Tears continue to fall with the rain here at Gothamist HQ, after Huckabee announced this weekend that he would not run for the President of Losing to Obama, our favorite f-bomb dropping snake oil gas bag Donald Trump announced today that he too is calling it quits. In a statement at NBC's upfronts today, Trump modestly said that "I maintain the strong conviction that if I were to run, I would be able to win the primary and ultimately, the general election." True, Trump wasn't polling too hot recently, but on the other hand, he has never been wrong about anything. Ever. more ›

Ever since President Obama revealed his birth certificate, roasted him at the White House Correspondent's Dinner, and announced Osama bin Laden's death, the entire nation has made a tacit agreement to collectively wipe Donald Trump from our memories. But now that his poll numbers have sunk like the Titanic, we can all focus on the important questions and issues which really define Trump, such as: how does he get his hair like that? more ›

Remember how Donald Trump was suing a NY Times business editor Timothy O'Brien and the publishers of his book, TrumpNation: The Art of Being The Donald, for $5 billion, because The Donald felt it misstated his wealth by billions (Smith's estimate: $150-250 million)? Well, as a hearing is scheduled to take place today, the Wall Street Journal pored over a 2007 deposition that Trump made about his wealth. He said, "My net worth fluctuates, and it goes up and down with markets and with attitudes and with feelings, even my own feeling," and when asked if he's "familiar with the concept of net present value?," Trump replies, "The concept of net present value to me would be the value of the land currently after debt...Well, to me, the word 'net' is an interesting word. It's really — the word 'value' is the important word." Ever the cheerleader, the real estate developer explains, "Would you like me to say, oh, gee, the building is not doing well, blah, blah, blah, come by, the building -- nobody talks that way. Who would ever talk that way?" [via Daily Intel] more ›

The new season of the Apprentice premiered on Thursday with its celebrity (or "celebrity" - if you consider Omarosa from the Apprentice's Season 1 a celebrity) twist. The show received its best ratings in two years, winning the 9PM timeslot for viewers ages 18-49. The Donald said, "I was really happy. I wasn't expecting this." more ›

Look out, Jones Beach regulars. Trump’s moving in. more ›

Time announced its second Time 100 list of influential people. (For whatever reason, Time doesn't provide a full list with separate links to all the influentials, so here's a list from FishbowlNY.) Based on our reading, the New Yorkers (and we're including some people who live in Westchester, but work in the city) who made the list include 30 Rock's Tina Fey, subway superhero Wesley Autrey, Senator Hillary Clinton, banker Stephen Schwartzman, director Martin Scorsese, Yankees pitcher Chien-Ming Wang, actress-comedian-talk show host Rosie O'Donnell, the American Museum of Natural History's Neil DeGrasse Tyson, actor and stem cell research advocate Michael J. Fox, and Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who appears in the upper right corner of the cover. more ›

We were really hoping Trump would lose this match, which would have resulted in the long-awaited end to his haircut. Since his hair is something we could never imagine him giving up, it's not impossible that the match was rigged. Either way, he won and got to shave the head of another rich guy, World Wrestling Entertainment owner Vince McMahon. more ›

The controversial proposal to turn the UPS lot on Spring Street and West Street into a place for 106 Sanitation trucks may align Donald Trump with critics of his planned Trump Soho Hotel. The Donald takes a break from blabbing about ladies of The View and tells the Post, "I don't like trucks, the fumes, the traffic from the standpoint of the community... If the community wanted help, I would certainly help." more ›

A look at some noteworthy programs this week:
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NYC from the ESB Looking North, by SupremeKnight1. more ›

Gothamist was hoping we could end the week without another peep out of Donald Trump, but Rosie O'Donnell just ruined it for us! Yesterday, she slammed him over the Miss USA Tara Conner scandal (Gawker has a clip), and then he fired (heh?) back hard. From The Insider:

"(He) left the first wife -- had an affair, left the second wife, had an affair, but he's the moral compass for 20-year-olds in America," she said from her perch on "The View." She added that personally she has "never enjoyed" watching The Donald and in a final challenge, said to the cameras, "Donald, sit and spin, my friend!" more ›

After a fast and furious spate of gossip about underage drinking, drug abuse, and behavior unbecoming to a Miss USA, Miss USA Tara Conner was given a second chance by Donald Trump and pageant organizers. Trump has reportedly loved the attention from the scandal (the new season of the Apprentice starts in January!) and, at the press conference, he was as grandiose as ever. Basically, he referenced how he "fired" Miss USA 2002 Oxana Federova because she wasn't doing a good job. And he did say he expect to fire Conner before their meeting. But, ultimately, The Donald saw a "good person" caught up in the whirlwind that is New York ."

