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.
Should Trump Supporters to Declare They Will Not Vote for an Establishment Candidate?
I am seeing a growing trend among people at Ricochet and I think this is reflective of certain types of voters. It boils down to this:
“I know too many people who will not vote Trump no matter what. Any other GOP candidate will win, but not Trump”.
This has me thinking. The only way for this to be true is if enough Republicans will vote for any nominee other than Trump and Trump voters will vote for any nominee. In short, the Trump voters are expected to behave like Republican masses have always behaved and be good little boys and girls and line up behind the establishment’s picked candidate, while the establishment Republicans will follow the Never Trump playbook.
There are four outcomes as I see it:
- Trump wins the primary and loses the election; the establishment GOP will breathe a sigh of relief, and go back to ignoring the Trump voters’ needs. Trump does his best to address them in the diminished way he can.
- Trump wins the Primary and wins the election; the establishment GOP works against Trump even harder than they did in his first term. They continue to ignore the needs of the Trump voters and look forward to the day that Trump cannot run again (maybe they impeach him again) and they can “take back their party.”
- Trump loses the Primary and another GOP Candidate wins; the establishment GOP will breathe a sigh of relief, and go back to ignoring the Trump voters’ needs.
- Trump loses the Primary and the Democrat wins; the establishment GOP blames Trump and the Trump voters for the losses and further ignores the Trump voters’ needs.
Note that in no outcome does the GOP establishment ever address the needs of the Trump voters. There is absolutely no outcome where the voters get to feel their “betters” care about them at all. However, in one of these three, the GOP establishment does get back into power, which is what they want more than anything. It is clear that GOP establishment does not really want to stop the Democrats. We know this based on their past actions. Trump got more done to further a conservative agenda than the GOP establishment has ever done. Remember, the GOPe are the people who used Bush I to start repudiating Reagan immediately.
So, what should the Trump voter do? I wonder what would happen if the Trump voters all refused to vote for anyone else. Well, we know what would happen: The GOP candidate would lose. It would make sure that #4 came to pass. It would not address the needs of the Trump voters, but remember, that is off the table. They will never be addressed by the GOPe, and if Trump is not the nominee, they are already assured to be ignored. How can they not be ignored? It is simple: Exert their power.
The Trump voters can explore the option of refusing to support any GOPe candidate. There is no shame in that. National Review itself started the Never Trump movement. Withholding support for Trump or even voting for Hillary Clinton was approved by the many on the conservative side of the aisle. Indeed, the right came up with a scheme to deny the voices of 95% of the voters with Evan McMullin. That is how desperate the GOPe is to get into power just a little bit longer. Reminds me of the dying Federalist Party.
So, I think Trump voters might start to say, “Our guy or the highway.” If Trump wins the primary, he has a chance to win; if he does not, there is no chance. While I personally still plan to vote against the Dems, I am not advocating this at the moment. However, I do think it is an interesting thought. Maybe what has to happen to have an effective opposition party (and the GOP has been in opposition since Reagan, even when in power), the GOP has to be rent asunder.
Food for thought!
Published in General
From 2016:
https://ricochet.com/336496/nevertrump-and-good-faith/
Unfortunately.
I wonder how many GOPe there are. I know a lot of the candidates and office holders are, as well as the pundits. But what percentage of Republican-leaning voters are?
I’ll vote for someone who can distinguish themselves from a democrat with enough fortitude to withstand attack and not apologizing or equivocating on their statements. In other words, someone who confidently takes positions oppositional to everything that has occurred since Trump was elected and boldly and unapologetically stands up for the American people – even the ones they don’t really like. This isn’t about the candidate, it’s about the voters.
If no one can pull it off, I’m not voting.
What has DeSantis done to get the GOPe rope around his neck? Reduced regulation of education too much? Took on Disney? Opened up Florida too early? Talked too much about how he wants to take down the admin state? Don’t Trump folks want this? Trump actually did a good job re: energy and reducing regs. DeSantis will do the same. With no mean tweets.
Not waited was the first thing.
Attacking Trump while simultaneously not speaking on anything he or Trump has done that voters liked would be #2
Being the donor magnet like Jeb is #3
What if I want mean Tweets from DeSantis? People make way too much of mean Tweets. So tired of the “play nice” contingent when our enemies seek to imprison us . . . or kill us.
If DeSantis started delivering the mean tweets to Democrats, his approval ratings would rise.
This is assumed. That is the nature of low propensity voters.
Trump is running away with the nomination. It isn’t really even a race. This is because 1) the so- called GOPe is not influential, and 2) the anti- Trump, non-GOPe are not numerous.
This seems to be the most important factor.
There are a couple of candidates that are Banana Republicans. Should one of them win the nomination, I don’t plan to vote for them. I put Christie, Pence, Haley, Hutchinson, Burgum, and Scott in those group.
