If Trump loses, his personal future and that of his movement are up to him
It's inevitable whenever someone suffers a defeat that he or she looks ahead to the next possible opportunity to get back into the winners’ column. Most human beings are naturally competitive, and let’s face it, no one likes to lose. I don’t care if it’s playing Monopoly at the kitchen table with your older sister or running a forty-yard dash against your best friend on the high school football field, it’s in the blood to want to best the competition. Such is the mood of conservatives these days as the prospects for prevailing in the 2020 presidential contest look darker and darker by the hour. This isn’t saying all hope is lost, but with President Donald Trump’s chances to triumph over Democrat Joe Biden seemingly slipping away -- due to fraud, corruption, malfeasance, hatred, what have you -- there reaches a point where reasonable folks must come to terms with the unescapable. Mail-in voting brought with it all the evils associated with election fraud. It was predictable to a “t”. Naturally, should Trump end up on the short end, his next available opening to move back into the White House would be four years from now. Would the most loved (by his supporters) and reviled (by his enemies) president of all-time really want to give it another go at mid-decade? And if so, is there another Republican party politician who could get past him? Philip Klein wrote at The Washington Examiner, “[M]any Republican voters could be sick of Trump's act in another few years and worried about risking another defeat. “But that may not matter. As we saw in 2016, if Trump can lock down a solid 25% to 30% level of support, it would be enough to win the early primaries and drive out all competition, then gaining support in the later primaries. It's hard to see how anti-Trump Republicans would be able to consolidate around one alternative candidate fast enough. “Again, perhaps Trump decides he has more influence out of office, given his huge megaphone. He also may want one of his children to run so as to pass on his legacy. But if he decides to run, right now, it's hard to imagine any Republican big enough to stop him.” At the moment, this is true. Conservatives and Republicans are still on high alert after having endured the most contentious campaign in history and we’re very agitated at the unfairness and outright fraud that’s taken place before our very eyes. Further, liberty and good government lovers are more than furious with news outlets that refused to call what appeared to be clear Trump state victories in order to grant sufficient leeway for disputed races to leek towards the blue column. Will we ever get over it? A lot depends on whether the GOP maintains control of the senate. With both of the Georgia senate races apparently heading towards run-off elections, the Peach State will become ground zero for the parties in their drive to govern the country. It doesn’t take a genius to discern that if Democrats control the upper chamber (as well as keeping a narrow House majority) that a host of bad things will transpire in a very short timeframe. Led by new Majority Leader “Chucky” Schumer, they’ll abolish the filibuster tradition and then set off on a whimsical journey to add two states (Puerto Rico and Washington DC) to the country, pack the Supreme Court, raise taxes to punish the successful, pass some sort of socialized medicine giveaway, and, not to be left out, enact a “Green New Deal” which would eliminate millions of jobs and force everyone into draconian lifestyle changes. You’d better pack a burro if you want to go someplace because fossil fuel-powered long-distance travel will be eliminated. How many electric airplanes are out there? Would wind and solar power ever reach a level where renewable energy could heat everyone’s homes as well as propel their cars? Would the United States be trapped even further under China’s influence, since the communist monolith supplies the rare earth materials for and manufactures the batteries? Liberals will demand that the U.S. armed forces lead the way in this green new world. Since Democrats always use the military as a laboratory for their crackpot aims, they’ll put nuclear powered aircraft carriers in mothballs while re-commissioning wind-dependent tall sail ships in their place. “Old Ironsides” up in Boston will soon be sailing the high seas again. Hail Columbia! If Trump wants to come back in 2024, only a fool would bet against him Getting back to whether Trump could realistically expect to win the 2024 Republican nomination, the answer appears to be an emphatic yes, for several reasons. First and foremost, under a President Joe Biden, the factors that led to Trump’s rise in 2016 will still most likely be in place four years from now. Even if Congress stays divided and stymies the worst of the Democrats’ aims, doddering dunce Joe will have his “pen and phone” in his possession, which he’ll employ to undo as many of Trump’s accomplishments as possible. As examples, the Muslim travel restrictions will be reversed, the southern border wall will cease construction -- or maybe even be torn down -- the Born Alive executive order will be history… and the list goes on and on and on. The federal bureaucracy will also be unleashed to regulate and sanction anyone who doesn’t conform to Grampa Joe’s and cackling Kamala’s whims. Environmental extremism will guide the EPA. The FBI will ignore protocols and privacy safeguards. The Tech Barons will feel empowered to censor anything they deem objectionable or damaging. It’ll be ugly. The same frustrations with rule by the establishment elites will fester along the way. Trump spoke for the “forgotten” people between the coasts during his presidency. Does anyone believe Joe Biden would bring them back into the Democrat fold? Would Trump supporters suddenly tuck their “Trump 2020” banners away and conclude that the media was right about him all along? Second, the Republican Party is Trump’s party now. Democrats thought they were smearing and smacking Republicans by claiming that Donald Trump controlled the GOP, but it was more like a compliment to conservatives everywhere. Trump’s tweets and personal style may have turned off enough marginal voters to cause him to lose reelection, but Republicans are actually in pretty good shape after this year’s election. A decade’s worth of liberal money dumped into state and local races didn’t change the balance of power one bit. The Republican wave that materialized in the Tea Party year of 2010 was not washed away by 2020. The GOP picked up a governorship in Montana and maintained majorities in every state legislature that they held prior to last Tuesday. Credit for this success belongs to Donald Trump. The “brand” he brought to the GOP is much superior to the one that existed prior to his arrival. Think a president John McCain or Mitt Romney would’ve left citizens craving to elect Republicans? No way. Let’s not forget, when Barack Obama took office in 2009, he enjoyed large Democrat majorities in both the federal House and Senate. And Democrats were still competitive if not dominant at the state level.
