Piers Morgan stopped by the set of his CNN colleague (and former Celebrity Apprentice guest) Erin Burnett‘s new show to wish her… well. “Total, abject failure.” In the nicest way possible, of course. Burnett, you see, had tried to get Morgan fired from the reality show competition by telling host Donald Trump that he was, as Morgan joked, a “repulsive human being.” “You and Jim Kramer. Stuck the knife straight in my back,” he continued. “So I’ve just come to wish you total, abject failure.”

Well, this was a random trip to the mutual appreciation society. This morning on Fox & Friends, Rob Lowe stopped by and, during his time on camera, the show fielded a call from Donald Trump. Turns out the two of them have great respect for each other with Lowe even trying to persuade Trump to run for President saying he’d be “great.”

The New York Post‘s Sean Daly reports Donald Trump will make his plans known today: is it another season of The Apprentice, or a campaign for the presidency? Daly cites a source who says Trump will reveal his plans to NBC bosses this morning so they can reveal their plans–for The Apprentice–to advertisers later in the day. NBC has said the show will go forward with or without Trump:

This week the television networks are announcing their schedules for the 2011-2012 season and the first headline breaking is that the Celebrity Apprentice will be back. Is the return of NBC‘s hit show a sign that no matter how many times Donald Trump flirts with the possibility of running for President, this is proof that in fact he will not run, and will instead be back in the board room on NBC airwaves?

As the news that Osama bin Laden is dead begins to sink in, other, less weighty stories can begin to waft over, or wriggle under, that steel media curtain. The bin Laden story blotted out the usual post-White House Correspondents Dinner fluff, but in its cooling embers, we can now marvel at Joan Rivers‘ prime example of that sweetest of celebrity truffles, the pre-gamin’ red carpet political rant. The veteran comic (and former contestant on Donald Trump‘s Celebrity Apprentice) had some choice words when asked about President Obama, imploring him to “stop campaigning,” and “Take care of the f**king country!”

Between parties at Saturday’s White House Correspondents Dinner, I spotted a small group of protesters outside the Washington Hilton who were trying to draw attention to their Twitter campaign against undeclared GOP frontrunner Donald Trump. Under the Twitter name @DumpDTrump, the group is trying to make advertisers aware of their objections to Trump’s attacks on President Obama. Former MSNBC anchor David Shuster wandered by to call Trump a “jackass,” and Rev. Al Sharpton also voiced his agreement.

Ratings for Donald Trump‘s NBC series The Apprentice have sagged the last couple of weeks, prompting a wave of speculation among the pundit class that his birther crusade is turning off the show’s viewership. In fact, his viewership has fluctuated wildly over the past several years, making such pronouncements premature.

According to a new poll released Friday morning by Public Policy Polling, Celebrity Apprentice host and undeclared candidate for president Donald Trump now leads his nearest GOP primary opponent by nine percentage points. The man that Lawrence O’Donnell calls “NBC’s Charlie Sheen” is showing the political world that a Birther-fueled publicity tour + a weak Republican field equals “Winning!”

Lawrence O’Donnell continued his intra-NBC warfare against potential presidential something-or-other Donald Trump tonight, responding to the news that Trump, in fact, watches that MSNBC show “with some guy, O’Donnell” and couldn’t believe that O’Donnell would defend President Obama. O’Donnell took the opportunity to explain why he won’t have Trump on the show: “it takes a certain amount of sucking up” that he just won’t do.

The last time a public figure uttered this sentence, the nation had a hearty guffaw at Ben Quayle‘s expense– until he became Congressman Ben Quayle of Arizona, one of the 535 most powerful people in America. This time, it’s Donald Trump who is pulling out the “Barack Obama is the worst president ever” card with Sean Hannity, amid claims that he also has a “big heart” and “gets along with everybody.”

Donald Trump recently granted an interview with NY Post editor Fred Dicker in which he most notably denied reports that he’d be announcing his presidential plans during the season finale of his reality show Celebrity Apprentice. But perhaps the other noteworthy bon mot to come from the lengthy and candid interview was Trump’s assertion that he’s always enjoyed a great relationship with “the blacks.” Efforts to confirm Trump’s statement were fruitless as we could not find one individual who could speak on behalf of “the blacks.”

Critiques of Donald Trump‘s so-called presidential run have suggested that it’s merely a publicity ploy to beef up ratings for his reality show Celebrity Apprentice. Yesterday, for instance, Newsmax (along with other outlets) reported that Trump would announce whether or not he’ll be running for president in 2012 during the show’s season finale.

