Talk Me into Supporting Trump Again

 

This came up today.

As Donald J. Trump weighs whether to open an unusually early White House campaign, a New York Times/Siena College poll shows that his post-presidential quest to consolidate his support within the Republican Party has instead left him weakened, with nearly half the party’s primary voters seeking someone different for president in 2024 and a significant number vowing to abandon him if he wins the nomination.

By focusing on political payback inside his party instead of tending to wounds opened by his alarming attempts to cling to power after his 2020 defeat, Mr. Trump appears to have only deepened fault lines among Republicans during his yearlong revenge tour. A clear majority of primary voters under 35 years old, 64 percent, as well as 65 percent of those with at least a college degree — a leading indicator of political preferences inside the donor class — told pollsters they would vote against Mr. Trump in a presidential primary.

Let’s have a discussion.  Should we, or should we not, encourage Mr. Trump to run again?

If he runs again, should we support him in the primaries over Mr. DeSantis, Mr. Cruz, Ms. Noem, others?

I take it as a given that all but one of us would support him in the general, if we are unfortunate enough to have him win the nomination.

My opinion (as someone who loves the man for his outspoken love of country and for all the good he did despite the array of forces stacked against him) is that we should not encourage him, not support him against other Republicans, but fall in line if he does get the nomination.  My logic is that his history makes him toxic.  He is likely the only candidate whom Mr. Biden could defeat.  If elected, he would be even more ineffective than he was in 2017, when he used a historic alignment of forces to accomplish no major legislation, to appoint three sterling justices, to move an embassy, and to otherwise do nothing of lasting importance.  Also, if re-elected, he could not stand for a third term of office.

Talk me out of it.

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  1. Cassandro Coolidge
    Cassandro
    @Flicker

    Fake John/Jane Galt (View Comment):

    Why not run Obama on a platform of Shut Up You Racist! and winning 500 percent of the vote? After that he would make all Republicans transition by force, nuke Israel, and eat your parrots.

    Finish your fleas and parrots first, son.

    • #151
  2. Stina Inactive
    Stina
    @CM

    Cassandro (View Comment):

    Django (View Comment):

    Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio… (View Comment):

    Locke On (View Comment):

    As things stand, I would support DeSantis over Trump, were DeSantis to run.

    That said, I would happily vote for Trump again if he were the nominee, and I’d be ecstatic for a Trump/DeSantis ticket. Four years to break things, and eight to remake them.

    Reason for the ranking: In spite of ‘the very best people’, Trump’s greatest weakness was in recruiting and qualifying staff members and agency heads. This left him vulnerable to being played and/or undermined in areas beyond the view or competence of himself, his family, or his closest allies. To be sure, this was as much a fault of the GOP establishment’s giving him the cold shoulder as it was his, but that was part of the environment and his task to overcome. I rate Trump as a D on overall personnel.

    What would change my mind is some evidence that Trump recognizes this limit and has a plan to overcome it. Perhaps a collection of gray hairs near the end of their careers, who has no illusions left and are willing to spend four years of agony to save the country from the unelected elites before they drive us to civil war.

    ETA: Under no circumstances would I vote for a Dem nominee.

    How do you think that DeSantis would evaluate the situation? Would he run against Trump?

    I doubt it. I think that if Trump decides to run, DeSantis would realize that opposing him would be a bad move politically, no matter which of them received the nomination. Trump’s bound to be Trump, and will vigorously campaign against any challenger.

    It seems to me that the wiser choice for DeSantis, if Trump decides to run, is to strongly support Trump and position himself for the VP position. I think that this would be attractive to Trump, too, as DeSantis is well-positioned at present as Trump’s most likely successor.

    Obviously, this is speculation, but it seems to make sense to me. What do you think?

    Agree.

    A couple of ricochetti have said Trump would “go scorched Earth” against DeSantis if DeSantis runs. My crystal ball is currently under repair, but my best guess is that would turn a lot of supporters against Trump — me, for one — and guarantee a Demo-rat win in 2024.

    I don’t even know what “scorched earth” means in this context. Trump embraced former foes, once elected.

    Yeah… he played to win, but attempted to be a good sport after winning. I’m not entirely certain I’d describe him as dirty, either. He used stuff widely available to the public, not personal campaign oppo research.

