Surveying the Wreckage of Hurricane Trump

 

Noah Rothman has an interesting look at Donald Trump’s candidacy, and how it has turned around the Democrat tactic of pining for the “Republicans of old.”

With Donald Trump’s defeat all but assured, the left has become bizarrely resentful of their own effective messaging against the Republican nominee. “There will be no accountability for Trump, for what he has wrought and almost wrought. It will disappear down the George W Bush memory hole,” mused MSNBC host Chris Hayes ruefully. “I think the scale, scope and depth of the disastrousness of his presidency has been weirdly forgotten.”

The Democrats have thrown everything but the kitchen sink at Trump, and there will be few attempts in the future to look back at his candidacy as a paragon of GOP virtue. This presents an opportunity for the GOP to forge their own narrative for the future. Unless things change dramatically between now and November 8, the Republicans are going to have even more of a blank slate to work with than they did in 2016 and 2012.

The obvious front-runners are Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, and whoever picks up the banner from Donald Trump. This provides a good opportunity to form a fresh narrative about what the GOP stands for, rather than than what we oppose. Our candidate in 2020 will be able to run free from the comparisons to the Republicans of the past and set his or her own agenda. It will better be an agenda based on growth and expanded liberty, or else we are certainly doomed to fail once again.

Democrats, however, face an even bigger challenge when it comes to their candidate for 2024 (or possibly 2020), because aside from Tim Kaine, who do they have that is Presidential timber? Their lack of quality candidates for Senate races this year is so obvious even the New York Times has noticed it, and the best they could run against Hillary was Bernie Sanders, an aging Socialist who isn’t even a real Democrat.

That’s the problem with machine politics: Buying off votes and dirty political tricks work well when the machine is built around the goal of keeping one person in power for as long as possible. But once that person is gone, the machine quickly breaks down. The Hillary machine works really well when it’s devoted to electing Hillary, but after it has completed its mission, it serves no purpose. It will leave a huge power vacuum inside the Democratic Party, with no one standing by to take up where it left off.

The Republicans have a blank slate when it comes to their choice of a future presidential candidate. The Democrats, however, have an empty cupboard to chose from.

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  1. Viator Inactive
    Viator
    @Viator

    Kevin Creighton: With Donald Trump’s defeat all but assured,

    October 20th 2016
    LA Times Tracking Poll -Trump 44.4, Clinton 43.8

    October 20th
    IBD/TIPP Tracking Poll – Trump 41, Clinton 40 (one of the most accurate tracking polls of 2012 cycle)

    October 21 –  “Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey of Likely U.S. Voters finds Trump with a 43% to 41% lead over his Democratic rival. Five percent (5%) favor Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson, while Green Party nominee Jill Stein earns three percent (3%) support. Another three percent (3%) like some other candidate, and five percent (5%) are undecided.”

    The polls have cognitive dissonance a mile wide. There is a +10 difference in many polls. At some point in the very near future these differences will have to be reconciled. No polling company wants to known as the company that missed it by ten points. Since many of the polling companies have MSM and Democrat connections I expect the polls have been manipulated to favor Hillary. The polling companies want their last few polls to be as close as possible to the final outcome. Watch large shifts in the polls begin to appear, probably favoring Trump.

    I expect the next comment would be – but it’s not a national referendum it’s a state by state referendum.

    Let’s see how those various swing state polls adjust to reality in the next two weeks or so.

    • #1
  2. Pseudodionysius Inactive
    Pseudodionysius
    @Pseudodionysius

    Decius at American Greatness had a quite amusing comment on Noah Rothman in his latest article.

    • #2
  3. Kevin Creighton Contributor
    Kevin Creighton
    @KevinCreighton

    Viator: Let’s see how those various swing state polls adjust to reality in the next two weeks or so.

    I want to believe, I really do, because I believe that this country will be better off with Trump in charge that an unconnected felon like Hillary.

    But I held out hope after hope in 2012, only to my hopes crushed on election night. Yes, miracles happen, but not often. That’s why they’re called “miracles”. :D

    • #3
  4. Basil Fawlty Member
    Basil Fawlty
    @BasilFawlty

    Kevin Creighton: Democrats, however, face an even bigger challenge when it comes to their candidate for 2024 (or possibly 2020), because aside from Tim Kaine, who do they have that is Presidential timber?

    Tim Kaine is Presidential timber?

