Trump Withdraws as Moderator of GOP Iowa Debate

This news is like hearing the clown act won’t appear after all. After it became clear that the bulk of Republicans running for President — except former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Senator Rick Santorum — felt appearing at a debate hosted by the modern P.T. Barnum might not help them politically, Donald Trump has “I quit” versus “You’re fired.” He won’t host the debate after all.

And now, America, let’s all give a collective “AWWWWWWWWWWWW!”

“I believe this would not only have been the most watched debate, but also the most substantive and interesting debate,” Trump said in a statement.

And Jerry Sandusky is likely to be asked to head a local chapter of the Boy Scouts if he is exonerated…

Trump said he’s still not ruling out the possibility of running for president as an independent. He said he’s stepping aside as moderator of the debate to avoid any conflict of interest.

“It is very important to me that the right Republican candidate be chosen to defeat the failed and very destructive Obama Administration, but if that Republican, in my opinion, is not the right candidate, I am not willing to give up my right to run as an Independent candidate,” Trump said.

Let me guess who the “right” candidate will be: someone who said he’d appear at the debate. Someone who said that he can’t understand why anyone wouldn’t want to “hang out” with Trump.

The good news here: this whole episode illustrates a)there are limits in how successful hype and self-promotion can be b)despite all other indicators to the contrary, at least some politicians won’t try and pretend that a debate hosted by Trump would have been anything other than a cheapening of Presidential debates.

I’ll bet you three cans of catfood and an invitation to Newt Gingrich’s next wedding that this is the case.