Donald Trump is a socialite and publicity hound whose performance as a businessman on television adds value to the properties that he licenses to use his name. In his capacity as a TV actor, he is out puffing his reality show “Celebrity Apprentice,” a tired program full of tired celebrities. Trump’s job is to get people interested in watching a show that features Gary Busey and one of those unpleasant housewives from Atlanta. Trump is doing this by using the vacuum of compelling leadership in the GOP to pretend that he is running for president. He isn’t. He won’t. There are at least three reasons, as Chris Cilliza pointed out: Trump’s glamorous lifestyle makes him suspect; if a national hero like Rudy Giuliani has problems explaining his social life, imagine the difficulties Trump will have; financial disclosure requirements will undoubtedly cause some questions to be raised.
There is no chance that he will run, and Journalists only embarrass themselves by playing along with his game.
Some might think Trump cynical because he exploits our national presidential election ritual for his own ends. The process is cynical enough to withstand his manipulation. But Trump lately has been setting new marks by inflaming the idea that President Obama wasn’t born in the United States. Trump is too smart to believe that, but he knows he can get a headline by saying it, and he knows he can get a headline from those like Jonathan Capeheart who would decry it. This is a nothing story being pushed by a self-inflated balloon. My dg barks at everything that walks past our house; journalists should be more selective.
There is the old question about whether a tree that falls in a forest with no one nearby makes a sound. But no one bothers to wonder if a journalist hears a sound, does it automatically mean that a tree has fallen? Trump is all sound and no tree. Let Access Hollywood cover the TV performer, not the Washington Post.