Why is this man laughing?
Let me put on my prognosticator’s hat: Donald Trump will win the 2020 Republican nomination.
Trump won’t only win the 2020 nomination, he will win it easily, effortlessly. The Republican Party is Donald Trump’s party now and, barring some unexpected development on the impeachment front, the president can’t lose.
The Democrats will have a much more interesting primary season with upwards of 20 candidates running. So the question becomes: Who will the Trump opposition (such as it is) put up as a sacrificial lamb to become Trump’s Twitter pinata?
One masochist who actually wants the job is John Kasich.
The Republican governor accused the GOP of being “anti-immigrant, anti-trade, in favor of debt,” and implored party members to “come home.”
“We should care about people from top to bottom, not just at those at the top but everybody,” Mr. Kasich told CNN’s “State of the Union.” “I can bring that party back, that’s what I’m going to do, in one way or another.”
He also pushed back at those who have accused him of not being truly conservative, insisting, “I didn’t leave the Republican Party, the Republican Party left me.”
I’ve got news for Johnny. Being a Republican has nothing whatsoever to do with being a conservative. The “conservative” party massively increased spending and the debt, can’t get rid of Obamacare, and is filled with a bunch of amoral, butt-squeezing, tit-whacking serial harassers.
So, you can be a Republican without being a conservative. And you ain’t no conservative.
“In my state, we have balanced budgets, surplus, we’re up a half-million jobs, and then people say, ‘Kasich’s not a conservative.’ What does that mean?” he asked.
Mr. Kasich, who ran unsuccessfully for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination, has been floated as a potential Republican challenger to President Trump in 2020, telling Politico last month that, “All of my options are on the table.”
Speculation heightened after CNBC reported Thursday that Mr. Kasich met last month with billionaire investor and donor Ron Burkle in Los Angeles.
The term-limited governor, who has criticized the GOP’s direction under Mr. Trump, said Democrats are also failing what he called “the great middle.”
“You have a department store that’s red and a department store that’s blue, and neither of them right now are providing products to the great middle, and you know what happens?” he said. “That’s how another store opens up in the neighborhood.”
How homespun is that! And how quaint. Most voters under 30 don’t even know what a “department store” is. And if they do, they may have the webpage bookmarked, but wouldn’t know how to find one in the real world.
Donald Trump controls the state parties and the national party apparatus. And he will do anything to prevent any challenger from gaining traction. If Kasich does run, by the time he drops out he’s going to feel like a red-headed stepchild who has gone through a cement mixer.
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