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Devoting an entire column to the political aspirations of Kevin O’Leary — the inveterate loudmouth who you know, and likely do not love, from his time on the CBC business competition program Dragons’ Den and its U.S. variant, Shark Tank — would have seemed like a complete waste of time just a few short months ago.

Thanks, Donald Trump.

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Now that a racist, misogynist American billionaire has essentially made it impossible to write off even the most unlikely of candidacies for higher office, we cannot so easily discard O’Leary’s public flirtation with seeking the leadership of the Conservative Party of Canada in the political Dumpster where it so richly belongs.

If this whole O’Leary spectacle has managed to slip your radar so far — and if so, I both congratulate you and apologize for ruining your bliss — here is the Coles Notes version of the Coles Notes version: Last month, O’Leary told the CBC he was considering a bid to replace Stephen Harper as leader of the Conservatives, who are currently being led by Alberta MP Rona Ambrose. Since then, the brash businessman has been making the media rounds to pump up his pitch, framing himself as a business-savvy outsider who is the perfect antidote to the chummy, sunny ways currently pulling the strings in Ottawa.