    • #152
  3. BDB Inactive
    BDB
    @BDB

    Hoyacon (View Comment):

    BDB (View Comment):

    Hoyacon (View Comment):

    Ekosj (View Comment):

    Hoyacon (View Comment):

    Ekosj (View Comment):

    I’ve said this elsewhere …

    I don’t expect there to be a Trump 2nd term. Neither do I expect there to be Republican victory in 2024. Trump is too polarising a figure. If he runs, his candidacy will energise his opponents like no one else can. His detractors are legion and they will crawl over broken glass to vote against him. That includes Never-Trump Republicans.

    On the other hand, if Republicans nominate anyone else, DeSantis Youngkin… anyone …there is a contingent of Trump supporters who I think of as Only-Trumpers who will sit on their hands. That will be enough to tip the election to the Democrats.

    We might prevail in the House and Senate, but not the White House.

    This seems to overlook the quality, or lack thereof, of the Democratic candidate, as well as the present state of the economy. They cannot simply throw anyone out there and expect to win, although I agree that Trump would bring a lot of negatives.

    Quality? They ran FJB and Willie Brown’s side chick

    With an incredible (should we say fraudulent) campaign apparatus that overwhelmed the opposition with the country reeling from a pandemic. I have serious doubts that happens again

    Why on earth would it not?

    Better preparation by the Republicans and a diminished response to the pandemic. It’s already happened in Wisconsin. Speculation that Democrats will just find new ways to cheat is just that.

    Nothing succeeds like success.  I don’t think the Ds need to find new ways to cheat — the old ways are working just fine.  Mail-in voting is alive and well, and drop-box stuffing is hardly under control.  unless we mean under Democrat control.  Manufactured or over-inflated crises do not disappear when they are not allowed to “go to waste”.  No need to stop cheating just because the most recent cover story for cheating is no longer making hea– what’s that?  A new variant?  Well, yes, it is the mid-terms.

    • #153
  4. BDB Inactive
    BDB
    @BDB

    Cassandro (View Comment):

    Fake John/Jane Galt (View Comment):

    Why not run Obama on a platform of Shut Up You Racist! and winning 500 percent of the vote? After that he would make all Republicans transition by force, nuke Israel, and eat your parrots.

    Finish your fleas and parrots first, son.

    I regret that I have but one like to give.

    • #154
  5. TBA Coolidge
    TBA
    @RobtGilsdorf

    Stina (View Comment):

    Cassandro (View Comment):

    Django (View Comment):

    Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio… (View Comment)

    How do you think that DeSantis would evaluate the situation? Would he run against Trump?

    I doubt it. I think that if Trump decides to run, DeSantis would realize that opposing him would be a bad move politically, no matter which of them received the nomination. Trump’s bound to be Trump, and will vigorously campaign against any challenger.

    It seems to me that the wiser choice for DeSantis, if Trump decides to run, is to strongly support Trump and position himself for the VP position. I think that this would be attractive to Trump, too, as DeSantis is well-positioned at present as Trump’s most likely successor.

    Obviously, this is speculation, but it seems to make sense to me. What do you think?

    Agree.

    A couple of ricochetti have said Trump would “go scorched Earth” against DeSantis if DeSantis runs. My crystal ball is currently under repair, but my best guess is that would turn a lot of supporters against Trump — me, for one — and guarantee a Demo-rat win in 2024.

    I don’t even know what “scorched earth” means in this context. Trump embraced former foes, once elected.

    Yeah… he played to win, but attempted to be a good sport after winning. I’m not entirely certain I’d describe him as dirty, either. He used stuff widely available to the public, not personal campaign oppo research.

    Sometimes a person will discover that another person rubs him the wrong way, and will attempt but fail to put the ‘why’ into words. 

    That is what happens with Trump. 

    And the ‘whys’ simply make no sense. 

