It's official: Donald Trump has decided not to run for president:"After considerable deliberation and reflection, I have decided not to pursue the office of the Presidency," he said in a statement. "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."
Thus ends Trump's brief, failed experiment in presidential politics. For a short while, Trump appeared to have traction among the Republican base. His birtherism and racist buffoonery appealed to a non-trivial portion of the GOP base. But that was before President Obama released his long-form birth certificate -- destroying most of Trump's appeal -- and used the White House Correspondents Dinner to ether him with a barrage of jokes and mockery. Indeed, by last week, Trump's lead among GOP presidential hopefuls had collapsed to 8 percent, placing him in fifth place with Ron Paul.
Donald Trump was never a serious presidential candidate, but his willingness to trade in conspiracies could have turned the GOP presidential race into more of an ugly, racialized spectacle. In a very real sense, his failure is good for the Republican Party, and good for our politics.
