As we begin the 2016 election season, there are plenty of respectable, serious Republican candidates for conservatives to consider supporting for President. Donald Trump is not one of them, but that hasn’t stopped him from trying. He’s speaking at CPAC this year, and yesterday, the Washington Post ran a story on his still nascent campaign. Here’s what they tell us:

The billionaire real-estate mogul, who has long amounted to a one-man sideshow in GOP presidential politics, said in an interview Wednesday that he is “more serious” than ever about pursuing a run for the White House in 2016.

In recent days, Trump said, he has hired staffers in key primary states, retained an election attorney and delayed signing on for another season as host of NBC’s “The Celebrity Apprentice” because of his political projects.

“Everybody feels I’m doing this just to have fun or because it’s good for the brand,” Trump said in an interview with The Washington Post. “Well, it’s not fun. I’m not doing this for enjoyment. I’m doing this because the country is in serious trouble.”

That Trump quote they provide is a large part of why he’s an unserious candidate for President, even if he wants to mount a real run. His brief flirtation with a run in 2011 was so silly that he’s still struggling to over come it. First of all, when he is remembered at all for his political actions, he is usually associated with his obsession with the Obama birth certificate conspiracy theories. Beyond that, he is remembered for promising to drop a bombshell on Obama’s college records, which ended up being an offer of $50 million for the President to release them. Asking questions about our President’s time in college is entirely legitimate. The way Trump attempted to force Obama to divulge them is not.

Even setting aside these distractions from serious debate, Trump has done numerous politically questionable things in his past. Among other things, he’s given money to numerous Democrats, including Charlie Rangel, Ted Kennedy, [mc_name name=’Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV)’ chamber=’senate’ mcid=’R000146′ ], Chuck Schumer, Tom Daschle, Joe Biden (during his days as a Senator), and Rahm Emanuel. While some of these could be written off as the efforts of a businessman to secure support from members of both parties, some of these checks were written as late as 2010, when the thought of running for President in 2012 had to be weighing heavily on his mind. He’s also flip-flopped on quite a few issues, including abortion, universal healthcare, and guns. While it’s not technically political, his extravagant lifestyle also makes Mitt Romney look blue collar by comparison.

At any rate, I hope this is the last time I have to write about Donald Trump on the front page at RedState. There’s a whole slew of reasons why he should not be considered a serious candidate. I’ve only elaborate upon the major ones here. The only way he’ll get my support is if he inexplicably becomes the Republican nominee.