Good point about clearing the field, Jim. And that's another interesting thing about the New Hampshire poll -- no one other than Trump and DeSantis showed much support.
It's still early, but I don't Mike Pence or Nikki Haley -- the next two in the poll -- getting much traction. Maybe someone else will emerge, but this may turn out to be essentially a two person race.
Yes, the field was split in '16 and Trump was savvy enough to exploit it while the establishment was foolish enough to discount him. Suppose it is a two person race this time, does that really benefit the challenger to Trump? What's the attack on Trump that doesn't relitigate the past? Is the challenger going to start talking policy?
"Whatever you do, don't throw me into that briar patch." Isn't there an aphorism about preparing for the last war?
What motivates the Trump faithful? Policy? Do establishment Republicans, particularly the anyone-but-Trump-crowd, think that they can win the general without the Trump faithful? What’s the appeal to them, if any? Or, is it just “take it or leave it?” As Mac Stipanovich recently put it: “And we did what every other Republican candidate did: we exploited them. We got them to the polls. We talked about abortion. We promised — and we did nothing. They could grumble, but their choices were limited.” Does the DC GOP really think that world still exists? Do they care?
The next Trump is out there watching and learning. Hope y’all enjoyed the first one. That was the nice one.
In the most pragmatic view, DeSantis would be able to talk about Biden's age and really lay the wood to him. I suppose the cohort is getting smaller that remembers Reagan's second term, but it got ugly. As much as I like Trump's policies and all the wonderful things he did for all the ordinary working people of this country, I am deathly afraid of having a rerun of Reagan's second term.
I strongly agree with everything in this post. If Trump is to be denied the nomination, however, the Republicans can't make the mistake they made in 2016, where Trump got to pick off a welter of contenders one by one. The field would have to be cleared for a non-Trump nominee.
I’m sick of Trump’s drama and baggage. He also has bad judgment. When he was told the National Guard wouldn’t protect the Capital on January 6, he should have known he was getting set up. And why didn’t he know about Zuckerberg’s plans? We need a fresh start.
Good point about clearing the field, Jim. And that's another interesting thing about the New Hampshire poll -- no one other than Trump and DeSantis showed much support.
It's still early, but I don't Mike Pence or Nikki Haley -- the next two in the poll -- getting much traction. Maybe someone else will emerge, but this may turn out to be essentially a two person race.
Yes, the field was split in '16 and Trump was savvy enough to exploit it while the establishment was foolish enough to discount him. Suppose it is a two person race this time, does that really benefit the challenger to Trump? What's the attack on Trump that doesn't relitigate the past? Is the challenger going to start talking policy?
"Whatever you do, don't throw me into that briar patch." Isn't there an aphorism about preparing for the last war?
What motivates the Trump faithful? Policy? Do establishment Republicans, particularly the anyone-but-Trump-crowd, think that they can win the general without the Trump faithful? What’s the appeal to them, if any? Or, is it just “take it or leave it?” As Mac Stipanovich recently put it: “And we did what every other Republican candidate did: we exploited them. We got them to the polls. We talked about abortion. We promised — and we did nothing. They could grumble, but their choices were limited.” Does the DC GOP really think that world still exists? Do they care?
The next Trump is out there watching and learning. Hope y’all enjoyed the first one. That was the nice one.
In the most pragmatic view, DeSantis would be able to talk about Biden's age and really lay the wood to him. I suppose the cohort is getting smaller that remembers Reagan's second term, but it got ugly. As much as I like Trump's policies and all the wonderful things he did for all the ordinary working people of this country, I am deathly afraid of having a rerun of Reagan's second term.
I strongly agree with everything in this post. If Trump is to be denied the nomination, however, the Republicans can't make the mistake they made in 2016, where Trump got to pick off a welter of contenders one by one. The field would have to be cleared for a non-Trump nominee.
Jim Dueholm
I’m sick of Trump’s drama and baggage. He also has bad judgment. When he was told the National Guard wouldn’t protect the Capital on January 6, he should have known he was getting set up. And why didn’t he know about Zuckerberg’s plans? We need a fresh start.