    • #155
  6. CarolJoy, Not So Easy To Kill Coolidge
    CarolJoy, Not So Easy To Kill
    @CarolJoy

    Fake John/Jane Galt (View Comment):

    CarolJoy, Not So Easy To Kill (View Comment):

    The second paragraph of the article that you cited is this one:

    By focusing on political payback inside his party instead of tending to wounds opened by his alarming attempts to cling to power after his 2020 defeat, Mr. Trump appears to have only deepened fault lines among Republicans during his yearlong revenge tour. A clear majority of primary voters under 35 years old, 64 percent, as well as 65 percent of those with at least a college degree — a leading indicator of political preferences inside the donor class — told pollsters they would vote against Mr. Trump in a presidential primary.

    I think a great many Republicans are upset with Trump not for his insisting that he won the election, but for his continuing to promote the vaccines.

    Also many people are upset he did not fire Fauci, and Birx and for that matter, maybe execute an Presidential Order that HCQ plus zinc and ivermectin be made available to the public. (As I type this, rumor has it Biden is going to create a federal mandate for vaccinating everyone – even though the natural cases of COV are subsiding.)

    I am upset with him for not following Eisenhower and JFK’s example and putting Fed troops on the line at the very beginning of the 2020 Summer of Rampage Because We Are Grieving.

    States’ rights end when individual citizens are being harmed by a governor’s attitude or the out of control activities of a mob within a state. It doesn’t matter if it is black children being the first kids to attend white Southern schools, or shop owners in inner city neighborhoods – if a governor will not protect the citizens, the President can and must intervene

    So you are for the POTUS going in and forcing abortion on the states? Rights are funny things. One person rights is another repression

    Does a person have to bring up anti-abortion, pro-life sentiments  in every statement in order to pass muster with some here?

    Very very tiresome. And in the way you set up my denouncement, rather looking like your “logical argument” is from the big book of logical fallacies.

     

     

    • #156
  7. Fake John/Jane Galt Coolidge
    Fake John/Jane Galt
    @FakeJohnJaneGalt

    Bob Thompson (View Comment):

    Fake John/Jane Galt (View Comment):

    I am upset with him for not following Eisenhower and JFK’s example and putting Fed troops on the line at the very beginning of the 2020 Summer of Rampage Because We Are Grieving.

     

    If you are referring to school segregation , federal troops were deployed because minority civil rights were being violated by state authority, very different from failure to act responsibly in the Summer of Rampage. As a matter of fact there is a continuing case of this by DA’s in Ca and NY today and no reason for federal intervention, it is a state matter or a matter for individual legal action.

    I have no clue what you are talking about.  I did not post that line and thus will not defend it.  

    • #157
  8. Fake John/Jane Galt Coolidge
    Fake John/Jane Galt
    @FakeJohnJaneGalt

    Cassandro (View Comment):

    Fake John/Jane Galt (View Comment):

    Why not run Obama on a platform of Shut Up You Racist! and winning 500 percent of the vote? After that he would make all Republicans transition by force, nuke Israel, and eat your parrots.

    Finish your fleas and parrots first, son.

    A:  not my comment.  Not sure what is up with people putting my name on others comments here.

    B: fleas?  parrots are not much on fleas, mites on the other hand sure.  

    • #158
  9. Fake John/Jane Galt Coolidge
    Fake John/Jane Galt
    @FakeJohnJaneGalt

    CarolJoy, Not So Easy To Kill (View Comment):

    Fake John/Jane Galt (View Comment):

    CarolJoy, Not So Easy To Kill (View Comment):

    The second paragraph of the article that you cited is this one:

    By focusing on political payback inside his party instead of tending to wounds opened by his alarming attempts to cling to power after his 2020 defeat, Mr. Trump appears to have only deepened fault lines among Republicans during his yearlong revenge tour. A clear majority of primary voters under 35 years old, 64 percent, as well as 65 percent of those with at least a college degree — a leading indicator of political preferences inside the donor class — told pollsters they would vote against Mr. Trump in a presidential primary.

    I think a great many Republicans are upset with Trump not for his insisting that he won the election, but for his continuing to promote the vaccines.

    Also many people are upset he did not fire Fauci, and Birx and for that matter, maybe execute an Presidential Order that HCQ plus zinc and ivermectin be made available to the public. (As I type this, rumor has it Biden is going to create a federal mandate for vaccinating everyone – even though the natural cases of COV are subsiding.)

