For those of us who believe that there’s something seriously wrong with the Republican Party (and see Tom Mann and Norm Ornstein’s new book; see also my argument that the problem is not about how “conservative” they are, but about their radical style), the big question is whether anything can be done about it. American democracy needs two strong, solid political parties, but currently one of the parties is just a mess – incapable of making coherent policy when it’s in office, and dangerously obstructionist when it’s out of office.

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In an interview with MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell, Madden noted that Romney has publicly repudiated the birther myth in the past, and would do it again, but stopped short of saying that the candidate will do it in Trump’s presence.

When Mitchell asked if Romney will “stand up next to Donald Trump and disavow that [myth],” Madden replied, “He’ll stand up next to Donald Trump and he’ll talk about why he wants to be president.” “Any time the subject goes off of that, or if something where ... Governor Romney would disagree, he’s going to make that very clear,” Madden added, without saying whether that clarification would be to Trump’s face or after the event.

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Today it's appalling: puffed up by Romney's flattery, the preening, orange-haired narcissist doubled down on his idiotic birther claims against the president, telling the Daily Beast's Lloyd Grove: “Look, it’s very simple. A book publisher came out three days ago and said that in his written synopsis of his book, he said he was born in Kenya and raised in Indonesia. His mother never spent a day in the hospital.”

If you haven't been following the story, and I tried not to, the addled spawn of Andrew Breitbart found a dusty 20-year-old catalog from Obama's former literary agency that said he was born in Kenya. An assistant quickly said that she wrote down incorrect information. Trump doesn't believe her.

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There were stories, recently, in the usual places, about how Trump was being seriously considered for a major speech at the Republican Convention. I did not dwell on the story much, because I assumed that these rumors were a product of Donald Trump's prodigious vanity and powerful imagination. Ha ha ha, sure, the Republicans will definitely want the stupid make-believe TV mogul who pretends to fire people for a living, at their big party.

Now that "Celebrity Apprentice" is done, Trump is back to pretending to be a major political player. He just announced his intention to start his own super PAC, because he is a weird attention-hungry idiot with a bit of money to burn (though not as much money to burn as he would like you to think he has to burn).

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It seems Donald Jr. and his brother Eric went to Africa on a hunting trip last year, and their tour company, Hunting Legends, decided recently to brag of the men's prowess on their Web site, complete with graphic photos of the brothers and their kills. And here's a shocker – there's something about rich white men smiling with the carcasses of the African animals they've killed that a lot of people just don't like.

The photographs are intense – images of the men proudly hoisting a dead leopard, smiling and holding a sawed off elephant's tail next to the animal's body, posing with a dead bull and waterbuck and an enormous, strung-up crocodile.

PeTA unsurprisingly jumped at the opportunity to get a little free press from the episode, sending out a statement that "Like all animals, elephants, buffalo and crocodiles deserve better than to be killed and hacked apart for two young millionaires’ grisly photo opportunity." And even Donald Sr. told "Access Hollywood," "I've never liked it (hunting). I've never liked that they like it... I'm going to talk to them about it. I'm not a fan of the whole situation."

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The repellent reality television personality has recorded robo-calls for Romney, because nothing makes a person more excited to vote than the sound of Donald Trump invading your personal space and hectoring you for no reason. Citizens across Michigan can look forward to unsolicited phone calls from a recording of the guy who tells D-list celebrities that they're fired, only instead he will be telling them that the former governor of Massachusetts is "a good man" and former Sen. Rick Santorum is a "career politician."

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OK, sure, we all probably could have predicted all this from a mile away, but it took Stephen Colbert to weigh in on the development with the poetry of the Donald himself:

Folks, I would be lying if I didn't say I saw this coming.  Donald Trump is a friend. He's my best friend. Number one best, greatest friend of all time. We race yachts. We trade mistresses. I call him "Trump Card." He calls me "Cold Beer." That said, the guy is a boob. He looks like  a tangelo had sex with an old dishrag. And I can say that because I love this man. And to honor the memory of Trump mattering, it is more important than ever that tonight I reannounce my Stephen Colbert's South Carolina Serious Classy Republican Debate.

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Predictably, establishment conservatives like George Will and Karl Rove are incensed at the prospect of a Trump-moderated debate. Stephen Colbert, meanwhile, has his own bone to pick with the hotel tycoon, and last night he dusted off his best Donald impression to do it:

The point is: Forget Donald Trump. He's history, rolled in "forget him," smothered in a yesterday sauce. Tomorrow is about me, the most famous man in the history of South Carolina. The GOP wants a serious debate? They deserve it. Bar none, they're the best party in the world. That includes space. That is why, as of this moment, I am officially announcing my own Republican debate: Stephen Colbert's Serious, Classy, South Carolina Republican Debate. I am doing this.

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Trump still has a regular Monday morning "Fox & Friends" call-in deal? I guess Fox can overlook a regular guest being a loyal employee of a rival media conglomerate -- Trump abandoned his publicity stunt presidential campaign when NBC threatened to find a new "Apprentice" host, remember -- as long as they're willing to spout birtherist bullshit on live television.

