ROGER SIMON: CPAC Grand Finale — If Not Trump, Who?
As he put it himself in the speech: “I stand before you today to declare that the incredible journey we began together four years ago is far from over …”
What did he mean by that? Well, we know.
But things happen to a man of a “certain age,” even though we don’t want them to… or they can change their minds, unlikely as that seems.
So let’s play a game. If not Trump, who? (Beyond being academic, it might tell us who will be his vice-presidential pick as well. We can forget about Mike Pence.)
For starters, like it or not, the Republican Party is Trump’s now. The old Bush party, already a faint and diminishing speck on the horizon, can only dream of resuscitation. Further, Trump’s critics in the monumentally misnamed Lincoln Project have imploded spectacularly.
A staggering 95 percent of CPAC attendees supported all of Trump’s policies, according to the Washington Times Straw Poll. His job-approval level was even higher—97 percent. Who does that? (Only Stalin, but this was a free election.)
If you’re not “Trumpy,” forget about the nomination—for just about anything.
Republican officials not on Trump’s team and upholding his policies should therefore beware, those who waffled also. Primaries are coming and on the minds of many.
Again in Trump’s words from his speech: “The Republican Party is united. The only division is between a handful of Washington, D.C., establishment political hacks, and everybody else all over the country.”
CPAC itself was a ratification of this, but also an audition of sorts for a possible replacement for the former [sic] president, if necessary, or, looking far ahead, probably too far, the election of 2028.
What follows are my reactions to this audition, but my sense of the room is that they are not that far from the view of many attendees. (Overall, the CPAC atmosphere was surprisingly optimistic considering the very much still-festering wound of the dubious 2020 election.)
The three most obvious favorites in no particular order (so ladies first) are South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
None of these people have made previous runs at the presidency, at least in any obvious manner. To have done so would, to some degree unfairly, have made them damaged goods, having come under assault by Trump’s take-no-prisoners style during the 2016 primary season.
Sens. Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, both with eyes on the prize for some time, have undergone that, so are in essence disqualified. (Cruz’s unfortunate jetaway to Cancun while his state power grid was down has not helped him either.)