    I am upset with him for not following Eisenhower and JFK’s example and putting Fed troops on the line at the very beginning of the 2020 Summer of Rampage Because We Are Grieving.

    States’ rights end when individual citizens are being harmed by a governor’s attitude or the out of control activities of a mob within a state. It doesn’t matter if it is black children being the first kids to attend white Southern schools, or shop owners in inner city neighborhoods – if a governor will not protect the citizens, the President can and must intervene

    So you are for the POTUS going in and forcing abortion on the states? Rights are funny things. One person rights is another repression

    Does a person have to bring up anti-abortion, pro-life sentiments in every statement in order to pass muster with some here?

    Very very tiresome. And in the way you set up my denouncement, rather looking like your “logical argument” is from the big book of logical fallacies.

     

     

    No just a point that civil rights, human rights or just rights are slippery definitions.  Nowadays it basically means what I want to do.  Thus the mention of abortion.  It is a right by most peoples point of view though one would be hard pressed to find anything historically that points to it.

    • #159
  10. BDB Inactive
    BDB
    @BDB

    Fake John/Jane Galt (View Comment):

    Cassandro (View Comment):

    Fake John/Jane Galt (View Comment):

    Why not run Obama on a platform of Shut Up You Racist! and winning 500 percent of the vote? After that he would make all Republicans transition by force, nuke Israel, and eat your parrots.

    Finish your fleas and parrots first, son.

    A: not my comment. Not sure what is up with people putting my name on others comments here.

    B: fleas? parrots are not much on fleas, mites on the other hand sure.

    It’s a bug.

    • #160
  11. CarolJoy, Not So Easy To Kill Coolidge
    CarolJoy, Not So Easy To Kill
    @CarolJoy

    Fake John/Jane Galt (View Comment):

    CarolJoy, Not So Easy To Kill (View Comment):

    Fake John/Jane Galt (View Comment):

    CarolJoy, Not So Easy To Kill (View Comment):

    The second paragraph of the article that you cited is this one:

    By focusing on political payback inside his party instead of tending to wounds opened by his alarming attempts to cling to power after his 2020 defeat, Mr. Trump appears to have only deepened fault lines among Republicans during his yearlong revenge tour. A clear majority of primary voters under 35 years old, 64 percent, as well as 65 percent of those with at least a college degree — a leading indicator of political preferences inside the donor class — told pollsters they would vote against Mr. Trump in a presidential primary.

    I think a great many Republicans are upset with Trump not for his insisting that he won the election, but for his continuing to promote the vaccines.

    SNIP

    I am upset with him for not following Eisenhower and JFK’s example and putting Fed troops on the line at the very beginning of the 2020 Summer of Rampage Because We Are Grieving.

    States’ rights end when individual citizens are being harmed by a governor’s attitude or the out of control activities of a mob within a state. It doesn’t matter if it is black children being the first kids to attend white Southern schools, or shop owners in inner city neighborhoods – if a governor will not protect the citizens, the President can and must intervene

    So you are for the POTUS going in and forcing abortion on the states? Rights are funny things. One person rights is another repression

    Does a person have to bring up anti-abortion, pro-life sentiments in every statement in order to pass muster with some here?

    Very very tiresome. And in the way you set up my denouncement, rather looking like your “logical argument” is from the big book of logical fallacies.

     

     

    No just a point that civil rights, human rights or just rights are slippery definitions. Nowadays it basically means what I want to do. Thus the mention of abortion. It is a right by most peoples point of view though one would be hard pressed to find anything historically that points to it.

    Everyone here has weighed in on abortion. Often and repeatedly as needed.

    Very few people here in the USA know that 200 people were killed in the Summer Rampages that occurred from May 29th ’20 right up to the time when Rittenhouse defended himself and shut the Left Up.

    And that was under Trump. Should another event set off a second round of more Rampage, we now have Biden, who assuredly will give those who do the most damage and commit the most murders  presidential awards.

     

    • #161
  12. Cassandro Coolidge
    Cassandro
    @Flicker

    Fake John/Jane Galt (View Comment):

    Cassandro (View Comment):

    Fake John/Jane Galt (View Comment):

    Why not run Obama on a platform of Shut Up You Racist! and winning 500 percent of the vote? After that he would make all Republicans transition by force, nuke Israel, and eat your parrots.

