Under any scenario short of the indictment and impeachment of President Donald Trump, we see no viable path whatsoever for any Republican who might like to challenge him in the 2020 primaries. And since we see no evidence that Trump is under any particular danger of being indicted (and virtually no danger of being thrown out of office), it means that any Republican planning to run against him is doing so for reasons of vanity, if not for the explicit benefit of the Democratic Party. Make no mistake – this suicide mission does not make you a man of honor or some kind of principled soldier of conservatism. It makes you a traitor to the cause.
But then, when you realize who is behind the early efforts to defeat Trump in 2020, you’ll hardly be surprised.
From CNBC:
One of President Donald Trump’s most vocal opponents is creating a political war machine to take on the commander in chief when it comes time for him to run for re-election in 2020.
Bill Kristol, who served in the administrations of Republican presidents Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, says his nonprofit organization Defending Democracy Together is seeking a GOP candidate to run against Trump in 2020.
“We are thinking of and doing preliminary work to prepare for a primary run against Trump,” Kristol said in an interview on Thursday. “People aren’t going to say they will run against Trump unless they have the infrastructure but I’ve been trying to persuade people that it may not be that difficult,” he added.
Kristol, a director of Defending Democracy Together, explained that he’s organized a coalition of activists who are polling voters and meeting with focus groups in swing states such as New Hampshire.
He’s also been engaging with three potential Republican primary candidates who have been outspoken critics of the president: Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska, outgoing Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona and Ohio Gov. John Kasich. Other possible nominees on Kristol’s radar are Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker and Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan.
As we can see, the NeverTrump movement is alive and…um, maybe not well, but breathing at the very least. And they apparently have some money to burn on an arrogant venture that will only make it that much harder for Trump to triumph over the Democrats in the fall of 2020. But then, the people named in the story above had no problem trying to hand victory to Hillary Clinton in 2016, so it should come as no surprise. How you can disavow everything President Trump has accomplished over the last two years and still call yourself a conservative is beyond our comprehension. But hey, if “politeness” is more important to you than results, have at it…
