I don’t know if it’s too early to bring this up now. But I feel compelled to do so for some reason, so bear with me.
Joe Biden is our next president. Mr. Trump won’t be able to do anything about that ultimately. Agreed?
Okay. So what is going to happen in 2024 then?
Think about it. He certainly will never give up–and neither will his supporters. He will try again in 2024. I’m not even going to put it up for debate.
But will he be successful?
(And of course Grover Cleveland was the only president to serve two nonconsecutive terms. How many of you knew that ?)
Cleveland won the popular vote in 1888 (in which Harrison won the Electoral College vote). So Cleveland could plausibly argue that he had popular support and was a viable candidate in 1892.
Trump has now lost the popular vote in two elections and the Electoral College vote in one. It’s going to be hard for him to present himself as somebody who will be a viable candidate in 2024.
There’s also the age issue. Trump will be 78 in 2024. He’d either be running against Biden (who will be the incumbent and will be able to say he’s already beaten Trump once) or he’d be running against a younger candidate like Harris.
I feel Trump will continue to campaign for his ego and for financial reasons. But I don’t think he’ll get nominated again.
I’d rather see a 78 year old Trump run in 2024 and go down in flames again than open the field to a younger, smarter authoritarian prick like Cruise or Cotton.
I really doubt that he will be relevant enough to contemplate running in four years. In fact, I doubt he will still be relevant in a year. But I’ve heard that he still plans to be a media presence, with perhaps a regular TV show, so who knows? But I really doubt that he’ll get anywhere in the 2024 Republican primary; certainly the other candidates will talk about his dismal performance as president.
If Tom Cruise ran it might be a problem–sure, there’s the Scientology thing, but he’s got name-recognition through the roof.
Ted Cruz, on the other hand, is now best-known for hearing Trump insult his wife and his father and reacting by bending over and saying “thank you sir may I have another.”
GOP voters like their bullies to be bullies–not the nerds bullies beat up.
As for the Cleveland comparison: it’s true Trump will be 78 and dealing with legal troubles. But his fans will remain numerous. Who else gives them that good ol’ white-supremacy-with-plausible-deniability?
If his numbers are good enough, the GOP will fall in line. I’d bet against it happening, but it’s not impossible.
I’m waiting for him to re-enact that scene where Homer smashes a chair over the bully after Ned Flanders has subdued him. “I saw my chance and I took it.”
There is little doubt in my mind that he has been growing increasingly demented during the last four. If this continues, he will be absolutely unable to mount any kind of campaign no matter how much the 40% love him.
No, Trump won’t be in prison, but times have changed. General election losers don’t get a second chance these days. The modern primary system means a gruelling year campaigning and answering the losing questions over and over. Nixon was still in the somewhat smoke filled room era when he got his second chance.
Al Gore turned it down, I think he really didn’t want to go through the grind again of the Kiwanis club meetings in Iowa and diners in NH answering ten million questions about Florida.
I think after doing enough half-million dollar speaking engagements he’ll realize that being an ex-president is more lucrative and less stressful than being president.
If he isn’t in prison, dead, or severely cognitively impaired by 2024, he will find some way to justify not running that spares his massive ego while continuing to rake in the dough.
And yes, sadly, I think there are plenty of organizations that will pay big bucks to have the orange buffoon at their functions.
?)