Is Dan Bilzerian Really Running For President?

You're forgiven if you don't know Dan Bilzerian's name already. But if things go according to his supposed plan, you will soon. Bilzerian is an American poker player often dubbed the "King of Instagram" for sharing photos of his lavish lifestyle, very NSFW images, and his cats. He is known for hanging out with celebs at crazy parties. He is known for throwing a porn star off of a roof for a magazine shoot and injuring her in the process. Oh, and Dan Bilzerian may be running for president of the United States.

It is hard to say whether it's true that he's running or not, though. Of course, stranger things have happened in this great country, so one crazy guy announcing he's running for presidency is not entirely out of the question. But considering Bilzerian does not exactly take himself seriously on social media, it could easily be a joke, too. After all, his name has not appeared on any official lists of potential candidates, like the New York Times list or the list on the Politics 1 website, a comprehensive guide to all potential candidates since 1997. Also, for what it's worth, he hasn't even been listed on the U.S. Presidential Election 2016 Wikipedia page. So it does not look like he has officially entered the race at this point. But he has been using social media to hint that he will be, which has fueled some speculation.

After all, Bilzerian is promoting the hashtag, #Bilzerian16. And the link on the tweet above does, in fact, lead to a website that sells "Bilzerian 2016" t-shirts and tank tops. (By the way, his website is named Rowdy Gentleman. Interesting...) But then again, pretty much anyone can make a t-shirt with any slogan they want to, even for a fake presidency. Heck, I own a "Vote Dr. Sheldon Cooper for President" shirt, and not only is he not running for president, he's not even real. And in a way, Bilzerian's antics on Instagram sort of give him a persona that's not unlike a character you would see on TV. Not only that, but anyone can make up any hashtag they want to even if it's meaningless. Think of all those celebrity death hoaxes started by "RIP" hashtags gone wrong.

On top of that, Bilzerian has also posted the photo above that seemed to endorse Republican Presidential candidate Rand Paul, while oddly still using the #Bilzerian16 hash tag. Though he's gotten a large favorable response from his following, I'm not sure his followers even know what's going on here. It's a pretty confusing situation. Who knows? Maybe he'll enter his name at the last possible second — which would actually make sense seeing as one must be 35 to run for president, and Bilzerian will turn 35 in December 2015 — or request that his followers write-in his name on the ballot. Maybe (this is more likely) this is all one elaborate joke. It's definitely worth being skeptical.