The central question facing the American empire in 2018 is whether Donald Trump has permanently broken U.S. politics or if the nation can revert to a country full of staid, run-of-the-mill public servants. Signs don't look good: For one, even liberals now want Oprah Winfrey to run for president, which is a horrible idea.

Now there's this: Roger Stone, an admitted liar and Trump confidant, claims he wants Terry Bollea — AKA Hulk Hogan, AKA the Hulkster, AKA the guy who was banished from professional wrestling after getting caught on tape saying the N-word, AKA the person who sued Gawker into dust — to run against Bill Nelson and presumably Rick Scott for Florida's open U.S. Senate seat.

As with all things Stone, it's impossible to tell if he's serious or trying to distract people from his very current legal woes. But he also takes credit for being the first person to push Trump to run for president, so who in hell knows?

"At the moment, I am more focused on persuading Hulk Hogan, whose real name is Terry Bollea, to challenge Gov. Rick Scott for the U.S. Senate nomination in 2018," Stone said in an "exclusive" interview with Florida political consultant Patrick Slevin. "At a minimum, I hope to convince Hogan to body-slam Scott in every debate. If the governor is under the impression that his personal responsibility for $1 billion in Medicaid fraud is no longer an issue, he’s wrong."

Of course, it's never quite possible to tell when Stone is trolling. For example: TMZ cornered him last year and let him blabber on-camera that there'd be a second Civil War if Trump were impeached. The Netflix documentary Get Me Roger Stone, which is an absolute must-watch, chronicles his multiplus-decade lying spree, which dates back to when he wet his ears as a young political fixer during the Watergate scandal. He has spent his entire career trolling for publicity. There's a reason he's on InfoWars so often.

But is it possible that Stone is actually telling the truth here? If we suspend logic for a second (one could argue logic has been suspended since Trump took office), Hogan might have an outside shot, in that he's famous and is used to saying outlandish things before crowds of angry white men. Given that Hogan was recorded complaining that his daughter Brooke was dating a black man and "fucking niggers," Hogan would probably have to run as an out-and-out white supremacist — but, sadly, that might not disqualify him throughout Florida. Neither would Hogan's malicious, Peter Thiel-funded lawsuit against the left-leaning news site Gawker, which infamously put the once-popular website out of business.

Technically, the only person who has admitted to running for Florida's U.S. Senate seat in 2018 is Democratic incumbent Bill Nelson. Although Nelson has been a D.C. legislator since 1978 — one year before Hogan even joined what was then called the World Wrestling Federation — the faux athlete absolutely has better name recognition statewide than Nelson. Scott, Florida's current governor and once-and-future goblin lord, hasn't actually announced a 2018 Senate run but will surely do so. He very well might beat Nelson — it's still not clear if Stone was serious when he said Hogan would "body-slam Scott in every debate."

New Times messaged Stone yesterday evening asking him to elaborate, but he has yet to respond. For now, please enjoy this leaked audio footage of Hulk Hogan dropping the N-word a bunch of times.