As Donald Trump’s legal troubles have increased over the past few months, his poll numbers among Republican primary voters have actually INCREASED – from 43% on January 2 to about 54% now. As for Trump’s lead, that’s also grown, from just under 6 points on January 2 (over Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis) to nearly 39 points (!) now (again, over DeSantis, who has plummeted from 37.3% on January 2 to just 14.8% now). Meanwhile, nobody else has moved to seriously threaten Trump’s lead, with Vivek Ramaswamy at just 8.4%, former VP Mike Pence at just 4.7%, former SC Gov. Nikki Haley at just 3.5%, former NJ Gov. Chris Christie at just 3.0% and Sen. Tim Scott at just 3.0%).
In short, nobody’s even close to being a serious threat to Trump winning the 2024 Republican presidential nomination at this point, with the only obvious hope of stopping him seeming to be his conviction (although even then, Trump’s said he wouldn’t drop out) and imprisonment (although the constitution doesn’t expressly forbid someone from serving as president from prison). So as of the moment, and barring any major surprises, it’s looking like Trump is the heavy favorite to be nominated by Republicans for president yet again.
Of course, just because Republican voters overwhelmingly favor Trump for the nomination doesn’t mean that everyone on the right is happy about that. Just look at the articles from the past day or so:
- Scoop: Big GOP donors push for Trump alternative (“Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin and Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp are getting secret overtures from establishment Republicans — and haven’t ruled out running, top sources tell Axios.”)
- Rupert Murdoch encouraged Virginia’s Glenn Youngkin to seek presidency (“Murdoch has long felt that the seeming obsession of former president Donald Trump with the results of the 2020 election will only serve to drag the Republican Party down in a general election”)
- Kemp and Youngkin appear at conservative conference as donors quietly push White House run (“Youngkin is scheduled to address the conference on Saturday evening, making him the final speaker of the annual gathering. His appearance comes as top donors have reportedly pushed him in private to consider a presidential run — something the Virginia governor initially ruled out earlier this year.”)
On that last bullet point, by the way, the conference Youngkin’s speaking at this afternoon is called “The Gathering,” hosted by right-wing radio host Erick Erickson. Just to give you an idea of where THAT guy’s coming from, see here, including his views that:
- “males dominate females in the ‘natural world’ and it was only ‘science’ for men to be the breadwinners for their families”
- “it is sinful to approve of homosexual immorality or transgenderism and that such approval constitutes an essential departure from Christian faithfulness and witness”
- Michelle Obama is a “Marxist harpy”; “President Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize because of an ‘affirmative action quota'”; etc.
- Trump is “‘a racist’ and ‘a fascist'” and that “I will not vote for Donald Trump. Ever.” (before ” Erickson endorsed Trump for re-election in the 2020 presidential election”)
Erickson also “spread a false story by RedState which claimed that 17-year old Parkland, Florida school shooting survivor David Hogg was not actually at the Parkland school when it was attacked.”
So yeah, that’s who Glenn Youngkin and other Republican heavy-hitters are pandering to this weekend. Disgusting, but very much “on-brand” for this unhinged, far-right-extremist bunch. Bottom line: we’d all better make damn sure that this party, in its current authoritarian/anti-democracy/anti-science/racist/anti-LGBT/etc. form NEVER comes to power in this country. Because if it does, you can kiss our democracy and our rights goodbye.
As for Glenn Youngkin’s chances of leading this unhinged party, here are a few thoughts on that subject.
- First off, as Sam Shirazi has pointed out, Youngkin would need DeSantis to implode, which seems to be happening. Also, Youngkin would probably need to win the Virginia General Assembly elections this November, to give him some “success” to point to. Youngkin would furthermore need Trump’s legal troubles to “drag him down,” although as noted above, so far they’ve only HELPED him among the Republican “base.”
- So obviously, we need to make sure that Youngkin does NOT win full control of Virginia this November for a whole bunch of reasons, first and foremost being that he’d roll back all the progress we’ve made, restricting reproductive access, voting rights, gun safety measures, clean energy and environmental progress, etc, etc. And, as an added bonus, if Youngkin loses in November, it will deal a blow to his presidential prospects. So let’s make sure that happens!
- Of course, if Youngkin waits until after this November’s elections, he risks missing some key states’ filing deadlines. For instance, the filing deadline for major party candidates in Nevada is October 16 and in South Carolina it’s apparently October 31. So that’s a problem, although perhaps not an insurmountable one, for Youngkin.
- If Youngkin does get in the Republican presidential primary race in November, he’d still have to deal with the fact that there’s one dominant candidate, Donald Trump, and a bunch of other people not named Donald Trump. How would Youngkin’s entry into the field do anything but further divide the not-Donald-Trump vote and help the treasonous scumbag win yet another Republican presidential nomination? Of course, Youngkin could spend a fortune, but would Youngkin really be able to overcome Trump’s massive advantages with the Republican “base” through advertising, campaigning, etc? It’s hard to believe, and more likely that Youngkin would be another Scott Walker, Jeb Bush, etc.
- If Youngkin were to enter the 2024 presidential contest, would he step down as governor, making Lt. Governor Winsome Sears governor? Or would he just be focused even LESS on the job he was elected to do? I mean, if Youngkin doesn’t get a “trifecta” in November, there won’t be much to excite him here anyway, so he might just figure that he’s used Virginia for all its worth (including as a stepping stone to higher office) and bid his not-particularly-fond goodbyes to the Commonwealth.
- Also, if Youngkin does decide to run for the 2024 Republican nomination, presumably his opponents will bring up stuff like…well…In 2020, Youngkin Praised Communist China’s “unique system,” Said It Was “incredibly helpful”; Also Sounded Very “Woke” as a Champion of Diversity, ESG, “lowering carbon footprint,” etc. So What Changed? Should be fun, huh? LOL
- Finally, it’s possible that Youngkin’s “play” wouldn’t be to beat Trump, but to be selected as Trump’s running mate. But would Trump really want Youngkin, who has complained about Youngkin (e.g., see Audio: Donald Trump Explains “what disappoints me about Youngkin,” Who Trump Says “got elected because of me” and VA GOP in Disarray: Trump Goes Racist on “Young Kin” (“Sounds Chinese, doesn’t it?”); Amanda Chase Rips Tim Anderson Comments as “hurtful, divisive and quite honestly odd”) and who presumably would want a woman or minority on his ticket? Plus, would Trump think that Youngkin really could carry Virginia into the Republican column, after Joe Biden won it by over 10 points in 2020? Doubtful.
So what are your thoughts on a possible presidential run by Glenn Youngkin? Feel free to weigh in…
P.S. Almost forget to mention to the idiot media – NO NO NO NO, Glenn Youngkin is NOT in any way/shape/form a “moderate,” a “normie Republican,” blah blah blah. Also, can you guys just stop with the constant puff pieces about Youngkin?!?
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