So Donald Trump has announced he is no longer running for President. In typical Trump style, he claims he would have won anyway. "I maintain the strong conviction that if I were to run, I would be able to win the primary and ultimately, the general election," he said.
Of course, bowing out means he won't be up for media scrutiny. But then, there's only one winner here: Donald Trump.
One of the best commentators on the media and politics, EJ Dionne, hones in on that point in the Washington Post. And the media, he says, is largely to blame.
"Lord knows the monetary value of all the publicity he got as the media (including, briefly, yours truly) took seriously the possibility that he would run for president. Cable television especially hung on his every outlandish charge, and turned him, briefly, into the political-analyst-in-chief. Heck, even his fiercest critics helped him by giving him even more publicity. Trump mainly cared about whether his name was spelled right – and it is an easy name to spell. Who has a lot to answer for? Members of the media. Why, exactly, was Trump allowed to revive the nonsensical stories about President Obama's birth certificate? Why did so many media people fall all over themselves (okay, ourselves) to "cover" him? There is now a strange symbiosis where self-promotion, goosing ratings, selling books, kicking off a new TV season, winning more page-views and upping speaking fees all get masked together and the resulting porridge gets labeled as 'politics'.
No doubt the Donald will find another way for the media to cover him. And once again, they will do it.
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