    Finish your fleas and parrots first, son.

    A: not my comment. Not sure what is up with people putting my name on others comments here.

    B: fleas? parrots are not much on fleas, mites on the other hand sure.

    A: It was OmegaPaladin, sorry about that.

    B: Fleas are the poor people’s crickets.

    • #162
  13. Doctor Robert Member
    Doctor Robert
    @DoctorRobert

    CarolJoy, Not So Easy To Kill (View Comment):

    Very few people here in the USA know that 200 people were killed in the Summer Rampages that occurred from May 29th ’20 right up to the time when Rittenhouse defended himself and shut the Left Up.

    And that was under Trump. Should another event set off a second round of more Rampage, we now have Biden, who assuredly will give those who do the most damage and commit the most murders  presidential awards.

    This is worth noting well.  Thanks CarolJoy.

    • #163
  14. Mowgli Coolidge
    Mowgli
    @Mowgli

    Doctor Robert (View Comment):

    Mowgli (View Comment):

    Here is my 2024 Dream Team:

    DeSantis / Haley – Ticket shows there are grown ups in the room who are young, thoughtful, experienced and can communicate.

    Pompeo – Sec of State who successfully didn’t start wars (with Condi Rice as special aide for Russia negotiations)

    Cotton – Sec Def

    Allen West – Sec Homeland (build the wall)

    Thomas Massie – Sec of Energy (get the pipelines built, nuclear fast tracked)

    Scott Walker – Sec of Transport (fix supply chains – dock worker unions)

    John Campbell – Sec of Treasury

    Bobby Jindal – Sec HHS w/ special mandate to lead changes in CDC, FDA to prevent another COVID disaster.

    Shellenberger – Sec of HUD (author of SanFransicko)

    DeVos – Sec Education

    Laura Ingram – Press Secretary

    Almost perfect. Substitute Ann Coulter for Laura Ingram and I’m on board!

    That’s a great pick too!  I can almost see James Lyleks in the role twisting every question into a talking point (instead of an ad).

    • #164
  15. Saint Augustine Member
    Saint Augustine
    @SaintAugustine

    Mowgli (View Comment):

    Doctor Robert (View Comment):

    Mowgli (View Comment):

    Here is my 2024 Dream Team:

    DeSantis / Haley – Ticket shows there are grown ups in the room who are young, thoughtful, experienced and can communicate.

    Pompeo – Sec of State who successfully didn’t start wars (with Condi Rice as special aide for Russia negotiations)

    Cotton – Sec Def

    Allen West – Sec Homeland (build the wall)

    Thomas Massie – Sec of Energy (get the pipelines built, nuclear fast tracked)

    Scott Walker – Sec of Transport (fix supply chains – dock worker unions)

    John Campbell – Sec of Treasury

    Bobby Jindal – Sec HHS w/ special mandate to lead changes in CDC, FDA to prevent another COVID disaster.

    Shellenberger – Sec of HUD (author of SanFransicko)

    DeVos – Sec Education

    Laura Ingram – Press Secretary

    Almost perfect. Substitute Ann Coulter for Laura Ingram and I’m on board!

    That’s a great pick too! I can almost see James Lyleks in the role twisting every question into a talking point (instead of an ad).

    Can we toss some Larry Kudlow in there?

    • #165
  16. Suspira Member
    Suspira
    @Suspira

    Doctor Robert: Should we, or should we not, encourage Mr. Trump to run again?

    No, no, no, no, no. That would be madness. Please, Republican primary voters, don’t throw away this golden opportunity. Find someone younger and saner than our version of Captain Ahab to support.

    • #166
  17. TBA Coolidge
    TBA
    @RobtGilsdorf

    Suspira (View Comment):

    Doctor Robert: Should we, or should we not, encourage Mr. Trump to run again?

    No, no, no, no, no. That would be madness. Please, Republican primary voters, don’t throw away this golden opportunity. Find someone younger and saner than our version of Captain Ahab to support.

    No. 

    Besides, he’s more of a whale. 

