Now that would be really disruptive. President Trump would declare that he had succeeded in making America great again just as he had promised in 2016. Unemployment is negligible, incomes rising, long-festering wars concluded, good judges appointed, and bad regulations removed. His loyal vice president, Mike Pence, will continue making America great again in 2021-2024 with the president’s full approval and endorsement.
Democrats have been tripping over themselves to become candidates because they believe that President Trump will be the Republican candidate and that all they will have to do to win is ignore policy and just run against Trump personally.
It’s indisputable that President Trump hasn’t been able to make headway in the suburbs and with young people, minorities, and women.
Admittedly, Democrats have problems of their own. Almost all their candidates have declared fealty to the crackpot socialist program of Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez (“AOC”) and post-partum abortion, a.k.a. infanticide. But Republicans shouldn’t assume that the Democrats will self-destruct by running too left-wing a candidate. In competitive elections, as in combat, the best strategy is to organize to win even if the opposition does everything right. President Trump and the Republican Party should take this to heart because the stakes are so high if the Republican candidate for president runs and loses. As Wall Street Journal columnist Daniel Henninger put it a few days ago:
The question for the Democratic Party is whether Rep. Ocasio-Cortez can baptize enough neo-socialists into the party to offset the number of traditional Democrats she drives into the arms of Donald Trump. Media stardom aside, eventually it all comes down to who has the most votes.
A recent New York Times article noted that the House Democrats’ new Washington act isn’t playing well in some districts the party won from Republicans in the midterms, such as in Michigan, Utah and Virginia….That’s the good news for President Trump. The bad news is there are valid reasons why every Democrat and her mother is lining up to run against him in 2020.
Mr. Trump’s approval rating looks as if it will never hit 50%, no matter what. His insistent personal abrasiveness will be a significant X-factor for suburbanites, independents and some traditional Republicans in toss-up states, such as Michigan. The strong economy, Mr. Trump’s ace, could soften. And again, at the critically important margin for victory, some GOP-leaning voters are simply tired of Mr. Trump being in their face all the time…In short, one of these Democrats could win the presidency. If they win, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez wins.
With Pence as candidate, Republicans and independents who haven’t been able to stomach Trump personally, while otherwise preferring his policies to neo-socialism and fourth-term abortion, will be able to vote for the Republican candidate rather than a Democrat or third-party alternative. And with Trump’s strong endorsement of Pence, Trump’s base will also make it to the polls and support his designated successor.
So it comes down to this: will President Trump do what is best for the country, collect his laurels, and retire — or take an unnecessary gamble with the country’s future, risk being defeated, and retire a scorned loser?
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