Five former presidential candidates even more ridiculous than Donald Trump

Leonard “Live Forever” Jones

Years active: 1840s – 1860s.

Founder and sole member of the “High Moral” party, Jones was an eccentric who insisted he was immortal. He ran in every presidential election from the early 1840s through the 1860s. When Abraham Lincoln was assassinated, Jones said it was in divine punishment for voters not electing him to the presidency. Jones drew large crowds to his speeches, during which he would jump around waving a hickory cane and pounding it on a table. Sadly, he failed to live up to his beliefs, dying in 1868 at the age of 71.

Homer Tomlinson

Years active: 1952, 1960, 1964, 1968.

Tomlinson founded the Church of God and gave himself the title of bishop. He also founded the Theocratic Party and planned to bring about the kingdom of God on earth by getting members of his church elected to public office. His platform consisted of replacing taxes with tithing, establishing Bible studies and prayer in schools and creating a variety of faith-based cabinet posts, including “Secretary of Righteousness” and “Secretary of the Holy Bible.”

After never coming close to winning a presidential election, he set his sights on an even higher office. In the mid 1960s he moved to Jerusalem and began donning a gold-painted crown and proclaiming himself “King of the World.”

Lyndon LaRouche

Years active: 1976 – 2004

LaRouche has the distinction of running for U.S. president in the most successive elections, eight. He ran once for his own U.S. Labor party and seven times for the Democratic Party nomination. In 1992, having been convicted of fraud related to fundraising, LaRouche became the second person in history to run for president from a prison cell (though there would be a third twenty years later; more on that below).

In the 2000 Democratic primaries, LaRouche received 53,280 votes — 22 percent of the total — in Arkansas. And in 2004, according to the Federal Election Commission, he had more individual contributors to his campaign than any other candidate until John Kerry surpassed him in the final quarter of the primary campaign. He also launched the LaRouche movement, a network that promotes his ideas, including the colonization of Mars.

Vermin Supreme

Years active: 2008, 2012, 2016

An American performance artist and activist, Vermin Supreme is known for wearing a boot as a hat and carrying a large toothbrush. His political platform includes mandating that people brush their teeth and promoting zombie apocalypse awareness and time travel research. He also promises a free pony to every American.

After running for president as a Republican in 2008, Supreme campaigned as a democrat in 2012. Supreme participated in several debates with other lesser-known candidates. He did enough to be listed as a candidate on the 2012 Democratic Party primary ballot in New Hampshire and received 1.4 percent of the vote in the Iowa Democratic caucuses. In May, Supreme announced his intention to run for president again in 2016.

Inmate No. 11593-051

Years active: 1996-2012

Keith Russell Judd, aka Inmate No. 11593-051, won 41 percent of the vote in the 2012 Democratic primary in West Virginia. At the time, Judd was an inmate at the Beaumont Federal Correctional Institution in Beaumont, Texas, where he was serving a 210-month prison sentence for extortion.

A self-proclaimed Rastafarian/Christian Democrat, Judd paid the $2,500 presidential filing fee, but failed to get on the ballot in any other states. Because he won at least 15 percent of the vote in West Virginia, Judd qualified to have a delegate at the Democratic National Convention.

Judd’s surprisingly strong performance was widely viewed as an indication of anti-Obama sentiment in West Virginia, where even many Democratic officeholders were reluctant to endorse the president. Judd has reportedly been released from prison. There’s no word yet on whether he plans to run in 2016.

Daniel Allott is the Washington Examiner’s Deputy Commentary Editor