No political summit involving people who at least claim that they want to run for President would be complete without an appearance by Donald Trump. I’ll give the man one thing… he knows how to put on a show, and I’m not just talking about Celebrity Apprentice. After initially coming out and saying that he would have demolished Barack Obama if he’s stayed with the race the last time he ran, The Donald knew just what sort of red meat to throw to the crowd.

Trump told that crowd that if he runs in 2016, his first order of business will be to build a fence along the southern border.

“We have to build a fence, and it’s gotta be a beauty,” Trump said. “And who can build better than me?” He continued, “If I run, and if I win, I would certainly start by building a very, very powerful fence.”

Who wouldn’t love to see a really nice fence on the Mexican border? And Trump builds a lot of things, so it’s not a stretch to think that he could envision a way to build one. But in terms of how serious he actually is, it all comes down to the art of the deal.

Trump’s political pronouncements and attempts to be taken seriously have become something of a joke among the political and media establishment, but he remains a beloved figure among the grassroots for his lack of inhibition and dry sense of humor.

“I’ve done so many deals, almost all of them have been tremendously successful,” he reminded the crowd. “You’ll see that when I file my statements. You’ll be very proud of me. Obama, what did he do? He did no deal. What deal did he do? A house. And if you did that deal, you’d be in jail.”

There was a time when I might have almost taken Trump seriously about a run for the presidency, but the expiration date on that one expired a long time ago. Even in his first “run” there was very little indication that he was seriously interested in the job. That’s kind of a shame, because he actually does quite well on the debate stage. But for all his bluster, I’ve come to view Trump’s activities pretty much in the same category as Michael Bloomberg’s. They are both in high dollar business ventures, and having people think that you might be running for president is very good for business indeed. (I could include Rudy Giuliani in that category, but I do think he honestly believed he had a shot at it in the past.)

The Donald has made a variety of excuses as to why he didn’t seriously pursue a run last time. These primarily revolved around the fact that he was committed to doing more series of his television show and his ongoing engagements for a golf course and resort. These are what you find more important than becoming leader of the free world and solving the problems besetting the nation? He’s got enough money to mitigate any contract disputes and his daughter could see that the golf course was finished on schedule. I’m sorry, but this is a show, and it’s strictly for suckers. If I wind up being wrong, I’ll happily apologize, but Donald Trump is not running for President in any serious fashion and he knows it. This is all for the cameras and Donald is at his best with a spotlight pointed at him.