The Coming Split- What should we do when a majority of Republicans want Trump, but the Republican Party says we can’t have him?
By: Dan Gelernter (American Greatness)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
What should we do when a majority of Republicans want Trump, but the Republican Party says we can't have him? By Dan Gelernter December 27, 2022
Last week I wrote about Teddy Roosevelt and Donald Trump. My comparison wasn't between the two men as presidents—though they had some similar personality traits—but between how the two men were treated by the Republican Party. The Republican Party of 1912 decided it would be better off renominating William Howard Taft, even though its voters would have preferred another Roosevelt term. The resulting split ushered in Woodrow Wilson and the first academic globalists, whose bright ideas laid the groundwork for a second world war on the eve of the conclusion of the first.
Of the three men who were candidates in 1912, Taft probably would have made the best president. Though TR took a muscular attitude towards American interests abroad, he eventually decided he had the power to lay claim to gigantic tracts of American land and to regulate the prices of private railroad tickets. His megalomania did substantial damage to individual liberty long before his cousin FDR had similar ideas.
Trump was the first president since Ronald Reagan (or some would argue, since earlier than that) who seemed to appreciate the dangers of unaccountable, unlimited, deep-state government. And I'm willing to bet he'd appreciate those dangers a lot more in a second term, having fallen victim to them himself in the 2020 election.
But, despite the obvious differences, we're heading for a 1912-repeat, in which the Republican Party ignores its own voters. The Republican machine has no intention of letting us choose Trump again: He is not a uniparty team player. They'd rather lose an election to the Democrats, their brothers in crime, than win with Trump.
That leads us to the inevitable question: What should we do when a majority of Republicans want Trump, but the Republican Party says we can't have him? Do we knuckle under and vote for Ron DeSantis because he would be vastly better than any Democrat?
I say no, we don't knuckle under. And I like DeSantis. I'd vote for him after Trump's second term. But not before.
Here's the thing: It is precisely the expedient view of "well, this person isn't my first choice, but he's the best available option who can win" which has allowed the uniparty to take over and ruin the country. We're letting the Republicans get away with offering us a false dichotomy: A fake non-choice among candidates who are pre-selected for us. The Democrats did this themselves in 2016 when they stole the primary from Bernie Sanders.
You could go even further and say that the two-party system, in addition to preserving systemic stability, has prevented us from having any real say in our own government, except to the smallest extent. The Republicans and Democrats appear like the guard rails on either side of the road they've decided we should all be traveling on.
I'm sure I'll be accused of being a shill for the Democrats here, and as far as I'm concerned that's as credible as being accused of shilling for Russia these days. I'm not suggesting you have to do what I do, either. But I have no intention of supporting a Republican Party that manifestly contravenes the desires of its voters. The RNC can pretend Trump isn't loved by the base anymore, that he doesn't have packed rallies everywhere he goes. But I'm not buying it: Talk to Republican voters anywhere outside the Beltway, and it is obvious that he is admired and even loved by those who consider themselves "ordinary" Americans.
Our best talking-heads and pundits have argued for years that it's better to win with a bad candidate than to lose with a good one. I used to believe it myself. But look at the results: Until Trump became president, it never even occurred to me that an elected politician could actually do what he'd promised. We've been acclimatized to failure, fraud, and theft by the politics of expediency. Year after year, our only choices are "Big Government A" (GOP) or "Big Government B" (Democrat). I used to think Republicans were at least a little more restrained in their spending than the Democrats. But now it's just clear they spend our money on different things: Democrats give our money to welfare infrastructure (and the drug industry). Republicans give our money to the military-industrial complex (and the drug industry).
If you ask me, Trump's presidency was much more "American" than it was "Republican." That's why it was such a success and why so many of us loved it. Now, if the Republican Party thinks it's not big enough for Trump, it's not going to be big enough for me either.
Do I think Trump can win as a third-party candidate? No. Would I vote for him as a third-party candidate? Yes. Because I'm not interested in propping up this corrupt gravy-train any longer. Mitch McConnell says that "providing assistance for Ukrainians to defeat the Russians is the number one priority for the United States right now, according to most Republicans." Most Republicans where? Inside his bank account?
