Well, one is in: Ex-Massachusetts governor to challenge Trump for GOP nod
It’s William Weld, the guy who ran as VP for the Libertarian Party in 2016, but then was actively campaigning against third party votes as the election got nearer and Gary Johnson showed himself to be shockingly incompetent.
Whatever keeps him away from the LP is good by me. He is fairly decent as far as centrists go.
If by “shockingly incompetent” you mean unable to identify a small city on the other side of the world where the US had no business, I can understand.
Oh and Weld all but endorsed Clinton in 2016.
Hoping to see someone like Ben Sasse run against Trump.
Perhaps by “shockingly incompetent” he meant “shockingly incompetent”? I mean, going by what people said rather than a completely different interpretation one made up seems more constructive.
Should’ve said, that was William Weld of Massachusetts.
Jeff Flake of Arizona and John Kasich of Ohio remain possible contenders.
Excellent contribution.
I didn’t think that Republicans were going to allow primary challenges.
Thank you! Always happy to help.
But yes, there has been some suggestion that, at least in some states, Republicans would like to avoid primary challenges by cancelling the primaries. I find it unlikely that any of them would go through with this but these days “normal” practice has gone out the window so who knows.
This is a big deal for me. It’s like the one and only thing that could possibly lure me back into the Republican party has arrived, and it’s my old Governor promising to be a pain in the GOP’s ass. I’ll be watching this.
Is this guy a stalking horse?
That’s a good question. The Republican party has fortified its position over the last couple of decades as the anti-liberal side of politics, so there is really no place in it for a old school liberal Republican as it stands under Trump. And any successful primary challenge to a sitting President would be cause for alarm. But this is not a normal situation with a normal incumbent President, so…you have to judge for yourself the weightiness of the fact that Trump has overwhelming support from within his own party. As compromised as he is, there is no backup plan for 2020? I can’t remember a situation like this before so I don’t know in what direction the party money is likely to flow. We will see.
No incumbent President has survived a serious primary challenge and then gone on to win in November - Ford in 1976, Carter in 1980, and Bush the Wiser in 1992. And Truman in 1952 and Johnson in 1968 both decided not to run again, even though they almost certainly could’ve won their party’s nominations again, when less-than-stellar showings in early primaries showed them just how disaffected voters were.
Trump is, as we’ve seen again and again, in a category all his own. Who knows how things will go for him?
Doing my best to limit Donald Trump to a single term, I today sent customized copies of the letter below to Gov. Larry Hogan of Maryland, former Gov. John Kasich of Ohio, and former U.S. senators Bob Corker of Tennessee and Jeff Flake of Arizona, all of whom are rumored to be considering a primary challenge to the President:
*I write on Presidents’ Day to urge you to run for President in next year’s Republican primaries.
You’ve been a vocal and on-target critic of the incumbent, and your record of accomplishments as [customized] far outweighs anything he has done in Washington.
Donald Trump has proven himself utterly unworthy of the Presidency. Over and over again, he has shown that he is little more than a liar, a bully, a braggart and a racist. He is doing his best to trigger a needless trade war with China, hurting American farmers and manufacturers. He pushed for and signed a tax bill that will lead to huge Federal deficits as far as the eye can see. He picks fights with and insults the leaders of our military, law enforcement and intelligence communities. He wants to build a vastly expensive and probably ineffective border wall with Federal funds, having assured us just three years ago that the Mexican government would pay for it. His family-separation policy directly led to the death of innocent children. He openly invited foreign interference in the election of 2016. He blasts the free press, a bulwark of democracy, and tries to punish reporters he doesn’t like.
He still refuses to release his tax returns, as every President since Jimmy Carter has done, or to put his business interests into a blind trust, leaving us to wonder just what influence other individuals and countries might have over him. We simply don’t know if he is making decisions in the national interest or for his own selfish financial advantage. He praises the murderous leaders of Russia, North Korea and Saudi Arabia while insulting the democratically-elected leaders of longtime allies like Great Britain, Canada and Germany. He vacations and golfs far more than his predecessor, whom he blasted for doing so less often. And, as has become all too painfully obvious, he lies, and lies, and lies, and lies.
President Trump must be stopped before he does further damage to both the United States and to a once-great Republican Party. Your country, and your party, badly need you. We deserve a President we can be proud of, and can trust, once more. You could be that man.
Please run.
Very truly yours,
*
Thank you for your service. I hope your letters help.
Now, I’d encourage you to send that letter to others who’d be a better president than Trump. As in, almost every natural-born citizen over 35.
I’ll be contributing to your kickstarter campaign to help pay for all those stamps.
Well, yes, almost any natural-born citizen over 35 would be better than Trump, but most of them wouldn’t have a chance against him. The likes of Kasich and Flake just might.
I hope and expect SOMEBODY fairly credible will run against him.
Interesting question: If Trump loses the general election in 2020, will his Republican primary opponent be considered “next in line” for 2024, or scapegoated for being the “divisive” figure who was responsible for the loss?
Probably the latter, given the rabid loyalty of the Trumpinistas. Reagan’s challenge to Ford in 1976 didn’t do him any long-term harm, and set him up nicely four years later. But Ted Kennedy never ran again for President after taking on Jimmy Carter in 1980. Pat Buchanan ran twice more after challenging Bush the Wiser in 1992, but never succeeded.