Should Democrats Want Donald Trump To Be The Republican Nominee in 2024?
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I think the answer to this question is clearly yes.
Now, I’m by no means downplaying the danger of Donald Trump.
But the problem is that the entire Republican Party is now Donald Trump. Ron DeSantis is Donald Trump in a different body. So is Lindsey Graham. If it’s not Trump, it’s going to be someone who does the same for the Republican electorate that Trump does. Even someone like Mike Pence is a total cuck to these people. And Mike Pence is a genuinely scary awful human being. But he’s not the right kind of awful for these voters.
The problem with these non-Trump candidates–DeSantis especially–is that they allow those centrist voters to embrace a new Republican Daddy and tell lies to themselves about who this person really is. The Beltway media is even worse because they are really committed to the bit about Republican Daddies and are ready to go all in on DeSantis as their next one.
If DeSantis were to be the nominee, I feel his chances of winning are far higher than Trump in 24, simply due to the non-Trump factor. But everyone knows who Donald Trump is and how they stand on Donald Trump. And if you don’t, he will remind you every second of every day.
Trump endorses Rick Scott for Republican Senate Leader: “I think Rick Scott would be much better than McConnell. I know McConnell well. His wife, I call her CoCo Chao. I wasn’t sad to see her go. I’m not a fan of McConnell and I am a fan of Rick Scott.” pic.twitter.com/nGf1fW0saE
— Ron Filipkowski 🇺🇦 (@RonFilipkowski) November 12, 2022
Oh yeah, Donald Trump is the worst person in American history. I remember that now. Even dumb centrist types will remember this because he’s too undisciplined to let them forget.
Moreover, Trump has led to Republican underperformance in three straight elections. He’s a huge drag on their brand. And yet, despite the Beltway media wanting to turn to DeSantis, Trump knows he can ground his former Floridian ally under the bus with the actual Republican electorate, who want to end democracy and embrace white nationalist fascism, no holds barred.
But barring some set of other disasters, Trump can’t win a national election and he will drag the rest of the Republican Party down with it. Such disasters are of course possible, but they would still help any other Republican candidate more than they help Trump.
Sure, in a different world, I’d far prefer a merely awful Republican candidate like John McCain or Mitt Romney who would enact terrible policies but wouldn’t actually end American democracy. But we don’t live in that world. So in the actual world in which we live with the actual Republican Party as it exists, I really think the best thing for Democrats is if Donald Trump is the Republican nominee in 2024. Moreover, the Republican elites know this is true too but they can’t do anything about it.