I know some Republicans who feel confident Donald Trump can’t win the general election and that his nomination will result in a down-ticket wipeout. This bothers me, not because I’m an Always-Trumper (I am not).
During the 2016 primary, I was not a Trump guy. I didn’t know him, had no clue how he’d run the country, and had suspicions about his past with prominent Democrats. Still, when he won the nomination, I supported him. I also tried to convince others too because Hillary Clinton’s plans were known and terrible. I went from Trump can’t win to Trump has to win, and I did whatever I could, despite my reservations, to help him beat Hillary Clinton.
Been there, done that, and again in 2020 because I was wrong in 2016. Trump did some fantastic things as President despite the world, the media, the elites, his own Government, and many in his own party working against him. Not too many of anyone could have pulled it off, but it made one thing very clear. He was the disruptor we’d been waiting for, but a few folks who thought that was what they wanted never realized what that would look like. It was messy.
The ruling class flunkies on both sides lost their minds and dropped whatever passed for integrity or even the rule of law to delegitimize the man and the office.
The 24/7/365 media air war resulted in casualties. People were put out or convinced Trump was too coarse, forgetting that the next stop after the people’s disruptor – if we were to save the nation – might be a shooting war. That’s still true, and a good deal more invasive and troubling than a mean tweeter who, while allowing himself to be misled by his staff more than once (on COVID, for example), still managed to do great things for America and – we’d like to hope – learned lessons no one has or could.
But now we’ve got the roaming narrative, likely planted and nurtured on the right by the Never-Trumpers and the Left, is that Trump can’t be the guy. That he can’t win the general. That he’ll wipe out down-ticket races. And if he wins the nomination, Americans crushed by the Left will stand by and allow that to continue uninterrupted.
Maybe. Maybe not. Perhaps they can’t prevent it.
A few Unpleasant Truths.
No one else in the Republican party appears interested or willing to be the disruptor Americans need. I love Ron DeSantis, the governor, but Ron, the presidential candidate, is not the same guy. Not yet (I remain hopeful). Regardless of whose fault that is, the Trump base appears more than able to hand Trump the nomination because, in their mind, he’s the only guy who has ever or will ever stand up for them against the Government. They are right to think that because it rings true. And the longer the other candidates wander around behind him, unable to sell that message and rob Ron DeSantis of votes, the more remarkable that truth.
Instead of saying Trump can’t win, should you say Ron Can’t win as long as Pence, Christie, and the other stooges are in the race? And yes, you can say both.
Show Trials with no Teeth.
The Republican Party has not shown any evidence it intends to punish anyone for anything (except maybe Trump) even after Trump showed them how to do it. The recent hearings and press releases look like clips for congressional campaign ads or hyperbolic headline bait for fundraising emails. The Candidates who are not Trump are not impressing us with their effort to be Trump, minus the stuff they claim makes him unelectable.
Election Integrity Issues Remain unresolved.
This may all be moot because the GOP has done next to nothing to fix election issues in swing states. We may be at a point where no Republican can win, so does the guy with the freight train behind him needs our support? If so, we must convince people that we can’t afford four more years with a Democrat in the Oval Office.
Or, what if these issues are unresolved because the GOP knew Trump would likely be the 2024 nominee, and they’d rather hang a label on him and ensure he loses than fix the problem or the nation?
Dems Could and Should be wiped out in 2024, no matter who the nominee is on either side.
Much like 2016 and Hillary, why would anyone allow any Democrat to get elected on principle, knowing it might hand them the time the Left needs to finish what they started under Obama and now Biden? Weaponized police state, DOJ, IRS, Dept of Ed, packed court, packed US Senate – much of which didn’t happen under Biden because of two Senate Demcorats. Republicans could not stop it.
The economy is in flames, jobs added are mostly those lost because of the response to COVID, the Government is overreaching on steroids, the world is a mess, debt is soaring, the dollar is in danger, and inflation is real.
The political class is punishing the Americans; the establishment and Republicans aren’t, can’t, or won’t do anything about it. And the only guy I can recall who stood up for Americans no matter what was Donald Trump. If he is the nominee, what are you prepared to do to get him across the finish line if that’s our only choice? What do you tell those folks who have doubts?
How about the truth?
The political class and the uni-party are punishing the Americans. Donald Trump was the only guy in recent memory who stood up for you with any success – and created a booming job-growth economy.
It’s okay to have reservations, but now more than ever, we need a leader with a proven record for putting regular Americans first. And we need to make sure he has a congress and state legislature who will follow that lead. No matter who it is.
And maybe the slogan we need is not Make America Great Again But “Put Americans First Again!”
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And finally, since I’ve asked this before, what if anything changes if Trump picked DeSantis as his VP?
Note: This is not an endorsement. It is a debate about a what-if elephant that is impossible to ignore. If or when I endorse, you’ll know it. I will use the word ‘endorsement.’