Increasing clarity.
AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill
This week’s second GOP presidential debate didn’t produce any breakthrough moments for any of the seven candidates on the stage. For the second time, Donald Trump’s shadow filled the room even though he wasn’t in the building. (And, please, for the umpteenth time, I proudly stipulate that Donald Trump was a very effective president whom I outspokenly supported here, here, here, here, here, and here – among many other instances.)
Trump or no Trump, the occasion nevertheless provides some clarity to those willing to look with open eyes. A couple of possibilities that have been looming for months are now morphing into likelihoods.
The first is that Joe Biden won’t be the Democratic nominee in 2024. In support of that thesis, I offer this.
Look at the man.
He’s failing in real time. Every day he finds it more difficult to finish a spoken thought. He can’t make it up the steps of Air Force One. Just this week, the Biden campaign was forced to admit that they’re taking proactive measures to prevent him from suffering a fall like the nasty tumble he took in June at the Air Force Academy commencement. According to his doctors, he is undergoing therapy called “proprioceptive maintenance maneuvers.” “Proprioception” is a five-dollar word for “being able to stand up on one’s own without falling down.”
Add to all that his terrible poll numbers. The Real Clear Politics average of national polls has Biden with an approval number of just barely over 40 percent. A recent ABC/Washington Post poll put that number at a truly dismal 37 percent.
It’s therefore becoming increasingly likely that the eventual Republican nominee won’t be facing a feeble, failing and scandal plagued Joe Biden next year.
Thus, Democrats have a Plan B.
His name is Gavin Newsom, the governor of California. Did you see him in the debate spin room with Sean Hannity Thursday night running for president by insisting that he’s not running for president? Newsom is a young, good looking, telegenic, articulate and politically skilled politician. His policies are awful, but he’s personally unburdened by Biden’s frailties and scandals.
In the face of an increasingly likely Gavin Newsom candidacy comes the increasing likelihood that Donald Trump will be convicted of one or more felonies by sometime in mid 2024. However unjust – and I’d put the “Unjust Meter” at about 9.7 on a ten-point scale – the chances of escaping unscathed on 91 felony counts spread across four indictments in four jurisdictions are pretty close to zero.
That means that if Trump is the nominee – as current poll numbers strongly suggest – Republicans will be asking independent and moderate voters in must-win swing states like Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan to vote for a man whose felony conviction would make it illegal for him to vote for himself.
And there the Democrats will be, offering up their Plan B.
If you’re a Republican and this doesn’t concern you, you’re either naïve or not paying attention. And if Republicans don’t have their own ‘Plan B,’ the always present possibility of defeat in 2024 could very well also morph into likelihood.
Very true Paul. Besides, Trump is neck and neck with a person who can barely find the bathroom. I fear he has no chance against anyone else. I don’t understand people like Mike Gallagher who are all in for Trump and who talk about far ahead he is. He’s only ahead in surveys of polled Republicans.
A good, concise summation of the Presidential race, Paul. I’ve read and heard much from those who are avid Trump supporters (quite a bit on this site) and my read is that they will never consider a Republican Plan B. If that doesn’t change, I fear we’re doomed. Thanks for the candid assessment.
Mr. Gleiser, since you are an astute political observer and are connected with the media influencers that many Conservatives value, why don’t you suggest a Plan B since Trump may be radioactive (as you suggest) in these battleground states? Let us hear your ideas if you really believe that some of the American voters are going to accept these “felony convictions” as legitimate and therefore vote for a Democrat Marxist sympathizer whose policies have been tyrannical in California.
Senator Kennedy from Louisiana has been heard likening Speaker McCarthy’s job to keeping frogs in a wheelbarrow and he is correct. This is a long time republican problem. Pelosi and Schumer run the Democrats. Everything you said is true and I don’t know what plan B is.
Paul, I am neither naïve or not paying attention. Simply put, I see Donald Trump as the single best candidate. The public knows he is no more guilty of the things he is charged with than are countless other politicians, both Democrat and Republican. The powers that be in both parties want him gone only because he interferes with their ability to pocket money at the expense of citizens. Most politicians are bought and paid for. Donald Trump is not. Just today, my company’s COO told me that politicians, like NASCAR drivers, should wear the logos of their sponsors on the backs of their expensive business suits. Were that the case, you would find no company logo on Donald Trump’s back, not even his own, because when he acts he acts solely in the interests of the people. And that is exactly why we need to come forward and steadfastly support him.
Buddy, I’m so glad that you value the reality of the TRUTH in this world of deceptive and gratuitous politics that permeate every corner of our society, especially the media prostitutes that are bought by the globalist Uni-Party oligarchs that love authoritarian Marxism and also HATE our Republic as driven by our citizens that work for a living. The only Plan B that the weakling and spineless Republicans could ever adopt is to out-cheat, out-lie, out-promise, out-steal votes, and out-praise the Administrative (Deep) state in order to out-bid the Marxist commiecrats who they fear the most.
