Oh, Donald Trump. America’s favorite birther. Self-credited with heavy handing Obama into releasing his birth certificate, Donald Trump rode his moment of national glory to the end. Or at least, as far as it could go. And now he’s stuck on to the GOP presidential field like a barnacle.

Though the public has answered the question of whether Trump matters with a resounding “no” he still keeps popping up in the news. In late September, Fox News released the results of a poll that indicated only 6 percent of voters would be more likely to vote for a candidate if Trump endorsed them. In fact, twice as many Republicans say they would be less likely to vote for someone if Trump endorsed them.

But for some reason, all the candidates are scrambling to meet with him. Perry dined on a white table cloth with him, Romney hid from the press in order to snag a face to face with him and Bachmann had breakfast with him. It’s mind boggling.

I’m going to continue to believe that the candidates just want his money (he is, after all, worth $2.9 billion), because somehow that makes me feel better than the alternative of them believing he is a legitimate person to glean advice and guidance from.

But hey, who am I to judge? The candidates seem to be making quite a show of being seen with him, maybe he has some hidden knowledge that none of us are privy to. Bachmann even had him come on a tele-town hall to have a chat with her supporters.

He stopped just short of endorsing her.

“She’s a terrific person. She’s a terrific woman. She’s a smart woman,” Trump said of Bachmann. “She’s respected by everyone. She’s universally respected by the other candidates.”

The truth of that statement is, and I’ll tread carefully here, a stretch at best. But in any case, it demonstrates how much weight Bachmann still puts in a man whose only backing for his fronted political gravitas is forcing an American citizen to show the world his birth certificate.

Trump is still keeping the birther issue alive, by the way. In a recent interview with Piers Morgan, he alluded to the idea that the birth certificate Obama released might be a forgery and said that it was still undetermined as to whether he had been born in the hospital listed on his birth certificate. He also advocated that Rick Perry keep up the birther talk through the primary season.

Whatever.

But hey, should the candidates not persuade Trump to toss his oh-so-sought-after support their way, he still fancies a run himself.

“If they pick someone who’s really not the right candidate, and the economy continues to do badly, then I will absolutely get in,” he said of the current GOP field to NBC. But he’ll run as an independent, and will invariably split of (even if only a few) points from the Republican candidate making it even more difficult for them to beat our smooth-talking president.

Oh Trump.

Jessica Huseman is a double journalism and political science major graduating in December. She can be reached for comment at [email protected].