I can think of an “excuse”. Remember how they used to talk about whether or not Trump would “pivot” during the campaign, especially after he got the nomination, and essentially stop campaigning like an asshole? Of course he did not, and that should have been a clue, but I can still see conservatives believing that once Trump got in office, he could settle in and become, for lack of a better term, a “regular” president. Again, this did not happen, but I don’t think it was an unreasonable hope. If Trump had done that, then undoubtedly in the minds of conservatives he would have been a much better president that Clinton.
So to me, the real tragedy is not that Republicans chose Trump in the first place, but that they have been essentially supportive of him throughout the last 3 1/2 years, and have been silent on all the atrocities he has committed in office.
Huh. If Carter, Mondale, and Dukakis all survive him, there will be nine living people who have been Democratic presidential nominees and only three who have been Republican nominees. (Seriously MPSIMS, but it struck me as an interesting historical oddity. I wonder if the gap has ever been that big before?)
Yes, but the reason I do not count Mondale is that he was VP for 4 years, even though he lost twice – I was only counting those who had never been PotUS or VP. It also seems that the most frustrated candidate may have been William Jennings Bryan, who made 3 failed attempts at the WH.
Well, I guess one could count Ross Perot, except, he never even got one EV (and he is gone). If our system provided realistic third-party access, I would consider it, but the last person not D or R to acquire significant electoral votes was George Wallace in 1968. (It looks like Strom Thurmond earned EVs in 1948 and some more as VP to Byrd in 1960, but not very many).
[1996] “Republican presidential hopeful Bob Dole bulled his way back into the debate over smoking Tuesday, insisting once again that tobacco may not be addictive and that criticism of his position by C. Everett Koop came about because the former Reagan administration surgeon general was “probably a little bit” brainwashed by “the liberal media.””
How many WW2 vets who later became major US political figures are still alive? With the passing of George Shultz I think we are down to Dole and Kissinger. It’s remarkable to think that they are in the same generation as JFK who was only 6 years older.
It all depends on who you consider a major US political figure.
For example Ramsey Clark, LBJ’s Attorney General:
dropped out at the age of 17 in order to join the United States Marine Corps, seeing action in Western Europe in the final months of World War II;[7] he served until 1946.