It's a story that's happened many times before, to many women and to many men that come to the Big Apple. They wanted their slice of the Big Apple and they found out it wasn't so easy. I'm always a believer in second chances... Tara is a good person. Tara has tried hard. Tara is going to be given a second chance. more ›

Awesome: The Post reveals that Donald Trump Jr. was fired from the condo board of his own Upper West Side building! While one might initially suspects that a Trump would have a lifetime seat on a condo board of a building with the Trump name, 220 Riverside Boulevard at Trump Place was never owned by The Donald - he lent his name out to a group of investors. It seems that at a November 8 boarding meeting, resident Eugenia Kaye engineered an ouster to replace the whole board. Some tenants explained the Post why Kaye was so upset:

In late October, Kaye hand-addressed letters to the owners of all 420 units, outlining a series of grievances. more ›

- The time Hong Kong - the building will adhere to all feng shui practicesThe Donald Jr. told the Post, "You're going to get incredible 360-degree views from about the 12th floor up. They're almost like the views in Jersey City of Manhattan, but you're still in New York." Is that a diss to the Jersey City Trump development?
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- And click the Food Fund for Animals button and money will be donated for needy animals more ›

The always parenthetical (real estate mogul, media tycoon, friend of Regis) Donald Trump is a father again! Trump's wife Melania Knauss Trump gave birth to a boy earlier today after eight hours of labor. Already, the newest Trump is on board to help ratings for the fifth season of "The Apprentice". It is only surprising that he waited a full twenty minutes before going to the press, but no word if the baby is yooge. more ›

The fifth "amazing bestest yet ever most ridiculous [insert other stupid and/or hyperbolic descriptor here]" season of the Apprentice premiered last night, and boy, do the contestants get dumber and dumber! Maybe not totally dumber, because Lord knows what Gothamist would be doing if we had to work with other people handpicked by Donald Trump and Mark Burnett, but you'd think that people who apply to be on the show would have seen previous episodes and learn from past fired Apprentices' mistakes. That said, The Donald displayed his usual weaknesses of being a sucker for anything that has to do with the Ivy League, brainiac organizations (Mensa), or accents (two new foreign-born contestants - it really is a global village) - and coming up with lame rewards (we think having a chat with Mayor Bloomberg at Gracie Mansion is better than the Wharton Club prize, but whatever!). The team captains were Tarek "Call Me Mensa" and Allie, a former U. Florida Gators cheerleader and Harvard Business School grad, and give them a Good Year Blimp challenge to drive memberships at a Sam's Club, they'll give you cruciating reality show drama! more ›

- Out has such a good interview with Project Runway's Tim Gunn - and there will be a part two later! more ›

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First came word that Gotham was the only city in the country with a population over 1 million to record in increase in poverty. Now the Times reports that Manhattan has the biggest income gap of any county in the United States. The top fifth of earners in Manhattan now make 52 times what the lowest fifth make (that's about $7,047 on the bottom for every $365,826 on the top, or about two cents for every dollar!). In case those numbers didn't make the point: The disparity in Manhattan is roughly equivalent to that of Namibia. more ›

- Snack Dragon Taco Shack more ›

Last night, the producers of The Apprentice tried to mix business with one of the most non-business forms in NYC - graffiti. The two teams were supposed to promote Sony Playstation's Gran Turismo 4 by painting a mural on a Harlem wall that would appeal to an urban, hip demographic (Sony Playstation was mentioned throughout the show, ensuring that Nintendo executives are gnashing their teeth). The team leaders were Alex for Magna (aka "Book smart, but not that smart smart") and Tara for Net Worth (aka "Street smart, yet not that smart smart"). Now, Gothamist won't mention spoilers in the post for all your Tivo freaks (why aren't you at home on a Thursday night like us?), but we would like to point out that any candidate who says "I expect to win" type things usually royally screws up. For those of you who did see the show, what did you think of the murals? Which had better graffiti? Which was more on message? And did you laugh at Alex's fear of being in Harlem? more ›

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More about Trump Palace. more ›

Raj's bio. It says he's a part of Vanquish Enterprises but he's nowhere to be seen on this site. more ›

Related: A chat with Mayor Bloomberg was the prize for the winning team last night. Granted, Gothamist would love 15 minutes with the Mayor, but next to the prize of playing tennis with John McEnroe and Anna Kournikova, that seems...boring. It wasn't even a meal with the Mayor - just a quick talk at Gracie Mansion. The Mayor told a joke and none of the Apprentice wannabes got it - the man has no skills at comic delivery. more ›

City Review on Trump Tower and Curbed on Apprentice contest Jennifer C.'s firing. And speaking of television, some picks for the new season: Veronica Mars, Kevin Hill, and RW/RR Battles of the Sexes 2 (Chicagoist's Margaret Lyons points out Aneesa's bio: ) Plus Aaron at Out of Focus has been blogging the new season.
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And Scott Sassa, we tip our hats to you: Sassa was made CEO of Friendster a while back and we thought that was hilarious. But clearly he's worked his past experience as West Coast president of NBC into creating the Apprentice on Friendster page where you can become "fans" of the various Apprentices! Friendster goes corporate - smart move, though we're not sure of Friendster's relevance considering we hadn't logged on in a while. more ›