Less than 48 hours after this week’s GOP debate, Donald Trump canceled his planned appearance at Heritage Action’s Presidential Forum in Greenville, S.C, which is also the home of Heritage CEO Jim DeMint.  The event, a major gathering of conservative activists will now hear from 10 other contenders.  Trump will not, citing a “significant business transaction” that has been delayed and required his attention.

  People attending the Heritage event in Greenville were skeptical.  Trump’s staffers had insisted their man would be there and painstakingly negotiated terms for the appearance. They included a proviso that he not have to appear on stage with South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley after she publicly criticized Trump. 

 A leading South Carolina legislator said that if Trump hasn’t been able to delegate his business affairs to people he can trust in an age of instant communication it shows he isn’t a serious presidential candidate: “It’s not like the U.S. Senate where you have to be present physically to vote.”  He and many other attendees at the event believe Trump didn’t want to face questions about his failure to respond to statements by attendees at a New Hampshire town hall meeting that President Obama is a Muslim and “not even an American.”He will miss the event amid outcry from both parties that he did not correct comments made by two men at a Thursday night rally.