‘The Donald’ Ducks Out

Donald Trump ended months of speculation by saying what many others already knew.

He’s not running for president in 2012.

The publicity-seeking real estate mogul and television celebrity announced his decision in a statement earlier this afternoon.

“After considerable deliberation and reflection, I have decided not to pursue the office of the presidency,” said Trump.

Trump, whose whirlwind media blitz the past few months generated tons of free publicity for his reality TV show, maintains that he would have won the Republican nomination — and would have defeated President Obama in the general election — if he stayed in the race, but conceded that “running for public office cannot be done half-heartedly.”

Trump’s decision comes one day after NBC announced it would continue The Celebrity Apprentice, with or without Trump as its host.

Trump, who made an issue of President Obama’s birthplace while testing the waters, surged in some of the early polls of potential GOP presidential contenders, but began to drop like a rock once the president released the long-form version of his birth certificate last month.