We noted HERE about how there was a strong move to dump Donald Trump from the Indianapolis 500 due to altering his brand so that his trademark isn’t his comb-ober or “you’re fired” but demands for birth certificates and claims that Barack Obama got into college due to affirmative action.
Now it turns out he won’t go after all. He needs to spend more time with his family business:
Donald Trump is no longer this month’s Indianapolis 500 pace car driver.
The controversial host of NBC’s reality show, “The Apprentice,” told Indianapolis Motor Speedway officials that continuing with the program conflicts with his possible presidential campaign.
“I very much appreciate the honor, but time and business constraints make my appearance there, especially with the necessary practice sessions, impossible to fulfill,” Trump said. “I look forward to watching the race from New York.”
And of course there was the quintessential damage-control corporate p.r. statement designed to make believe this just happened to happen:
“Donald Trump has been very enthusiastic about the ‘500’ from the beginning of our conversations, and I have appreciated the interaction we have had with him and his staff,” Speedway president Jeff Belskus said. “From my first conversation, I was impressed by his deep understanding of the event and history, and I thank him for being a true fan.
And of course, Trump criticized Obama for supposedly being a lousy student who someone tricked the Harvard Law Degree et al. Obama should only be like Donald Trump who was going to be the pace drive because he among the absolute best in the country.
His being in the race would have had nothing to do with his celebrity — which as Trump just found out some now see as notoriety.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.