George Will is one of these characters who's (1) obsessed with Trump's awfulness and (2) sees nothing else. (1) is understandable but (2) is childish and dangerous -- something Will would have seen when he was younger. Life is choosing, and if Will sees virtue in choosing senile Joe Biden, fine , let him say so out loud and join the campaign.
I fear that the only question we get to ask this time is whether, everything considered, Biden and the hate-America Party he leads is worse than Trump and the increasingly dopey Party he leads. It's not happy-making in the slightest, but it sure seems to me that the answer is yes, Biden and his Party are worse.
There are many many Many things I don't Get. Right near the top in the last 7 yeas is Why really Smart people like George Will (Jonah Goldberg Bill Kristol, Max Boot, etc) don't Get Donald Trump. Yes he (the public Trump)is crude, thin skinned, got a huge ego that he has trouble controlling) BUT he was also a VERY GOOD CENTER/Right Republican President.
Great post. The only quarrel I have is the blessing to keep Haley in the fight. Now she's doing nothing but (maybe) weakening Trump, and likely weakening her in the long run. It wouldn't take long memories for Republicans to remember in 2028 that Haley stayed on the battlefield long after the battle was lost, with no discernible goal other than weakening Trump as the candidate of what she claims is still her party. They might also remember that Haley pledged to support the candidate of her party, whoever that may be, a pledge she's apparently thrown on the scrap heap. Jim Dueholm
I agree that Trump will not stop the Left. The Left will stop the Left. It will do this because it's drunk with its fortuitous success, and is unable to see the downsides of its increasingly shrill campaign against whites, Jews, straights, normal family life, actual learning in school, anyone who achieves or succeeds, anyone who thinks there aren't 17 different genders, anyone who doesn't want his kid's chances in life to get tanked by reparations in all its 50,000 forms, anyone who fully supports Israel and its fight against barbarism rather than just pretending to support it when the lights are on, etc.
Boy do I hope you are right. All I can see is people begging for an alternative and seeing Trump and his cohorts and holding their noses and staying with the Democrats.
DeSantis is almost too sensible a pick and he hasn't entirely burned his shaky rope bridge to Trump; and he won't drink the January 6 Kool-Aid, so he'd be my first choice, although it would be an arm's-length marriage that might result in some embarrassment to the ticket from time to time. Haley has probably burned hers. Noem gives me Palin schpilkes but at least she hasn't taken a strong position on the legitimacy of the 2020 election . Scott's prospects seem to have diminished in recent days but he'd be ok. While I don't give Trump high marks for brights, he's probably smart enough not to pick someone too much like him, eliminating Vance and Ramaswamy. Stefanik has waffled on January 6, and, as you know, Bill, I'm big on ad hominem candidate evaluations (why I was skeptical that DeSantis would make a dent) and she doesn't pass the Kardashian test (i.e., someone who intrinsically excites interest despite previous status as an unknown). Byron Donalds -- no, no, no. Tulsi Gabbard -- a bit of a cipher to me, some good, some kooky, some bad. Is Glenn Youngkin a definite no? Or is he hedging his bets for 2028?
If it isn't DeSantis, I don't really have a second choice.
I have no proof of this, but it has been my assumption that in states where anyone can vote in the GOP primary, many Democrats show up and vote for Trump. He is the most beatable GOP candidate, and the only Democrat he can beat is Biden. Democratic voters know this.
If Biden steps down -- either before the election, or by declining to accept the nomination -- then two things will happen: (1) Biden will be hailed as a statesman with his act of singular self-sacrifice, and (2) the Democratic candidate, even if it is Kamala Harris, will be swept into office on a tide of undeserved good will nurtured by relief that the Democrats have given the country someone other than Biden to vote for instead of Trump.
Hi Steve -- Ain't gonna happen, and if it did, the polling pretty strongly suggests that Trump would beat cacklin' Kamala. Indeed, one of the main reasons almost the entire Dem establishment continues to stick with Joe is that it knows Kamala would fare even worse on election day than it looks like Joe will.
Bill, I know what the polls say -- but the polls ask about an isolated matchup. If Biden resigns in advance of the convention, making Kamala president, the seismic ripples of relief over ending the anguish that Biden's presidency and candidacy have engendered, and the resulting MSM reassessment of Kamala's virtues (v. Trump's daily misbehavior), would doom him.
The good news is, as you say -- ain't gonna happen. He doesn't want to go, and the people who benefit from being in the circle of the presidency don't want him to go. Unless he dies or suffers some truly debilitating cerebral accident between now and then, we're going to have a matchup that will depend (my opinion) on his VP pick.
Who do you think his best pick would be? On the merits, I would go with DeSantis or Haley, but I doubt the merits will count much. I think it will be Stefanik or Scott, either of whom would be OK.
