Larry Elder's Bid for the White House

The Sage of South Central wants to be the next President of the United States. In doing so he joins Vivek Ramaswamy, Nikki Haley, and presumably Ron DeSantis in a bid to replace Donald Trump as the GOP nominee. Elder made the official announcement on Tucker Carlson Tonight. Pay particular attention to Elder’s comments about his father.

Of course, Elder’s announcement was met with derision by the Left and its media, both of which tried to make hay of his bid for governor of California. That was to be expected, so if you really want to read the same group of parrots repeating the same talking points about Elder’s loss, you have a search engine. I won’t waste your time on that.

On Elder’s campaign website, he offers a fairly boilerplate list of issues, all fairly familiar to most conservatives. He is opposed to Critical Race Theory, stating that it undermines the American Dream and deemphasizes personal responsibility. He champions school choice, a tough approach to crime, revitalizing America’s cities, and securing the border. He also opposes inflation and wants to restore economic growth. The standard bullet points. In his own words:

America is in decline, but this decline is not inevitable. It is a choice made by detached and cynical politicians. As a California resident, I’ve seen firsthand how decades of Democrat rule have turned the Golden State, for many, into an unaffordable dystopia. I won’t let them do the same to America. We can enter a new American Golden Age, but we must choose a leader who can bring us there. That’s why I’m running for President.

I’m Larry Elder, and we’ve got a country to save.

Elder has a point about California, which may register with many of the ex-pats who fled the state for pretty much anywhere else, so long as it was a red state unless, of course, those same ex-pats are still holding on to the delusions that set California ablaze. And Elder’s radio show, which he vacated this month, gives him a bit more name recognition than Ramaswamy. Most of the betting crowd is probably still putting its money on a Trump-DeSantis matchup for the final round, advantage: Trump.

But it is worth noting that Trump has raised a few eyebrows lately, notably from the anti-abortion group Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America. The group recently criticized Trump for a statement by his campaign that he supported the Dobbs decision. The objection was that Dobbs does not go far enough and that Trump should support a 15-week ban. Earlier in the month, the Washington Examiner talked about Trump’s comments to Tucker Carlson about how well he got along with Gavin Newsom during his term in office. And then there was Don Jr.’s call to end the Bud Light boycott. Don Jr. aside, there is nothing unusual about Trump’s statements and positions. He has always taken a different stance than others when dealing with adversaries, so there isn’t much to see there.

Whether you back Trump or DeSantis, it is nice to see that the field is at least broadening. And with the new entries into the race, maybe the Trump and DeSantis crowds can abandon their version of the “tastes great/less filling” argument to wrestle with the issues.