying greed. Trump is currently making about $50 million a year in his entertainment ventures. If he made a serious run for the presidency most of that income would have to be given up. Even worse, he would probably have to spend many millions of his own dollars (since most of his support was among the "birthers" -- not exactly a fountain of wealth for a candidate to tap). It would have taken a ton of his own money to convince the donors with deep pockets that he was a viable candidate, and that was just something that didn't appeal to his innate greed.

As for his confidence that he could win both the nomination and the election, that is sheer ego and bravado (or an outright lie). Trump may well be a buffoon, but he is not a complete idiot. He can read the polls and see the writing on the wall. He knew that his short run among the leaders was over. After Obama released his "long form" birth certificate, Trump was cut off at the knees and his popularity began to fall (since he had based his campaign almost wholly on the president not being born in America).

The fact is that Trump was done as a candidate. Any time and money spent on his candidacy would have been wasted, and he knew this (even if his ego wouldn't let him admit it). This is sort of a shame since it would have been very entertaining watching him debate the likes of Palin, Bachmann, Paul, Gingrich, Santorum, Pawlenty and Romney. It would have been worth watching just for the comedy factor.

Who does his exit help? Well, just like the exit of Huckabee, it doesn't really help Mitt Romney. While Huckabee's fundamentalist followers don't like Romney's mormonism, the "birther" supporters of Trump still consider Romney far too much of a moderate (who passed a health care program far too much like the one Obama signed into law).

I expect his voters will go to a fringe right-wing candidate like Palin, Bachmann, Gingrich, or Santorum. And that's a good thing for Democrats. While it would have been fun watching Trump turn the campaign into a farce, it's even better that his absence will help a fringe candidate possibly get the nomination.