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The New York Post reports that NBC has offered Trump and his "Apprentice" co-producer, Mark Burnett, an unprecedented $160 million contract for two more years of "The Celebrity Apprentice."

A source tells the Post that Trump will "personally pocket $65 million a year" from the lucrative deal; the paper adds that the contract will make Trump "the highest-paid reality-TV star, eclipsing the 'American Idol' judges and the Kardashian clan."

Under the new arrangement, Trump will earn more than 150 times the presidential salary of $400,000. Apparently, he wasn't kidding when he told ABC News in May that he wasn't "ready to leave the private sector"!

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"The fact is, I know [Weiner] very well," Trump says in his short video statement. "He called me all the time looking for campaign contributions -- it would never stop." ("I don't think I ever called him," Trump adds.)

"Anthony Weiner is a bad guy. He's a psycho. When this came out, I was not surprised at all. ... I thought that his career was so important to him. The fact is, what he was doing was more important -- or, probably, he just had a death wish."

Trump's conclusion? While Weiner is a "liar" who "should never, ever be allowed to run for office again," "one good thing" has come out of the whole sorry situation: "I'll never have to give him campaign contributions."

See the whole video here:

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As many of you have heard by now, King Donald Trump was recently seen eating pizza with Sarah Palin in New York City. Nothing wrong with that, right? Just a couple of buddies hanging out, probably have loads in common for conversation fodder, like how great it is to be very American. But the story turned sour when Trump and Palin began to masticate their delicious NYC-style slices ... with forks and knives!

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But Trump told Mother Jones that he did not actually tell Corsi any of these things. In fact, Trump says he did not even read Corsi's book!

This confuses WorldNetDaily editor Joseph Farah. Is Corsi lying about what Trump said? Did Farah's website just make up some nonsense and publish it because that is what they always do? Or is Trump in league with them?

The answer, obviously, is that Donald Trump is part of the vast conspiracy to make WorldNetDaily look ridiculous. As Farah says:

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He was never actually going to run but tried to create the appearance of a candidacy in order to generate publicity and prestige for his personal brand -- a stunt he'd pulled twice before. But then, because he's Donald Trump and he sometimes can't help himself, he got carried away and loudly and obliviously latched on to a third rail "issue" that no other aspiring GOP candidate would dare embrace. Very briefly, his poll numbers surged among the hardcore GOP base, a development that was quickly corrected when opinion-shaping conservative leaders turned their guns on him. Meanwhile, his birther crusade -- and his efforts to portray Barack Obama as an affirmative action case -- began tarnishing the very brand Trump had set out to enhance. After a weekend during which he was humiliated at the White House Correspondents' Dinner one night and his "Celebrity Apprentice" television show was interrupted the next night so that President Obama -- a man Trump had denounced as the worst president in American history -- could announce the killing of Osama bin Laden, Trump's flame-out was complete. Days later, he announced -- during NBC's presentation to advertisers -- that he would not be running for president in 2012 and would instead be re-upping for another season of "Celebrity Apprentice." At that point, he abruptly cut off all of the GOP leaders and organizations he had been pretending to cultivate -- pulling out at the last minute, for instance, from a commitment to address the Iowa GOP's Lincoln Day Dinner and prompting that state's Republican governor to declare that Trump has "really burned the bridges." But what does Trump care anymore? It was time to get back to playing a mostly apolitical rich guy on television.

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Trump's is not the first, and will not be the last political book that was rendered ridiculous or blatantly incorrect before or very shortly after its release. It's not even the only one released this year! Here are some of our favorite sad, wrong books:

"Where's the Birth Certificate?" by Jerome Corsi, 2011

Oh, there it is! Sorry, Jerome Corsi, but you couldn't have realized that your entirely pointless search for the "long-form" birth certificate would end nearly a month before your book's publication.

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But none of those things are particularly surprising to the reasonably well-informed American. For those not currently enrolled in "Trump University," the Trump campaign was an easily spotted con from day one, a farce we've all seen before.

There were some small surprises. Who would've predicted he'd go Full Birther? Who knew he'd end it before delivering a hilarious debate performance? Why did the Washington Post invite him to the Correspondents' Dinner again?

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Writes Trump in his statement:

"My gratitude for your faith and trust in me could never be expressed properly in words. So, I make you this promise: that I will continue to voice my opinions loudly and help to shape our politician's [sic] thoughts." 

So why get out now? Why not follow Roger Stone's advice and declare he's still mulling an independent candidacy, thereby bypassing the GOP primary process and allowing the charade to continue well into 2012?

Well, for one thing, Trump stayed in the fake candidate game long enough that his prized personal brand seemed to finally be taking some damage. Some media outlets finally began to do real digging into his business dealings and the results were deeply unflattering. (Here are two recent examples. My dossier on what to know about Trump for next time he tries to scam us is here.)

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And in Trump's case, it appears a little scrutiny goes a long way. Barbaro describes hundreds of frustrated homebuyers who are bringing lawsuits against Trump or his affiliates because of their alleged role in tying the "Trump" brand to housing complexes that Trump himself had no hand in developing.

Barbaro details Trump's efforts to "cash in on his name" by licensing it to other developers:

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