Ricochet is the best place on the internet to discuss the issues of the day, either through commenting on posts or writing your own for our active and dynamic community in a fully moderated environment. In addition, the Ricochet Audio Network offers over 50 original podcasts with new episodes released every day.
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.
Published in General
DeSantis has already been demonized by the left. It’s what they do. No true Democrat will have anything good to say about him. I think it’s likely he may appeal more to the undecideds who are tired of Trump, however.
I think the vast majority of Republicans understand that any Republican presidential nominee is going to be denounced as a fascist/racist/misogynist/whatever by the hard left and the media. Just like any Democratic presidential nominee is going to be denounced as a socialist by the hard right. Many of us want someone other than Trump, for our own reasons. It’s not that we think he’s swell but just want someone that the media or Democrats will find palatable. I’m not looking for a candidate that the left will respect. I want someone I can respect.
I’ll go out on a limb and say that the GOPe, NTs, and the rest of the fools who hate Trump will try to persuade DeSantis that he is the one guy who can stop Trump. They will shout from the mountaintops that Trump will lose badly to anyone in 2024, including Slow Joe, so it’s DeSantis’s responsibility to the country to be the GOPe candidate. Otherwise, we’ll be doomed to four more years of a Demo-rat in office, probably Governor Hairstyle. Newsom would be more dangerous than Biden because though he’s wrong about everything, he’s not stupid nor suffering from dementia.
EDIT: Just ran across this.
I don’t agree with creating an equivalency between the Dems accusations against a Republican candidate and the flip side from the hard right as to a Democratic candidate— at least to the extent that the volume of viciousness from the left and the means to convey it is unparalleled.
Who was the last one not a hard leftist?
There is this too; Trump is the only candidate who can’t be called ‘worse than Trump’.
I think Bill Clinton is a reprehensible character. But there was a wide gulf between the Clinton administration and that of an actual socialist like Hugo Chavez. I never liked Barack Obama, but he was not Fidel Castro. If we are going to treat everyone to the left of Gerald Ford as if they are a Marxist, we hardly have room to complain when the left paints us as cartoon villains.
I don’t know that they must be called hard Leftists but any who disagree with the three landmark Constitutional decisions are operating convincingly in favor of centralized government on a scale to be opposed by any who want to support our existing Constitution. The founders provided a way to make changes, that way should be used. The recent Court decisions recognized that we have not been doing that.
I kept trying to catch up on this thread and gave up. But then had the idea of using it as a sampling of intelligent voters (he said somewhat reserved and loosely with a wry smile).
So I scanned through the comments and counted the yeas, nays and comments practicing abstinence.
What I learned:
* A number of those against appear to support or appreciate Trump’s past service but figure he’s played his hand and further effort is in vain.
Don’t eat the green parrots. They give you parrotitis.
Which can lead to parrotsis of the liver.
You joke. But parrotitis is a real thing. And it’s dangerous. It’s just like elephantitis, but smaller.
I would not work for Trump because of Trump. No, I would not work for Trump because of how the rest of American would treat me. I have no problem with bad names but when the Left hunts your family and actively seeks to jail you or black ball you then there is no future in it. Your first responsibility is to yourself and your family. Keeping them safe and whole and giving them a future. Working for an outsider like Trump can eliminate that future in that he does not have big enough coat tails for protection
This is true. It is exactly how the Commies operate the federal bureaucracy. It is especially effective when used to control those who have been elevated to positions just slightly above their capability (an effective use of the Peter Principle). It also works well for those capable people who have established a stable life pattern with family members they support. We have seen this most recently in law enforcement and intelligence agencies like the FBI and the CIA. When coupled with the invocation of a requirement of nondisclosure because of security or investigative process, the people are at a great disadvantage.
I agree completely.
I really don’t know what to do about this. The Democrats waged an ugly war against Trump and his family and friends. It was wild, and the Republicans never stopped them, in part because there was a huge influence of NTs in Washington who welcomed the attacks, I think. It all culminated in the J6 outlandish prosecutions. There was a time not too long ago when protestors who behaved badly were thrown in jail overnight and given a stern talking-to by a judge the next morning, after which they simply went home. Biden’s actions–and that spectacular ridiculous presence of the National Guard troops and the razor wire–have forever changed politics in this country.
Part of me wants to see Trump reelected just to respond somehow to the Biden persecution of Republicans. But another part of me knows that when the Trump administration tries to recruit the people top in their field for his cabinet, they will wisely decline. We could end up with mediocrity.
I don’t see a way out of this mess. There’s dishonor all around. The Democrats waged a war on the Republicans.
About two decades ago, WFB, Jr.’s brother James said that “barring Divine intervention” we’re toast. Back then, I thought he was too pessimistic. Today, I agree. The difference between James and me is that I don’t believe the intervention is coming.
Yes, from my point of view the Communists, Democrats and NT are all cut from the sam back stabbing cloth. Their tactics are the same maybe with a matter of degree.