Oh, Boy, here we go again, another two years of Donald Trump’s mug all over TV screens and newspaper front pages.
Just what we need in this country!
What does one make of the ex-President’s announcement that he will be seeking the 2024 Republican nomination?
The guy surely knows that he is unelectable, that a good majority of Americans, including those who don’t usually vote, will stop whatever they are doing, stand in the cold and rain for hours, and endure whatever electoral obstacles that the G.O.P. will put in their way to vote AGAINST Donald Trump.
The narcissistic blowhard lost by 3 million votes in 2016 and 7 million votes in 2020. After four years of ineptitude, self-dealing, badmouthing his own appointees, denying the seriousness of Covid-19, getting himself impeached twice, concocting a “stolen election” narrative, and inciting a riot at the Capitol building, it is reasonable to assume that Trump would lose by 10 million votes in 2024 should he actually be the Republican nominee.
Most Americans will refuse to elect a President who does not believe in democracy.
Many “pros” in the Republican Party and many of its staunchest supporters and campaign donors don’t want Trump to run because not only would he not win back the Presidency but he would simultaneously damage G.O.P. prospects down ticket. They’ve been through this before, as Trump hysteria takes all of the air out of the room and the Senate and Congressional hopefuls have to fend for themselves while half-heartedly supporting whatever crazy stuff Donald Trump is spouting. It’s bad politics.
It is a bit early to announce a Presidential run, so why is the ex-Prez so anxious to throw his hat in the ring?
The guy isn’t stupid; everything he does is calculated to benefit himself.
So, what is accomplished by announcing so soon? First, he keeps his name in the media, which is important for a narcissist. “No publicity is bad publicity”, etc., particularly if you crave people talking about you. Second, his announcement is likely to scare off many Republican competitors. He’s co-opted about 40 percent of the G.O.P. base, and he’ll bludgeon his opponents with that. Thirdly, it gives him another opportunity to receive donations from the faithful. His “stolen election” grift netted him several hundred million dollars from his MAGA base. And, fourth, his candidacy may forestall many of the pending criminal legal proceedings against him. Trump will claim that his legal woes are political in nature, designed to derail his campaign. “I’m being picked on!”, he will whine.
Trump the poker player is, thusly, shoving all of his chip into the pot, daring someone to call his bluff. If they don’t, he wins that ploy, loses the Presidential election, and the Republican Party ceases to be anything but a prop for the bankrupt Trump brand.
I’ve got to believe that the adults in the G.O.P. room are going to make Donald Trump an offer that he can’t refuse… to get him to back the fuck off.
I’ve already noticed Rupert Murdoch, the owner of News Corp (i.e. Fox News, The New York Post, the Wall Street Journal, The London Times, The Sun tabloid, Twentieth Century Fox) and the man most responsible for Trump’s successful 2016 campaign, is now pummeling the ex-President through his media outlets. A Vanity Fair article today, titled “Rupert Murdoch Knees Trump in the Balls While He’s Doubled Over Coughing Up Blood“, documents the change in attitude.
Big-name Republicans are publicly blaming Trump for the mid-term election fiasco. Major G.O.P. donors are backing off. Ex-Trump cabinet members and prominent Republican politicians are telling him that it’s time to fade away.
Not that it will do any good: the man has his own agenda and will happily destroy the Republican Party if it dares to oppose his goals. This is the same guy who went “all in” on those Atlantic City casino/hotels when every financial expert warned him not to do it.
Extortion is an ugly word, but it is a weapon that Donald Trump has used his whole life to get where he is. He famously uses a battalion of lawyers to fend off civil lawsuits and criminal charges. “You sue me and I’ll bury you in paperwork!” He makes his employees (and governmental appointees) sign confidentiality agreements, which are hammers poised over those individuals so that they won’t divulge what a bum he is. He tried to extort the President of Ukraine (weapons in exchange for dirt on Joe Biden’s son) and was impeached for it. He tried to extort election officials in Georgia to “find” some votes for him in 2020. He tried to extort Congress to overturn the 2020 election by massing a crowd in front of the Capitol building on January 6th, 2020 and scare legislators into overturning the Presidential election.
It is reasonable to assume that Trump’s very early announcement is a move to extort something of value from the Republican Party. Because his campaign could result in the ruination of the Republican Party brand, Trump might get rewarded by this move.
It is almost scary to think what Republicans might do to buy the monster off.
There have been suggestions that the G.O.P. majority House of Representatives appoint Trump to be Speaker of the House. I doubt that the ex-Prez would go for that, as he would be presiding over a legislative body that has no chance of enacting any substantial laws while Joe Biden is still President. The Democrat-controlled Senate would oppose, and Biden would veto, anything that Donald Trump put his hands on.
Of course, Speaker Trump could personally chair the many Congressional “fact finding” committee meetings that will be convened to throw dirt upon Joe Biden, his son, Nancy Pelosi, Hillary Clinton, Dr. Fauci, those bums who stole his 2020 election, Oprah Winfrey, George Soros, George Clooney, and, by George, Governor Ron DeSantis for his disloyalty.
This would make a laughingstock out of the Republican Party and would attach a lot more “losing” to a guy who likes to think of himself as a winner.
Alternatively, the G.O.P. could put Trump and his cohorts in charge of Republican Party fundraising. He’s actually good at that, although he would have to expand his repertoire to include those who are not part of his MAGA crazy cult. How effective he might be is a big question. Another question is where all those donations might end up. Trump had a lot of campaign funds available to dispense in the mid-term elections and he chose to sit on most of the money, to the great disappointment of Republican candidates in “battleground” states.
Looking over the various options available to G.O.P. leadership, the only path to exorcise Trump from the Republican Party would probably involve the paying of a huge “ransom” by some of the more pragmatic megadonors that typically fund Republican causes. It would seem possible that, if each billionaire supporter kicked in a hundred million bucks apiece, a billion dollar “golden parachute” might do the trick.
After all, money makes the (Trump) world go around.
Then Florida Governor Ron DeSantis could be nominated, Trump wouldn’t endorse him (which would help) and DeSantis would go on to win the 2024 election.
And, to think that Abraham Lincoln started this political party!