There are not enough unprintable words in the dictionary to say everything that statements like McConnell's conjure up in my mind. But here are a few he might understand: "I'm fed up. And I'm out."
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I am loathe to give any notice to a piece of trash website like American Greatness , which is an arm of the white nationalist favoring Claremont Institute and Hillsdale College, but this is an important article.
Trump will look at this as a plea for him to run as a third party candidate, and in fact he has already put a link to this article on his Truth Social page.
The GOP wants to win the next presidential election. The vast majority of average, normal, every day Republicans know this is not possible with Trump. Most of the RNC realize this truth also.
DeSantis will defeat Trump to get the nomination...other pretenders won't gain enough votes to make a difference. Trump is washed up and his support diminishes day by day.
If the Dems want to win in '24, they're going to have come up with a better candidate than old, slow, pathetic Joe.
Dems and their media sycophants are still pushing Trump 24/7. They are the only ones keeping Trump front and center of everything and anything.
They can't defeat any other candidate; no matter who they run.
Hell, Brandon the Human Fuck Up Machine might not be able to defeat Trump after the US economy completes it slide into recession.
This article , which promotes Trump for president again, was written by a member of a leading right wing think tank.
Well, the author is delusional and denying reality.
Individuals are allowed to be delusional however. One person is allowed to believe what they want in this country. Hell, it's easy to find articles where the point is that Hillary Clinton is positioning to run again in 2024 and she's already said she will not run. Being able to find crazy articles is what keeps some people in the spotlight allowing them to seed articles of such dubious honesty.
It would be rational for the Ds to do that since Trump will almost certainly lose in the general election.
But it is incorrect to claim that Trump is relevant because of the Ds. Trump remains relevant because he still has tens of millions of GoP supporters. Without that support, Trump would fade away.
Blame the Trump supporters and those who make excuses for him as your first line. Blame the Ds after that.
Donald Trump retweeted this article on Truth Social. He doesnt think its a crazy article. And thats what matters in this instance, isnt it?
WHAT??? Are you now saying to go to Trump for the truth? You mean to tell us that, because Trump himself didn't proclaim an article to be stupid just because it feeds his ego, is in reality correct?
How fucked up is that?????
It means that if Trump wants to run as a third party candidate all the hand wringing in the world by those who want to "move on" wont stop him. He retweeted an article about him running as a third party candidate.
Trump running as a third party candidate is the after-thought in the article. The article is one mans opinion on how stupid the Republican party would be to go against the perceived wishes of the Republican rank and file who according to him adore Trump, by backing another candidate for the primary. Of course Trump can run as a third party, anybody can including Joe Biden.
But up in 3.1.5 you stated how Trump retweeted the article, there for indicating that he doesn't think it's a crazy article. So that indicates that you are following Trump on his Truth Social AND that you value his opinion as to state what Trump thinks is what matters in this instance. Well IMO that's just one crazy ass statement coming from anybody except his hard-core followers. I mean, damn... Trump doesn't think this article is stupid and you believe him and follow along.
Damn... when did you switch to the Republican party? Do you secretly keep MAGA hats in your closet too?
You got credible sources that supports that assertion?
lol.
One doesnt have to follow trump on truth social to know if he said something there. Ever heard of news stories?
How is it possible that you (and your vote-up buddy Jim) miss something this obvious? There are all sorts of polls out showing Trump losing support and those polls show how much support he still has . For example:
Now, just do the math. It is really, really easy to do. Take the worst line item for Trump above which shows him at 33% support by the GoP. If we assume about 36% of voters are Republican (varies per source) then with ~159 million voters in 2020, 36% of that is about ~57.25 million GoP voters. So under the most modest counts of 33%, we have ~19 million GoP Trump supporters. That's tens of millions, Greg.
And remember, I used the worst stats for Trump. I used 33% and did not use 74%.
Where did I ever say he wasn't losing support? And leave me out or your condescending bull shit trying to put words in someone's mouth so you can argue it? You are NOT the arbiter of right and wrong except in your own being. As you have been told many MANY times, not everyone is EVER going to agree with you and no matter how you badger, that won't change.
Where did I suggest you made such a claim? I stated you voted up Greg's comment where he demanded credible evidence that Trump has tens of millions of supporters.