Trump, however, has since shot down that rumor, telling Talk1300 that he’s not actually allowed to announce such a thing during the show and he doesn’t know from where rumors to the contrary came.

The recent emergence of Donald Trump as a possible presidential candidate and ringmaster of the Magical Birth Certificate Mystery Tour® has thrust the Birther movement into the national spotlight once again. Beyond Trump, though, there’s a teeming Birther subculture with its own cast of characters, including Lucas Daniel Smith, whose nude painting of Orly Taitz just sold for $350 on eBay.

Why is Donald Trump so obsessed with the alleged mystery surrounding Barack Obama‘s birth certificate? To hear Lawrence O’Donnell and Jonathan Capehart, its about one thing: Trump’s obsession with the Obama’s legitimacy — as well as his larger dabbling with a still unlikely-seeming presidential run — is about one thing: driving ratings for his show Celebrity Apprentice. Shocker: the strategy appears to be working for what The Last Word calls “NBC’s biggest primetime star.”

NBC is currently filming the latest edition of Celebrity Apprentice in New York City, and we stopped by today to check it out.

The male team had taken over a pizza place in Greenwich Village – which meant Gary Busey, Lil’ Jon, Jose Canseco and more were trying to get passers-by to buy some food.

When you think of alleged Tiger Woods mistresses (all 14+), Donald Trump isn’t exactly the next thing that comes to mind. And yet, low and behold, there is a connection! Today, alleged mistress and Extra special nightlife correspondent Rachel Uchitel has confirmed to Gossip Cop that she received a personal invitation from Mr. Trump to appear on the next season of Celebrity Apprentice and, pending a final okay from NBC, will accept.

There was at least one important finale on TV last night – who would win season three of The Celebrity Apprentice?

Bret Michaels was in the final two (with Holly Robinson Peete), and appeared live despite finding himself back in the hospital last week due to recent complications following a massive brain hemorrhage last month. And he won it all.

For those lamenting former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich’s expulsion from Celebrity Apprentice, fear not: it did not mean expulsion from the limelight. Blagojevich held a press conference yesterday in anticipation of his criminal trial, but he was no longer the poet son of Kipling of 2008. This new Blago was all macho— defending his wife’s honor and challenging Attorney General Patrick Fitzgerald to “man up” and come to court with him.

Here’s a bit of localized media scrutiny: NY1′s travel segment, “Travel with Val,” which specializes in finding good deals within the city, did an extensive review of Donald Trump’s new SoHo hotel, complete with astronomical hotel prices, a TV show plug and reminders of how the hotel is helping the job market. At what point does a travel segment become an advertisement?

America shed a tear for Governor Rod Blagojevich last night when he was plucked out of Donald Trump’s recession nightmare The Celebrity Apprentice for courageously defending Bret Michaels’ work ethic. But Blago only gave the nation about 12 hours to mope before he was back on TV announcing his triumphant return to public office, which is a bold declaration to make when you’ve been banned for life from serving in your home state.

Taking a refreshing vacation from the serious issues facing Washington today (tickle fights), the Morning Joe team indulged in some network cross-promotion as Donald Trump crash-landed onto the show to promote the new season of Celebrity Apprentice premiering this Sunday. And what an interview it was: he praised Rod Blagojevich, he called for the retraction of Al Gore‘s Nobel Peace Prize (“I’m not supposed to use hair spray!”), he hit on Mika Brzezinski.

Before former Chicago Governor Rod Blagojevich begins his run on NBC’s reality show Celebrity Apprentice, he stopped by CBS’ Late Show with David Letterman for some cross-network promotion.

Blago got his shot at Letterman’s top 10 list – “questions asked himself before appearing on Celebrity Apprentice.”

Turns out Eliot Spitzer may not be the only disgraced former governor to make a living teaching ethics to college students. Former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich, quite possibly the most desperate unemployed man in America, has landed a gig doing the same at Northwestern University, where the undergraduate community is ready to give him a hero’s welcome. And they might just have a point.

For the average unemployed American (one of every ten of us, at this point), finding a job is a rigid process. But former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich is not your average jobless American, and he’s on the prowl with a kitchen-sink approach to impressing potential bosses that has led him to dabble in everything from authoring books to impersonating Elvis to trying out for a bevy of celebrity reality TV shows.