It was Barack Obama who ended up being a disaster for his party, not Donald Trump. Not only that, many Democrats question Nancy Pelosi’s leadership as well. Post-election, so-called “moderate” Democrats were livid with the party’s leftwing revolutionaries, blaming “The Squad” and other unabashed leftists for tarnishing their brand with demands to defund police forces and install socialism. Which is the divided party today? It ain’t the one headed by Donald Trump.
Third, a lot depends on what Trump decides to do after leaving office (again, this is not closing out the possibility he might still win this year, but a lot would have to go well for us now). If the former president chooses to remain in the fray by creating a new media network that appeals to his supporters or initiates something like a traditional, free speech-oriented competitor to Twitter and Facebook, he might not be inclined to run again.
The only thing anyone can say for sure is Trump will not disappear. Untethered by the ceremonial demands of the presidency, the lifelong real estate developer and part-time politician might opt for steering public opinion in new ways, completely cut off from the reach of the heinous establishment media. The Trump family has the resources to start ventures, and he’ll definitely have the fervent backing of the grassroots.
Republicans will always hold Ronald Reagan in high esteem because “The Gipper” was a once in a generation politician with unquestioned political skills and likability. Trump is a different kind of leader, but he will certainly be remembered fondly for his cheerleading of the conservative/populist agenda as well as his willingness to poke the establishment in the eyes without blinking himself.
Lastly, Trump, if he chooses to run in 2024, would start as the favorite because he’s good at what he does. Thanks in part to Trump, the Republican Party has built a strong “bench” of potentially great candidates to beat Biden in his reelection bid. Of course, no one thinks Biden will run again in 2024 -- if he even lasts that long. If Biden steps down -- or is deposed -- Kamala Harris will take over as the leading Democrat.
Republicans will have several excellent options if Trump doesn’t return. If he does, it’s possible the others will clear the way for him and he’ll run unopposed. The GOP establishment wouldn’t dare challenge Trump knowing they’d be flattened and embarrassed in a primary race. Who would do it? Marco Rubio would be one possibility. Perhaps Nikki Haley. Neither would have a realistic shot to beat Trump.
Conservatives such as (South Dakota Governor) Kristi Noem would get some support as would senators Tom Cotton and Josh Hawley. But if Trump came back, there’s almost no way they’d be dumb enough to go up against him. What would they do in a primary debate, try attacking his personality and tweets? 2028 awaits the young consevatives.
The GOP’s future looks bright. Conservatives can take heart that we haven’t seen nor heard the last of Donald Trump. Liberals quake in fear of his preordained return from political purgatory. And it would be tremendous fun to watch.
The GOP establishment is gearing up to cut Trump loose
As would be expected, not all Republicans remain united behind the man who saved their party and increased the size of its coalition. As the president’s campaign tried to inject sanity into the vote counting fiasco taking place in several states, a number of wishy-washy establishment honks jumped off the Trump bandwagon, citing “concerns” that Trump was wrongfully questioning the integrity of the vote count.
Rob Crilly reported at The Washington Examiner, “President Trump is losing the support of top Republicans as he continues to demand a halt to vote counts around the country, leaving him increasingly isolated at the White House and reliant on the support of family members and a core of senior advisers...
“[T]he noise coming from the White House has alarmed many congressional Republicans, who enjoyed a better-than-expected election after an anticipated blue wave failed to materialize.
“A senior GOP source on the Hill said Republicans should be feeling good about multiple surprise victories. ‘Instead, many are once again stuck defending a man making outrageous, unsupported claims,’ said the source. ‘Trump doesn't care about lighting his credibility on fire because he has none. Other people do and would prefer to keep it.’”
With “friends” like this, who needs enemies? Talk about a lack of gratitude towards the man who did so much to return the Republican Party to “credibility” after it had sunk into the doldrums after George W. Bush’s presidency. Who is this nameless “senior GOP source” cited in Crilly’s story, anyway? Mitt Romney? Ben Sasse? Did they call up Jeff Flake for a quote? Or maybe it’s outgoing Senator Lamar Alexander (of Tennessee).
It could be any of the losers at The Bulwark.
There is plenty of evidence that something fishy is going on. The count in Detroit is a disgrace. Why are the fools so quick to condemn? Trump taught them how to fight back and win. Where’s the gratitude?
At any rate, this line of thinking isn’t going to win elections. The people who vote determine elections -- at least when fraud isn’t involved -- and they’re not likely to cast Trump to the side and fall in love with the swamp again. Trump has a long memory… and he’ll certainly find out who the fair-weather turncoat “sources” really are.
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