    • #167
  18. JAW3 Coolidge
    JAW3
    @JohnWilson

    I Walton (View Comment):

    We will lose if we dump Trump, but would probably lose if we run him. He has to remain the candidate and when the Democrats pick someone other than Biden, Trump leaves and backs the Republican who will probably be De Santis. That’s how we win because the Democrats will manufacture 10 to 20 percent of the vote and if the candidate is Trump too many will ignore the fraud. I don’t think folks understand how the next Presidential election is about the future existence of the US. If Democrats win they will continue to centralize and that will destroy the country. Folks seem to think that the most complex economy in man’s history can be run by a bunch of technocrats or narrow digital companies from the top. That’s insane.

    Sit tight through the Mid Terms.  A lot is going to change, and it just might be for the better politically. Let the people speak in legal elections!

    • #168
  19. Bob Thompson Member
    Bob Thompson
    @BobThompson

    JAW3 (View Comment):

    I Walton (View Comment):

    We will lose if we dump Trump, but would probably lose if we run him. He has to remain the candidate and when the Democrats pick someone other than Biden, Trump leaves and backs the Republican who will probably be De Santis. That’s how we win because the Democrats will manufacture 10 to 20 percent of the vote and if the candidate is Trump too many will ignore the fraud. I don’t think folks understand how the next Presidential election is about the future existence of the US. If Democrats win they will continue to centralize and that will destroy the country. Folks seem to think that the most complex economy in man’s history can be run by a bunch of technocrats or narrow digital companies from the top. That’s insane.

    Sit tight through the Mid Terms. A lot is going to change, and it just might be for the better politically. Let the people speak in legal elections!

    I agree. It is much harder to have widespread massive cheating in the midterms for House seats. We’ll have to see what happens for Senate seats where such cheating can take place in the big Democrat-run cities.. 

    • #169
  20. Mowgli Coolidge
    Mowgli
    @Mowgli

    Saint Augustine (View Comment):

    Mowgli (View Comment):

    Doctor Robert (View Comment):

    Mowgli (View Comment):

    Here is my 2024 Dream Team:

    DeSantis / Haley – Ticket shows there are grown ups in the room who are young, thoughtful, experienced and can communicate.

    Pompeo – Sec of State who successfully didn’t start wars (with Condi Rice as special aide for Russia negotiations)

    Cotton – Sec Def

    Allen West – Sec Homeland (build the wall)

    Thomas Massie – Sec of Energy (get the pipelines built, nuclear fast tracked)

    Scott Walker – Sec of Transport (fix supply chains – dock worker unions)

    John Campbell – Sec of Treasury

    Bobby Jindal – Sec HHS w/ special mandate to lead changes in CDC, FDA to prevent another COVID disaster.

    Shellenberger – Sec of HUD (author of SanFransicko)

    DeVos – Sec Education

    Laura Ingram – Press Secretary

    Almost perfect. Substitute Ann Coulter for Laura Ingram and I’m on board!

    That’s a great pick too! I can almost see James Lyleks in the role twisting every question into a talking point (instead of an ad).

    Can we toss some Larry Kudlow in there?

    I love Larry’s show – I recall he had some health issues when he supported the Trump admin but definitely is a no nonsense steady hand.  Chair of Council of Economic Advisors – advising the DeSantis Administration on economic policy?  Perfect!

    • #170
  21. The Cynthonian Inactive
    The Cynthonian
    @TheCynthonian

    Doctor Robert (View Comment):

    Mowgli (View Comment):

    Here is my 2024 Dream Team:

    DeSantis / Haley – Ticket shows there are grown ups in the room who are young, thoughtful, experienced and can communicate.

    Pompeo – Sec of State who successfully didn’t start wars (with Condi Rice as special aide for Russia negotiations)

    Cotton – Sec Def

    Allen West – Sec Homeland (build the wall)

    Thomas Massie – Sec of Energy (get the pipelines built, nuclear fast tracked)

    Scott Walker – Sec of Transport (fix supply chains – dock worker unions)

    John Campbell – Sec of Treasury

    Bobby Jindal – Sec HHS w/ special mandate to lead changes in CDC, FDA to prevent another COVID disaster.

