I’ve been worried that this whole presidential flirtation was little more than a ploy to drive up ratings on “The Apprentice,” but according to Newsmax, he’s set to declare next month.

Oh, also: He’ll be providing details of his announcement press conference during the season finale of “The Apprentice.”

If you wonder whether Donald Trump is serious about running for president, tune in to the finale of “The Celebrity Apprentice” on May 15.

Trump plans to say on the NBC show that he will be holding a press conference in the next few days. At that press conference in the Trump Tower in New York, Trump will be announcing his candidacy for the presidency…

Since writing the first story in January to report that Trump will definitely run, I have been amazed at how much the idea of a Trump presidency is catching on across the political spectrum. As I wrote in my story, Don’t Underestimate Donald Trump for President, he can be outrageous and boastful. But when it comes to a successful run at the presidency, don’t count him out…

From talking with him, I can tell that he has thought through the details of running. Agree with him or not, those who think Trump is pulling a publicity stunt have trouble grasping the novelty of a non-politician caring enough about his country to run for president.

His timing is perfect: Arizona’s senate finally passed its “Birther bill” just this morning. Rick Santorum may or may not be in the process of announcing his own candidacy on Greta Van Susteren’s show as I write this, which is also good news. The bigger the field, the more fun the race will be to blog. Imagine a southern bloc of Huckabee and Barbour, a libertarian bloc of Ron Paul and Gary Johnson, a “true conservative” bloc of Palin, Bachmann, and Santorum, a bland yet probably electable bloc of Romney, Pawlenty, and Daniels, and … Gingrich somehow left over. Traffic bonanza.

Here’s Cantor on CNN this morning daring to suggest that Trump might not be totally serious.