I have to admit that I’m starting to lean this way myself:
Donald Trump is being largely blamed for the midterm red wave that never happened, with Republican strategists pinning the party’s underwhelming performance in the 2022 midterms on his selection of ‘flawed’ candidates.
Trump endorsed some 300 candidates, held 30 rallies and raised millions of dollars for his ‘army’ of candidates. It was supposed to be the amuse-bouche for a Presidential run, intended to set him up for a sweeping 2024 success.
But overnight, many of Trump’s chosen candidates crashed and burned.
It seems to me that Trump is becoming like Her Filthiness Hillary Ciinton, the “broken glass” candidate (in that people would crawl over broken glass to vote against them).
Where there was previously no strong candidate to back in the fight against socialism, Trump was the default because all the Stupid Party could bring to the [ahem] party were candidates of the Romney/Mitch McConnell stripe — establishment GOPe drones.
Thanks to Trump, however, we have more radical leaders like Kristi Noem and of course Ron DeSantis around who, provided we could actually vote them into power, might continue or even improve upon the works of President Trump.
And let’s be honest: another Trump similarity to Hillary is age: in 2024 he will be 78, and if Biden is anything to go by, we do not need another octogenarian in the White House, no matter how energetic he may seem at the moment. (A depressing thing about advanced age — ask me how I know this — is that two, three or four years has a far more radical effect upon one’s physical- and mental capabilities at 65+ years than they had at age 40 or even 50.) Trump would be 79 if he were to win the next election, but 81 by the next mid-term election. Could he still be as effective? Hell, given the obstacles the Swamp would throw at him, could he be effective at all?
I have no problem with Trump continuing to hold rallies all over the place, as long as they support the MAGA philosophy and not his candidacy. But that ain’t gonna happen.
And given that the supposed “red tsunami” turned out to be more of a pinkish trickle (a topic for another time), there’s no guarantee that even a conservative maestro like Ron DeSantis would be successfully elected.
Is it too early for a second gin? I think not.
