I have written about the cases for and against Donald Trump and for and against Ron DeSantis in 2024, and that leaves only the case against everybody else in the GOP who might run. There is no case for them. The debate in the Republican Party is between Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis and what they represent. Everybody else is just a distraction at best, at worst delusional or auditioning for vice president or some cheesy cabinet post. The 2024 election is just too important for this kind of self-indulgent nonsense.
Let’s review some of the potential candidates who, in another year, might have had a shot – as opposed to the total losers we will discuss in Part 2. These folks are not terrible – except Nikki Haley, who is flat-out terrible – but none of them can answer the big question: Why you, and why now?
Mike Pompeo was an Army officer and a congressman and the head of the CIA and the Secretary of State, and he lost a whole bunch of weight, and he would probably be a good president except for the fact that there’s no pressing need for Mike Pompeo to be president in 2024. Sure, I would vote for him if nominated, and the same with any of these. You would probably vote for him too. But that’s not going to happen because he’s not going to be nominated. He’s OK. There’s nothing wrong with him, at least compared to any of the Democrat nimrods. But, as we will see throughout this column, there’s no reason for him. He has not redefined the party like Donald Trump has, nor has he changed a purple state into a deep red one while presenting a future path forward for the party like Ron DeSantis. He just...is.
That’s the problem. The base will ask “Mike Who?” There’s nothing wrong with the guy. He’s just not going to win. You wonder who told him he could. Did he decide it himself? Are others around him whispering in his ear, “They want you? They need you. You!”
Ted Cruz is a good guy too. He might run. Ted Cruz has run before. I know because I gave him money. But he lost. And then Ted Cruz also almost lost his last election in Texas to Beto the Furry, and his Senate reelection campaign will also be in 2024. Is he going to do both? That would not be good. Are we supposed to put a Texas Senate seat at (slight but possible) risk because Ted Cruz thinks he can be president? What’s the plan here?
Ted Cruz would get all the policies right if he was elected. But of course, that’s the rub. Would he win in November? I’m not sure we want to see the whole general election revolving around his Cancun vacation. What is the plan for Ted Cruz to get elected? He’s done a great job as a senator, and it’s cool to have him in the Senate, but what is the path for him getting elected and installed in the White House? Can you imagine a scenario where Ted Cruz sweeps Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania? Me neither. And I like Ted Cruz’s policies, but we have to have some real talk. Until somebody can make the case that Ted Cruz can win the general election, maybe he should focus on staying in the Senate.
Then there’s Rick Scott. I like him too. But he also has a Senate seat to defend in 2024, and we would like to hold that Senate seat. He should probably do that. A lot of Republicans are mad at him because he led the 2022 Senate election to, if not defeat, then feat. There is no groundswell of support in the GOP base for him to run for president. In that way, he is like Ted Cruz. We like him where he is – do not risk a Senate seat on a pipe dream. If he wants attention, he can go in front of a Midnight Oil tribute band.
There’s Mike Pence. He’s doing a book tour now, which means he’s running. It also means he is delusional enough to think the GOP base wants him. What’s interesting is that someone is telling Mike Pence he might someday be president. Who is lying to him? Why are people misleading this poor man?
I thought he was a good vice president and that Trump treated him badly. He’s a nice guy. He would probably give you a ride to the airport if he was your neighbor. But we do not need a nice guy as president. We need Conan, not Barney. I want a president who wants to destroy the institutions. We tried gentlemen with W and Mitt. They got rolled and then stabbed us in the back. Can you imagine just how hard this guy will get played if, by some miracle, he won? Hard pass. We tried failure already, and we found it leads to us failing.
Speaking of failure, Nikki Haley might run, because somebody has to run in the Jeb! lane. After all, the Establishment has got to establish. She’s on the cutting edge of 2005. I can just see her speech’s big applause line: “I support a strong America full of empowerment for entrepreneurial Americans who like America! Yeah, America!” Every one of her takes is basic; everything she says sounds like it was scripted by a committee of people who thought Romney lost in 2012 because he was a little too conservative.
But her hack clichés are not the worst of it. She’s the poster gal for the GOP contingent that wants to pretend the last decade never happened. The minute she has to choose between the Establishment and us, she’ll choose the Establishment 100 percent of the time. She is one of those “We must work together to build bridges for a brighter tomorrow” people. That means she will do what our enemies say because she hopes the Washington Post will write nice things about her. She will be so upset to find that no matter how eagerly she licks the toes of the regime media it is still going to call her “Hitler.”
Folks, channel Tom Cotton, who wisely passed on in 2024. In another year, all of these folks who are not named “Nikki” might be fine. But the 2024 election is going to be between Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis and their alternative visions of what the Republican Party should be. That is the primary we need. If you are just trying to get some spotlight time to be the VP pick, don’t – Rick Grenell should be the VP. The 2024 GOP primary needs to be serious, and if your name ain’t Ron or Don you just ain’t serious.
In Part 2 Thursday, we shall look at the other potential candidates – the ones whose sole purpose in running seems to be to screw up the GOP’s chances.