While Republican lawmakers are publicly rallying around former President Donald Trump, in private many of them are reportedly hoping he goes down in defeat to Vice President Kamala Harris this fall.Politico's Jonathan Martin reports that "the most fervent private debate" among Republicans right now ...
Just imagine how easy their life would be if that assassin had succeeded. They would have a martyr that would rally their supporters and the undecideds behind them, and they wouldn't have to deal with Trumps outsized ego anymore. I'm so glad that guy did not succeed, that would've been the best case scenario for the GOP.
GOP is going to have an evergreen issue post Trump that is directly related to their dependence on conspiratorial thinking for base maintenance. Because they rely on it so heavily for their own propaganda, there will be a significant cohort of their base for whom "Elvis never died".
And even with out that, the one truly pure signal we have from about 10 years of Trump engaging in electoralism, is that there is no other Trump. His weird ability to upset polls does not translate to other candidates in a meaningful way, because he's never been building a movement that can be handed off; he's only ever been building himself up. When he is gone, all of that goes with him.
Republicans will be in a multi-decade long rebuilding phase post Trump.
I mean.. I think the "Elvis never died" crowd might feel differently if Elvis was shot in the head during a televised moment in front of hundreds/thousands of eye witnesses. Harder to argue with missing skull & brain matter than an unceremonious "off-screen" death. Feels like they would have been able to actually whip up a frenzy with the martyr angle, especially if shooter was convenient for demonizing demographics.
That would have been the craziest footage of all time had it hit the mark. Wild how quick that story faded into the background.
"One high-level Republican, conceding it may only be 'wishful thinking,' even floated the idea of a Harris victory followed by Biden pardons of both his son, Hunter, and Trump," reports Martin. "That would take the issue of both cases off Harris’ plate and, more to the point, drain the energy behind Trump’s persecution complex so that Republicans can get on with the business of winning elections."
OMFG.
The Kaiser let Hitler out of prison after the Beerhall Putsch because he thought there was no threat.
Don’t play with fire. Put the guilty assholes in jail after a fair trial. They are not repentant. Keep them there as long as possible.
Reads like political fan fiction. I put this story right up there with Trump's "Joe is going to storm the DNC and reclaim his candidacy" little wishful fantasy.
Joe Biden, in his final month as president, will pardon every guilty American politician right before sending SEAL team six to assassinate Netanyahu and Putin at the same time. Then he's going to ride on a bald eagle into the Summer Country while eating an ice cream cone and flipping off all the Fox News pundits, whom Gandalf has previously barred from those promised lands.
Every time we read a story like this there's just nothing to believe. Nobody specific was quoted, no sources were cited, and even if actual Republicans actually said the things that the article claims they said, they could be doing so in order to drum up stories, stories like this one, that are not true.
Not even with 2020 level energy would I consider it possible for him to try again in 2028. He's already the oldest, and he fucking SHOWS IT. He would not get the votes to try again. Even the most die hard would have to see he's a loser and move on by then.
They might still think he's right, but they have to know he just can't hang at this point. He's not gonna be around in the "living former president" club long either in my estimation. Which is based on nothing, to be fair, but it's my guess.