There are some candidates that I would NOT call Banana Republicans and if one of them were to secure the nomination, then I might vote for them. I put DeSantis and Ramaswamy in this category.
Then there is Trump. I am inclined to vote for him should he win the nomination just to shoot the bird at the Banana Republicans and the Democrats.
I would lump Ramaswamy and DeSantis into your option 3 and I would not expect the Bana Republicans to then address the needs of Trump voters.
When Vivek said climate change/ global warming is a hoax, he was booed. Pence, Christie, and Hutchison hurt the Republican cause last night.
Huh. I would have stood up and cheered loudly.
The people who booed at this? They can go become Democrats. Republicans need to stop pandering to them. Their brains are broken and they are too fickle to be trusted to vote properly.
Good reminder
I like the mean tweets.
But more seriously, I don’t expect anyone to win the GOP nomination and not be GOPe. DeSantis is busy working with GOPe now, so I go with what I see.
I thought there was applause, not boos. I’ll have to see if I can find a clip of that…
Nope, you’re right. He was booed.
I listened to an evening drive-time talk show that presented this same question to a political strategist. She didn’t buy it and said if you look at the numbers reflecting dissatisfaction with what is going on and with the Biden administration, the “unelectable” thing just doesn’t ring with truth. I believe the strategist’s name was Reagan Harrison.
It seems a reasonable position. I understand how/why people perceive the margins as razor thin. We’ve been told they’re narrow because it serves a purpose, including, for some, creating urgency to simply get people to go out and vote.
This is the reality, even if it doesn’t represent all Trump voters. My impression from the last six-and-a-half years is the Trump-only voters represent at least twice the number of the anyone-but-Trump folks. There is another, related thing: if the people fighting against this shift insist the party return to what it was, then the GOP will wither and die.
There is an opportunity here, perhaps best represented by Georgia State Representative Mesha Mainor. She sees the Republican Party as a “bigger tent” with more viewpoints allowed. She seems focused on solutions for her community, and the breaking point for her with the D’s was school choice. Do you understand? She sees this party as one that tries to solve problems, even if the solutions are not always agreed upon.
We’re at a point where perception of the GOP brand is something more dynamic than it’s ever been in my lifetime, and yet we have influential people fighting to drag it backward. Don’t put your value in a name, this current coalition has the potential to grow and reshape the political landscape, whether it be called “Republican” (my hope) or otherwise. The craziness of what is presented to us as “normal” created this moment. Are we up to it?
Ridiculous.
I didn’t mean to jump in this thread, but what the heck.
My wife was a MAGA Trump voter way before Trump. At least 20 years ago, she was where we all are now on illegal immigration, abortion, government spending, nutty education policies, etc., etc. She eventually pulled me over from the more “moderate” conservative side of the aisle. We both voted enthusiastically for Trump in both elections.
You know what she says now? “I’m sick and tired of Trump.”
Sorry, but that tells me he can’t win again.
Let’s analyze this . He alienated half of the base by not waiting . As long as Trump is on the field , DeSantis can’t win the nomination .
You strike when your iron is hot . His was not , at this time . In 4 years as long as he still did a good job as Gov . The nomination would have been his for the taking .
Just a horribly bad call on his part . He is most likely destined to join Scott Walker now .
Or maybe it means she’s ~20 years ahead on that too. And the rest of us will be tired of Trump in ~20 years.
He had deep pockets pushing him to do it. I’m not saying it’s any less of a bad call, just that the situation would suggest urgency in the opportunity. Deep Pockets should have thought it out, and some of DeSantis’s statements in the past couple of weeks seem similarly not well thought out, and not reflective of the person we’ve watched as Governor of Florida.
Love this
Since he’s term limited out pretty soon, he should be going for vice president. Get Trump to make him border czar like Kamala, put Trump’s policies back in place (we already know they will work), and come up with one new policy to add. When the new policies work, as we know they will, he’s a hero in perfect position for ’28.
And it’s because people like me see the injustices being perpetrated against Trump and recognize that we’re next. The only other Republican I would vote for is one who speaks to this issue. Vivek comes closest.
Does not address the point of this post.
Exactly. He should be touting Trump’s policies that made life better for Americans and speak to the injustices being perpetrated by Democrats. He should be running for VP.
He was just (last year) re-elected Governor for another 4-year term (they’re not in sync with the presidential cycle) and in 4 years he’ll be out of office just in time to start campaigning for the 2028 presidential election. Which he can focus on 100% since he won’t have governor responsibilities any more.
Or, the people of Florida have every right to expect their just-relected governor to focus on doing that job, not looking for the next one.
Well it sort of does. It is an argument to not vote for whomever she wants to vote for who is not Trump.
The stronger the Trump rejection, the stronger the argument to not vote for the GOPe candidate.
I am sick and tired of the GOPe.