    • #4
  5. Basil Fawlty Member
    Basil Fawlty
    @BasilFawlty

    Pseudodionysius:Decius at American Greatness had a quite amusing comment on Noah Rothman in his latest article.

    I don’t read Decius any longer. Jonah Goldberg thinks he’s mean.

    • #5
  6. Viator Inactive
    Viator
    @Viator

    Anybody catch the Trumpster’s  keynote speech today in Gettysburg, PA. about his plans for his first 100 days in office?

    Does anybody think that might make a difference in the 2016 election cycle result?

    https://assets.donaldjtrump.com/CONTRACT_FOR_THE_VOTER.pdf

     

     

     

    • #6
  7. Kevin Creighton Contributor
    Kevin Creighton
    @KevinCreighton

    Basil Fawlty:

    Kevin Creighton: Democrats, however, face an even bigger challenge when it comes to their candidate for 2024 (or possibly 2020), because aside from Tim Kaine, who do they have that is Presidential timber?

    Tim Kaine is Presidential timber?

    He’s the best they’ve got, which is roughly equivalent to being the best hockey player in Ecuador.

    • #7
  8. Kevin Creighton Contributor
    Kevin Creighton
    @KevinCreighton

    Viator:Anybody catch the Trumpster’s keynote speech today in Gettysburg, PA. about his plans for his first 100 days in office?

    Does anybody think that might make a difference in the 2016 election cycle result?

    https://assets.donaldjtrump.com/CONTRACT_FOR_THE_VOTER.pdf

    Follow up question, does anyone think that for the next three weeks, the news will be about anything other than Trump’s character flaws?

    • #8
  9. I Walton Member
    I Walton
    @IWalton

    Whether someone is Presidential timber means less all the time.  Obviously Trump isn’t.  Hillary isn’t even scrub brush, but Democrats control the machines, the message delivery and the messages and more than half of the population will believe anything they’re told because they don’t know anything else.  Reminds me of Fahrenheit 451.

    • #9
  10. DocJay Inactive
    DocJay
    @DocJay

    Our next president , barring a death,  will be Corey Booker in 2020 with Obamas full weight behind him.    The cheating and manipulation will be on the scale of this election or more and that will effectively give our country 20 years of dems.

     

    • #10
  11. Viator Inactive
    Viator
    @Viator

    Kevin Creighton: Follow up question, does anyone think that for the next three weeks, the news will be about anything other than Trump’s character flaws?

    Of course not, just look at the DNC echo chamber – I mean NBC, MSNBC, CBS, NY Slimes, WaPoo, etc – and their reporting on his speech at Gettysburg. I’m not sure that matters in the long run, the long run being November 8th. Something is afoot. We shall see. I expect some people are going to be surprised, it might even be me. We might see the word ‘unexpectedly” a lot.

    • #11
  12. Quake Voter Inactive
    Quake Voter
    @QuakeVoter

    I think we are consoling ourselves with some rhetorical balm right now.

    I know I do.

    A foul, inept clown Democrat just knocked out every starter on our team (let alone the bench) easier than Bruce Lee dispatched John Derbyshire.

    Presidential politics isn’t about having a deep bench.  It’s not football; more like figure skating.  Our vaunted deep bench actually hurt us this year.

    The Democrats didn’t have a deep bench in 2008.  They had a updated Lurleen Wallace and a political superstar.

    We have one five-tool political talent:  Marco Rubio.  What did anyone see in anyone else this year?  I know what I didn’t see from Walker:  fire in the belly.  “Thank Gaaaaawd for the great state of” will never win more than 180 electoral votes.

    Democrats have Gillibrand, Klobuchar, Hickenlooper, Warner, Booker and Harris.  Laugh, but someone like Cuomo could win back much of the aggrieved thug-Trump vote.

    Add in a few million amnestied voters and a few million enfranchised felons and the Dems will be just fine.

    They were poised for a generational knockout right after the First Gulf War, but we let them off the ropes.

     

    • #12
  13. Six Days Of The Condor Inactive
    Six Days Of The Condor
    @Pseudodionysius

    Basil Fawlty:

    Kevin Creighton: Democrats, however, face an even bigger challenge when it comes to their candidate for 2024 (or possibly 2020), because aside from Tim Kaine, who do they have that is Presidential timber?

    Tim Kaine is Presidential timber?

    You make the most cutting remarks.

