More politics. Been thinking a little about the 2024 Presidential election. A lot of folks think Trump is the inevitable nominee, that his sponsorship by the Republican party is a done deal. And the more I think about it, the more I like the idea. Because Trump is in now in Hillary’s shoes.
Hillary Clinton lost because (a) she ran an uninspired campaign, (b) the damnable Comey memo ten days before the election, and (c) the other side turned out en mass because they loathed her. Twenty five years of focused Clinton hatred allowed the conservatives to completely align, and even drew a lot of middle-of-the-roaders into voting Trump. Or more precisely, voting for anyone but Hillary. They hated Hillary with a passion.
Trump is now that person. Everyone now knows what a disaster Trump will be if he regains power, and everyone knows it’s possible for him to win (hello, 2016). Trump’s nomination will galvanize the D party and 100% of the party will vote for anyone but Trump. And we should get a few rational middle of the roaders to vote D just to keep Trump away from power. Trump will get the MAGA vote, that’s a given. But against Trump, Democrats will turn out in record numbers, the D candidate should get all the Democratic vote and the majority of undecideds, IF we nominate someone electable. Someone reasonable. And that’s the critical path item.
Right now there’s no heir apparent on the Democratic side, and that’s good. Remember Hillary, the chosen one whose turn it was. We’ve got two years to identify one or two good candidates and get them prepped for the battle. Right now my short list is:
- MN Senator Amy Klobuchar
- KY Governor Andy Beshear
- MI Governor Gretchen Whitmer
It’s hard to find someone who has the chops and who doesn’t have a fatal flaw. But any of these three would work, IMHO. I really like Beshear, and having a Red state Governor as the Democratic candidate would be intriguing.