George Will is one of these characters who's (1) obsessed with Trump's awfulness and (2) sees nothing else. (1) is understandable but (2) is childish and dangerous -- something Will would have seen when he was younger. Life is choosing, and if Will sees virtue in choosing senile Joe Biden, fine , let him say so out loud and join the campaign.
I fear that the only question we get to ask this time is whether, everything considered, Biden and the hate-America Party he leads is worse than Trump and the increasingly dopey Party he leads. It's not happy-making in the slightest, but it sure seems to me that the answer is yes, Biden and his Party are worse.
There are many many Many things I don't Get. Right near the top in the last 7 yeas is Why really Smart people like George Will (Jonah Goldberg Bill Kristol, Max Boot, etc) don't Get Donald Trump. Yes he (the public Trump)is crude, thin skinned, got a huge ego that he has trouble controlling) BUT he was also a VERY GOOD CENTER/Right Republican President.
Great post. The only quarrel I have is the blessing to keep Haley in the fight. Now she's doing nothing but (maybe) weakening Trump, and likely weakening her in the long run. It wouldn't take long memories for Republicans to remember in 2028 that Haley stayed on the battlefield long after the battle was lost, with no discernible goal other than weakening Trump as the candidate of what she claims is still her party. They might also remember that Haley pledged to support the candidate of her party, whoever that may be, a pledge she's apparently thrown on the scrap heap. Jim Dueholm
Trump has managed to puncture the chances of stopping the left consistently since 2018. He will continue with this streak.
I agree that Trump will not stop the Left. The Left will stop the Left. It will do this because it's drunk with its fortuitous success, and is unable to see the downsides of its increasingly shrill campaign against whites, Jews, straights, normal family life, actual learning in school, anyone who achieves or succeeds, anyone who thinks there aren't 17 different genders, anyone who doesn't want his kid's chances in life to get tanked by reparations in all its 50,000 forms, anyone who fully supports Israel and its fight against barbarism rather than just pretending to support it when the lights are on, etc.
Boy do I hope you are right. All I can see is people begging for an alternative and seeing Trump and his cohorts and holding their noses and staying with the Democrats.
DeSantis is almost too sensible a pick and he hasn't entirely burned his shaky rope bridge to Trump; and he won't drink the January 6 Kool-Aid, so he'd be my first choice, although it would be an arm's-length marriage that might result in some embarrassment to the ticket from time to time. Haley has probably burned hers. Noem gives me Palin schpilkes but at least she hasn't taken a strong position on the legitimacy of the 2020 election . Scott's prospects seem to have diminished in recent days but he'd be ok. While I don't give Trump high marks for brights, he's probably smart enough not to pick someone too much like him, eliminating Vance and Ramaswamy. Stefanik has waffled on January 6, and, as you know, Bill, I'm big on ad hominem candidate evaluations (why I was skeptical that DeSantis would make a dent) and she doesn't pass the Kardashian test (i.e., someone who intrinsically excites interest despite previous status as an unknown). Byron Donalds -- no, no, no. Tulsi Gabbard -- a bit of a cipher to me, some good, some kooky, some bad. Is Glenn Youngkin a definite no? Or is he hedging his bets for 2028?
If it isn't DeSantis, I don't really have a second choice.
I have no proof of this, but it has been my assumption that in states where anyone can vote in the GOP primary, many Democrats show up and vote for Trump. He is the most beatable GOP candidate, and the only Democrat he can beat is Biden. Democratic voters know this.
If Biden steps down -- either before the election, or by declining to accept the nomination -- then two things will happen: (1) Biden will be hailed as a statesman with his act of singular self-sacrifice, and (2) the Democratic candidate, even if it is Kamala Harris, will be swept into office on a tide of undeserved good will nurtured by relief that the Democrats have given the country someone other than Biden to vote for instead of Trump.
Hi Steve -- Ain't gonna happen, and if it did, the polling pretty strongly suggests that Trump would beat cacklin' Kamala. Indeed, one of the main reasons almost the entire Dem establishment continues to stick with Joe is that it knows Kamala would fare even worse on election day than it looks like Joe will.
Bill, I know what the polls say -- but the polls ask about an isolated matchup. If Biden resigns in advance of the convention, making Kamala president, the seismic ripples of relief over ending the anguish that Biden's presidency and candidacy have engendered, and the resulting MSM reassessment of Kamala's virtues (v. Trump's daily misbehavior), would doom him.
The good news is, as you say -- ain't gonna happen. He doesn't want to go, and the people who benefit from being in the circle of the presidency don't want him to go. Unless he dies or suffers some truly debilitating cerebral accident between now and then, we're going to have a matchup that will depend (my opinion) on his VP pick.
Correction, final phrase: "on Trump's VP pick."
Who do you think his best pick would be? On the merits, I would go with DeSantis or Haley, but I doubt the merits will count much. I think it will be Stefanik or Scott, either of whom would be OK.
I think Kristi Noem has a good shot at the VP nomination.