    • #13
  14. Six Days Of The Condor Inactive
    Six Days Of The Condor
    @Pseudodionysius

    Basil Fawlty:

    Pseudodionysius:Decius at American Greatness had a quite amusing comment on Noah Rothman in his latest article.

    I don’t read Decius any longer. Jonah Goldberg thinks he’s mean.

    Well, that settles it then.

    • #14
  15. Six Days Of The Condor Inactive
    Six Days Of The Condor
    @Pseudodionysius

    Any dog that is under 50 pounds is a cat Jun 13 02:05 UTC 2013

    • #15
  16. Frank Soto Member
    Frank Soto
    @FrankSoto

    Basil Fawlty:

    Pseudodionysius:Decius at American Greatness had a quite amusing comment on Noah Rothman in his latest article.

    I don’t read Decius any longer. Jonah Goldberg thinks he’s mean.

    Thinks he’s wrong and a coward would be more accurate.

    • #16
  17. Publius Inactive
    Publius
    @Publius

    The GOP had a blank slate to work with this time around and they made a flaming mess of it. I don’t have any confidence in their ability to do much different in 2020, but the GOP primary voters did set the bar spectacularly low this time around.

    I will be surprised if Ted Cruz is a major figure next time around.  He had a really unique gift for misreading the political winds every singular time he had to make a decision. Beclowning himself with the late Trump endorsement just before things managed to get even worse for Trump was par for the course for him this year.

     

    • #17
  18. Publius Inactive
    Publius
    @Publius

    Quake Voter: Democrats have Gillibrand, Klobuchar, Hickenlooper, Warner, Booker and Harris. Laugh, but someone like Cuomo could win back much of the aggrieved thug-Trump vote.

    Correct. You don’t need a deep bench. You just need one good candidate.  The GOP illustrated how having too many candidates can lead to disaster.

    • #18
  19. Basil Fawlty Member
    Basil Fawlty
    @BasilFawlty

    Frank Soto:

    Basil Fawlty:

    Pseudodionysius:Decius at American Greatness had a quite amusing comment on Noah Rothman in his latest article.

    I don’t read Decius any longer. Jonah Goldberg thinks he’s mean.

    Thinks he’s wrong and a coward would be more accurate.

    Sounds mean to me.

    • #19
  20. Man With the Axe Inactive
    Man With the Axe
    @ManWiththeAxe

    My wife and I watched Trump’s speech today.

    I agreed with pretty much every proposal he made, excepting his trade stances, which I’ve always opposed.

    We both agreed that Trump, reading a prepared speech on policy, could easily win our votes. If that were Trump entire, he would have the votes of every Republican and would win in a landslide.

    Then, ironically, we picked up Peggy Noonan’s article today in the WSJ, in which she put forth this idea: “Imagine a Sane Donald Trump.” She describes the various reasons she sees him as a nut, all of which I agree with, and then suggests that if he were sane he’d win in a walk.

    Her article is very much worth reading.

    • #20
  21. Cato Rand Inactive
    Cato Rand
    @CatoRand

    Basil Fawlty:

    Kevin Creighton: Democrats, however, face an even bigger challenge when it comes to their candidate for 2024 (or possibly 2020), because aside from Tim Kaine, who do they have that is Presidential timber?

    Tim Kaine is Presidential timber?

    That was my first thought.

    • #21
  22. Cato Rand Inactive
    Cato Rand
    @CatoRand

    Kevin Creighton:

    Viator:Anybody catch the Trumpster’s keynote speech today in Gettysburg, PA. about his plans for his first 100 days in office?

    Does anybody think that might make a difference in the 2016 election cycle result?

    https://assets.donaldjtrump.com/CONTRACT_FOR_THE_VOTER.pdf

    Follow up question, does anyone think that for the next three weeks, the news will be about anything other than Trump’s character flaws?

    No.  He’s long since disqualified himself.  Nobody has any reason to give him the benefit of any doubts anymore.  Other than his diehards, most of the country is just praying for this nightmare to end and Trump to get the heck off the stage so we can all take a shower and forget about him.

    • #22
  23. DocJay Inactive
    DocJay
    @DocJay

    Cato Rand:

    Kevin Creighton:

    Viator:Anybody catch the Trumpster’s keynote speech today in Gettysburg, PA. about his plans for his first 100 days in office?

