'Business is my greatest passion and I am not ready to leave the private sector,' says Trump. | REUTERS The Donald ducks

Reality TV star Donald Trump fired himself Monday from the 2012 presidential sweepstakes, announcing that as much as he’d like to run, he’s not ready to part with his private sector money-making pursuits.

“I've decided that we are going to continue onward with ‘Celebrity Apprentice,’” Trump told advertisers at an NBC lineup presentation, just a day after network officials said they would keep the show on next season, and replace the brash New York developer in the boardroom if need be.


“We're going to continue making lots and lots of money for charity,” he said, to applause. “I will not be running for president as much as I'd like to.”

Trump rode national polls to surprising heights on his widely-known name and on the “birther” issue questioning President Obama’s birthplace, a topic that had rested on the GOP fringes since 2008 but which he thrust into the mainstream.

But the issue faded when Obama released the his long-form birth certificate. That, along with a string of damaging news stories about lawsuits against his brand – and a sign that his “birther” crusade was hurting his TV show ratings– all contributed to drive his poll numbers downward, making him barely a factor by the time he pulled out.

Yet The Donald, known for sometimes relying on his own unique sets of facts, said in a statement that he was leading in polls.

“I have spent the past several months unofficially campaigning and recognize that running for public office cannot be done half-heartedly,” he said. “Ultimately, however, business is my greatest passion and I am not ready to leave the private sector.”

His decision largely confirmed what many believed – that the developer, who has sued people in the past for making what he called low-ball estimates of his net worth over the years—would never submit to the detailed financial filings required of presidential candidates.

Trump’s announcement comes two days after Mike Huckabee, the 2008 Iowa caucus winner and a consistent national poll-topper, also departed from the 2012 race.

But that may be the only noticeable impact of his departure – his poll numbers, boosted mostly by his celebrity name ID, had cratered and he had no discernable constituency. His appeal was largely based on giving voice to concerns that GOP primary voters had about America’s place in the world, and taking the fight straight to Obama.

Despite his high-profile flirt with a run, Trump registered little support among the 1,000 registered voters surveyed nationwide for the latest POLITICO-George Washington University Battleground Poll.

Seventy-one percent said there was not "any chance" Trump would win the election, and only 26 percent said they believed the developer and reality television star planned to run.

Still, after he spoke to great acclaim at the Conservative Political Action Conference convention in Washington in February, Trump became a much coveted ‘get’ by a Republican Party that has been struggling with fundraising. The Iowa GOP signed him to headline an annual fundraising dinner on June 10, and he committed to attending a Tea Party rally on May 19 in South Carolina.

But Trump spokesman Michael Cohen said Monday the developer cancelled his South Carolina appearance. Iowa GOP spokesman Casey Mills said they expected for Trump to decide on whether he'll attend the Iowa event by Tuesday.

The main impact of him walking off the stage, other than disappointment from Democrats who employed him as a foil to needle the Republican field, is a collective sigh of relief from a GOP establishment that had started to cringe over his brandishing of the “birther” issue.

Obama used the issue to turn the tables on Trump – skewering the developer as he sat stone-faced, a guest of the Washington Post, at the White House Correspondents Association Dinner in late April.

After airing a now-iconic video in the vein of “Team America: World Police,” that featured a mock copy of his birth document, Obama trivialized Trump by joking about his firing of actor Gary Busey on his show and how those types of decisions “would keep me up at night.”

The president’s point was underscored by the fact that Obama ordered the operation that ultimately killed al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden on the same day, prompting the Republican establishment to openly say it was time to get down to the brass tacks of the presidential contest and end the “silly season.”

“Too much time was spent during the early months of this year using horserace polls to predict what could or would happen in the race,” said Republicans strategist Kevin Madden, who was a top adviser to Mitt Romney in 2008.

“The absence of Huckabee and Trump from the field provides evidence of just how empty those analyses were. The field of candidates is now closer to being set and the fundamentals of the race will begin to take shape finally.”