Do you not agree with Greg's implication that Trump does not have tens of millions of supporters?
Evidently you like guilt by association because I voted up a comment asking you for credible sources and you made a point of pointing me out as his "little vote up buddy".
I know he is losing support. And I am sure Greg appreciates you coming up with an answer.
The issue is not whether or not he is losing support but rather that he still has tens of millions of GOP supporters keeping him relevant.
Yeah, you ' needed ' a credible source that shows Trump still has tens of millions of supporters. This fact was not obvious to you??
Just “vote up buddy”; which is obviously accurate. You added the diminutive adjective.
Tens of millions won't be enough as far as I am concerned. And really. Why care about those people? It isn't going to be enough this time to get him the nod for the nomination. Seems the media wants to keep him in the spotlight as they still report on the least of any comments. I truly think DeSantis scares them.
And sorry about adding "little". That was another poster who did that.
It may not be enough. But the fact remains that tens of millions of GoP supporters keep Trump relevant.
Because they keep Trump relevant and thus enable him to potentially win the nomination via plurality. The GoP should have distanced itself from Trump as soon as he violated his oath of office during the Big Lie campaign. If they had, they would have retained much of their credibility and reduced the stain left on the reputation of the GoP. And, at this point, they could be focused on positive factors (like building a strong platform to sell voters and shoring up their candidates who can run on issues and not sell their souls like many of the mid-term candidates by sucking up to Trump and pretending Trump's Big Lie was actually the truth).
The best gift the Dems could receive is if he spits the party.
I think the Ds are good with Trump securing the nomination or running third party. Either way, Trump almost guarantees a D win of the presidency.
Amazing that so many Rs do not realize that supporting or even defending Trump is shooting themselves in the metaphorical foot.
Yes, but that doesn't dismiss Ronin2's point. The Dems are so far in Trump's court concerning candidacy it wouldn't surprise me if they made financial contributions. They WANT Trump as the nominee even more than his supporters.
That would be rational. The more relevant Trump is within the GoP the more likely for the D nominee to win the presidency.
Which is its own insanity if one actually thinks about it. At least from the voter's perspective. How rational is it to have a candidate who's only relevant plank in their platform is that they aren't Trump?
The Ds should pick a good candidate and run on a sensible platform. But Trump gives them quite a buffer to fall short of that ideal.
You think that Trump's gonna let a little primary defeat stop him? He will destroy DeSantis. He'll cry election fraud, Russian collusion, send in assassins armed with My Pillows to take him out, and call him a mean name like Dum Dum Desantis at his rallies. The worst thing though is he'll run independent and the votes he gets won't be Democratic that's for sure.
You are having fun but I think it's very likely Trump will destroy DeSantis, at least to the MAGA bread and butter. I have seen multiple articles claiming DeSantis has a glass jaw.
Yeah, he had a glass jaw when he handled the COVID crisis completely differently than uncle Joe wanted and fought federal overreach. Very successfully I might add.
He’s also fought the woke nonsense being pushed by the fed again and again. Won his reelection handily by nearly 20 points. Etc, etc.
Keep dreaming John. Uncle Joe will really have to hunker down in his basement against DeSantis.
Trump is the only one who has declared for the 2024 cycle so far. His polling keeps dropping while DeSantis continues to rise and it's two years out. It's way too early to call winners and losers but IMO Trump will not win the primary and be the Republican candidate. DeSantis has done some very successful things over the past couple of years and positioned Florida as a rising state and his name is becoming rather well known across the country.
If such articles exist, why not post them.
The glass jaw is not about his policies you like, its about his bad personality and inability to think on his feet against someone like Trump. DeSantis is untested outside of Florida and quite a few political observers think he may not be up to being a national candidate.
So why don't you post some of those articles and share the information? By only speaking about undocumented statements all you are pushing is your own theory.
It’s called campaigning and a Primary.
That would be refreshing if true; I have watched the GoP operate in the exact opposite fashion since ~2018.
What a moron. What drives this author to want to put Trump in the Oval office after all his wrongdoing since losing the election? Just amazing. How utterly irresponsible, irrational and unpatriotic to want to enable such an abysmal, dishonest character with the power of the presidency.
The MAGA should resurrect The Dixiecrat Party as a 3rd party...