    Does anybody think that might make a difference in the 2016 election cycle result?

    https://assets.donaldjtrump.com/CONTRACT_FOR_THE_VOTER.pdf

    Follow up question, does anyone think that for the next three weeks, the news will be about anything other than Trump’s character flaws?

    No. He’s long since disqualified himself. Nobody has any reason to give him the benefit of any doubts anymore. Other than his diehards, most of the country is just praying for this nightmare to end and Trump to get the heck off the stage so we can all take a shower and forget about him.

    Barring overt evidence of treason or Hillghazi getting choked out on a hair ball I expect it’s all over but the crying.

    • #23
  24. TKC1101 Member
    TKC1101
    @

    Viator:Anybody catch the Trumpster’s keynote speech today in Gettysburg, PA. about his plans for his first 100 days in office?

    Does anybody think that might make a difference in the 2016 election cycle result?

    Yes I did catch a speech by Mr Trump. Yes I do believe it can. It will be a test of his ability to get that out via social media channels.

    I found it compelling and cogent in listing the challenge. He summed up the elite screw job well, and it will resonate. I expect if one identifies as an elite, they would dismiss it.

    Will it win? It can, but it will all come down to enthusiasm and turnout and cheating.

     

    • #24
  25. Basil Fawlty Member
    Basil Fawlty
    @BasilFawlty

    Cato Rand:No. He’s long since disqualified himself. Nobody has any reason to give him the benefit of any doubts anymore. Other than his diehards, most of the country is just praying for this nightmare to end and Trump to get the heck off the stage so we can all take a shower and forget about him.

    No. She’s long since disqualified herself. Nobody has any reason to give her the benefit of any doubts anymore. Other than her diehards, most of the country is just praying for this nightmare to end and Clinton to get the heck off the stage so we can all take a shower and forget about her.

    • #25
  26. Cato Rand Inactive
    Cato Rand
    @CatoRand

    Basil Fawlty:

    Cato Rand:No. He’s long since disqualified himself. Nobody has any reason to give him the benefit of any doubts anymore. Other than his diehards, most of the country is just praying for this nightmare to end and Trump to get the heck off the stage so we can all take a shower and forget about him.

    No. She’s long since disqualified herself. Nobody has any reason to give her the benefit of any doubts anymore. Other than her diehards, most of the country is just praying for this nightmare to end and Clinton to get the heck off the stage so we can all take a shower and forget about her.

    That too.  Unfortunately, that’ll mean a 4 year wait.

    • #26
  27. Six Days Of The Condor Inactive
    Six Days Of The Condor
    @Pseudodionysius

    Frank Soto:

    Basil Fawlty:

    Pseudodionysius:Decius at American Greatness had a quite amusing comment on Noah Rothman in his latest article.

    I don’t read Decius any longer. Jonah Goldberg thinks he’s mean.

    Thinks he’s wrong and a coward would be more accurate.

    • #27
  28. Basil Fawlty Member
    Basil Fawlty
    @BasilFawlty

    Cato Rand:

    Basil Fawlty:

    Cato Rand:No. He’s long since disqualified himself. Nobody has any reason to give him the benefit of any doubts anymore. Other than his diehards, most of the country is just praying for this nightmare to end and Trump to get the heck off the stage so we can all take a shower and forget about him.

    No. She’s long since disqualified herself. Nobody has any reason to give her the benefit of any doubts anymore. Other than her diehards, most of the country is just praying for this nightmare to end and Clinton to get the heck off the stage so we can all take a shower and forget about her.

    That too. Unfortunately, that’ll mean a 4 year wait.

    8.

    • #28
  29. Publius Inactive
    Publius
    @Publius

    Cato Rand: That too. Unfortunately, that’ll mean a 4 year wait.

    Eight if the GOP primary voters haven’t learned anything this time around.

    • #29
  30. Amy Schley Coolidge
    Amy Schley
    @AmySchley

    Publius:

    Cato Rand: That too. Unfortunately, that’ll mean a 4 year wait.

    Eight if the GOP primary voters haven’t learned anything this time around.

    Y’all think she’s going to make it eight years? Frankly, I’ll be surprised if she lives through 2020. The stress of the presidency ages all of them faster, and she already looks bad for her age. Look at recent photos George W and Jeb, for example — they look more than 7 years apart in age.

    http://insider.foxnews.com/2016/02/15/exclusive-jeb-and-george-w-bush-sit-down-hannity

    • #30
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