    Shellenberger – Sec of HUD (author of SanFransicko)

    DeVos – Sec Education

    Laura Ingram – Press Secretary

    Almost perfect. Substitute Ann Coulter for Laura Ingram and I’m on board!

    Ann is much too fickle to be in that position.    She’d get upset over some disagreement and walk off the job. 

    • #171
  22. RushBabe49 Thatcher
    RushBabe49
    @RushBabe49

    One question I would ask of any Republican who runs for President, including Donald Trump.

    If elected, would you, on Day One, repeal the Kennedy Executive Order allowing government employees to unionize?  Anyone who said an unequivocal Yes would have my vote.  No ifs, ands, or buts allowed.  That one EO basically made the Administrative Swamp un-drainable.

    • #172
  23. DrewInWisconsin, Unapologetic Oaf Member
    DrewInWisconsin, Unapologetic Oaf
    @DrewInWisconsin

    The Cynthonian (View Comment):

    Doctor Robert (View Comment):

    Mowgli (View Comment):

    Laura Ingram – Press Secretary

    Almost perfect. Substitute Ann Coulter for Laura Ingram and I’m on board!

    Ann is much too fickle to be in that position. She’d get upset over some disagreement and walk off the job.

    Heck, I’d just ask Kayleigh back. She was awesome.

    • #173
  24. Fake John/Jane Galt Coolidge
    Fake John/Jane Galt
    @FakeJohnJaneGalt

    TBA (View Comment):

    Suspira (View Comment):

    Doctor Robert: Should we, or should we not, encourage Mr. Trump to run again?

    No, no, no, no, no. That would be madness. Please, Republican primary voters, don’t throw away this golden opportunity. Find someone younger and saner than our version of Captain Ahab to support.

    No.

    Besides, he’s more of a whale.

    We did that in 2016 and DJT blew them out of the water.

    • #174
  25. E. Kent Golding Moderator
    E. Kent Golding
    @EKentGolding

    Cassandro (View Comment):

    Fake John/Jane Galt (View Comment):

    Bryan G. Stephens (View Comment):

    Arahant (View Comment):

    There is also the age factor.

    This is big for me.

    I think being a Kingmaker would be great but 2.5 years is a long way away.

    There is that age factor. Especially after watching how Biden’s age is doing to him.

    It’s not his age, so much as his illness. The guy really has a degenerative disease. I’m pretty sure of it.

    Do you really think Biden was EVER any smarter?

    • #175
  26. E. Kent Golding Moderator
    E. Kent Golding
    @EKentGolding

    Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio… (View Comment):

    It seems to me that the wiser choice for DeSantis, if Trump decides to run, is to strongly support Trump and position himself for the VP position.  I think that this would be attractive to Trump, too, as DeSantis is well-positioned at present as Trump’s most likely successor.

    Obviously, this is speculation, but it seems to make sense to me.  What do you think?

    I think DeSantis realizes  the VP position is a bucket of warm urine.   I can see him as President or Governor,  I don’t see him as a VP.

    • #176
  27. Cassandro Coolidge
    Cassandro
    @Flicker

    E. Kent Golding (View Comment):

    Cassandro (View Comment):

    Fake John/Jane Galt (View Comment):

    Bryan G. Stephens (View Comment):

    Arahant (View Comment):

    There is also the age factor.

    This is big for me.

    I think being a Kingmaker would be great but 2.5 years is a long way away.

    There is that age factor. Especially after watching how Biden’s age is doing to him.

    It’s not his age, so much as his illness. The guy really has a degenerative disease. I’m pretty sure of it.

    Do you really think Biden was EVER any smarter?

    If smarter means quicker on the uptake and responding to stimuli, I think he was a lot more verbally facile, and capable of making extemporaneous and appropriate, if uniquely underhanded or mean spirited, statements that made a particular point.  Watching clips of him, even his gaffes, while running for office in 2020 show a much quicker Biden with a much better enunciation and grip on the material.

    The fact that he now has to squint at the teleprompter or the page and take a second to study it to get the superficial sense of his next sentence, and then read it slowly and slur his speech and even misspeak the sentence, shows his recent decline.  I will say that the Dems don’t really care about his deficits except so far as it might make it difficult for him to repeat a creditable race in 2024.

    Maybe Jen pSkai came to a different impression.

    • #177
  28. MarciN Member
    MarciN
    @MarciN

    I just hope that if we go all in for DeSantis in an emotional pitch driven by the Democrats’ hating Trump and our desire to get out of their line of fire by nominating a more socially acceptable candidate, we don’t turn on DeSantis a year into his first term. That seems to be our political habit, and it’s not conducive to attracting talented leaders. I wouldn’t work for us.

    I like the fact that Republicans are critical of their own candidates and elected members. But sometimes our criticisms are simply arbitrary and argumentative for sake of argument rather than objective judgments.

    We will never be happy with any candidate or anyone elected to office if we don’t figure out what we want and what our priorities are.

    I would never work for Donald Trump. He is very harsh with people, and I don’t like being around that. And if he were my employer or client, he would make me very nervous. I don’t agree with him on many subjects, beginning with his negative attitude toward GW, someone I greatly admire. But he did a great many things I wanted to see done, and I agree with him on the really important things like American economics and the Iran Deal and Israel. And his judgment day to day matched mine. In short, I think he was a great president. I got what I wanted. But that’s because I have a clear set of priorities in my head.

    • #178
  29. Hoyacon Member
    Hoyacon
    @Hoyacon

    MarciN (View Comment):

    I just hope that if we go all in for DeSantis in an emotional pitch driven by the Democrats’ hating Trump and our desire to get out of their line of fire by nominating a more socially acceptable candidate, we don’t turn on DeSantis a year into his first term. That seems to be our political habit, and it’s not conducive to attracting talented leaders. I wouldn’t work for us.

    I like the fact that Republicans are critical of their own candidates and elected members. But sometimes our criticisms are simply arbitrary and argumentative for sake of argument rather than objective judgments.

    We will never be happy with any candidate or anyone elected to office if we don’t figure out what we want and what our priorities are.

    I would never work for Donald Trump. He is very harsh with people, and I don’t like being around that. And he would make me very nervous as an employer or client. I don’t agree with him on many things, beginning with his negative attitude toward GW, someone I greatly admire. But he did a great many things I wanted to see done, and I agree with him on the really important things like American economics and the Iran Deal and Israel. And his judgment day to day matches mine. In short, I think he was a great president. I got what I wanted. But that’s because I have a clear set of priorities in my head.

    There is a new New York magazine profile of Trump with an interview—not sure if it’s paywalled—and, if he’s correctly quoted, it’s clear he’s running.  Apparently, he was thinking about announcing on the Fourth, but now may wait until after the mid-terms.  This is a giant elephant in the room, and it seems unlikely that he will play nice with anyone who runs against him.  I would say that it’s less than 50-50 that De Santis goes for it if Trump is in the way.

    • #179
  30. MarciN Member
    MarciN
    @MarciN

    Hoyacon (View Comment):

    There is a new New York magazine profile of Trump with an interview—not sure if it’s paywalled—and, if he’s correctly quoted, it’s clear he’s running. Apparently, he was thinking about announcing on the Fourth, but now may wait until after the mid-terms. This is a giant elephant in the room, and it seems unlikely that he will play nice with anyone who runs against him. I would say that it’s less than 50-50 that De Santis goes for it if Trump is in the way.

    That does not surprise me at all to read.

    Watching Biden, Trump has got to be boiling over.

    I don’t see a solution for the Republican Party. I like DeSantis because his is a new voice and people will listen just for the novelty of it. That’s really important because we’ve become very dysfunctional politically. Neither side listens to the other anymore. I hope DeSantis can break that logjam. We Americans have to work together.

    Or at least I was thinking DeSantis might be able to do that, but I was talking with a Democratic friend of mine last weekend, and I casually mentioned DeSantis, saying I liked the way he handled the pandemic. I received an annoyed and hateful stare in return. “You DO?” It made me realize that some of the pandemic damage the Democrats have already done to DeSantis is pretty serious, and we shouldn’t nominate him with the idea that he is going to go over much better than Trump did.

    I can see advantages to either one, Trump or DeSantis. I’d lean toward Trump right now because I think our problems are economic, not legal. DeSantis is a lawyer. Trump is a businessman.

    • #180
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