All of the current “never Trump” candidates STILL believe that the election of Biden was legitimately won and that Trump is a trouble maker and a sore loser. Go figure that one out! With “sunshine patriots” like this we will never win with a Plan B based on fantasy! Unfortunately, if Trump is NOT our next President, the American Republic and our freedoms as guaranteed by the Constitution will cease to exist as the Marxists establish total and perpetual control of this Nation without borders and without any sovereignty remaining in existence.
I would also observe that Trump is NOT the problem whatsoever, regardless of the weaponized DOJ and State DAs that ignore true criminal activity while inventing fantasy crimes against Trump and his supporters. The problem is the “wheat and the chaff” that has been homogenized in the Republican Party because of lazy, compromised, and fearful “leadership” that tolerates the chaff that is carried by every wind of silly ignorance from the Left. The chaff must be eradicated in order to EARN loyalty for wise American voters to enthusiastically support the Liberty mission of the wheat that is clearly defined.
Republicans can win by adopting the killer instincts of the Radical Democrats if they act as warriors of unlimited focus and determination that “takes no prisoners” as they expose the deception and destruction of the Marxist Democrats being perpetrated upon the Nation. Conservative Republicans must be a source of continuing education of the Liberty principles we hold dear to the American people at large. This must be done in order to counteract the fake and empty claims of the Marxist Democrats that constantly fool so many Americans that are hungry for the TRUTH as they witness the unrelenting demise of our country taking place.
C. M., I share your concern. In their desperate desire to see Donald Trump defeated in the last election, the elites in the Republican Party, along with the usual media suspects, happily helped the Democrats legitimize the election fraud the handed Biden the presidency. Sadly, the Republican Party in recent decades has been nothing more than the Democrat Party moving in slow-motion. Leadership in both parties is taking us to a bad place, the only difference being that one party is doing it faster than the other.
What is the Ole Saying about Republicans? Never underestimate the Republicans ability to screw up and blow an election! Paraphrasing of course but 2022 comes to mind. Since I am quoting important people here, Charlie Brown said, “We are doomed!”
The Republicans are Peanuts to the max!
Think you hit it on the head Paul. While I will vote republican, I fear they don’t have a Plan B. In watching the news, there a few that talk a good game on Fox News and Newsmax, but that seems to be it. With all the things that are going on in the country, I have a hard time understanding how anybody with half a brain could vote for a democrat, but there are a lot of stupid people out there and after watching Gavin Newsom with Sean Hannity after the debate, I have to say, Sean looked like a kid that didn’t have a clue on how to respond to anything he said and resorted to praising In and Out Burger. God I miss Rush.
I guess none of you have been paying attention to the mindset of the Democrat voter, the media and others that blindly follow anything with a D in front of their name. The trifecta of Joe Biden, Katie Hobbs and John Fetterman proves that competence on either the political or personal level simply doesn’t matter. Knowing that Democrats would vote for and elect a ham sandwich, it’s time they take that bold step into the future and vote in the first hologram candidate. This is the perfect option since it could be pre-programed to give speeches without any mistakes., ABC, NBC and CNN wouldn’t be able to tell if it was real or fake. The hologram candidate could be completely fluid to meet any sexual orientation, gender or minority requirement. The name of their next candidate- that’s easy – Holly Gram.
Last Saturday, in the House of Representatives, 126 (RINO) Republicans voted with 209 Democrats to pass the 45 day Continuing Resolution (CR) crafted by the “white flag” Speaker McCarthy who collaborated with the Democrats to make it pass. This CR continues the OUTRAGEOUS spending habit of 7 Trillion, 2 Trillion over the 5 trillion that the government takes in. Only 90 Republican Patriots voted to defeat the CR! This debacle by the RINO Republicans gave up the leverage we Conservatives had to negotiate a reduction in spending to pre-COVID levels that Traitor McCarthy had agreed to in January in order to become Speaker.
Furthermore, in the Senate, 39 RINO Republicans voted with 46 Democrats to pass the CR. Only 9 Republican Patriots opposed the CR! This “DEBT can” will continue to be kicked down the road once again. We are in “autopilot” mode to a Debt Bomb in a few years, currently at 33 trillion! There is NO intent to pay down the principle debt. The principle debt is simply “rolled over” every year into new financing at higher interest rates.
There hasn’t been regular order with 12 funded appropriation bills passed in Congress since the middle 1990’s and the 45 day CR isn’t going to change ANYTHING!. With these many Traitors running our government with their collaborators in the Media and unelected Administrative State, there is no hope left.
These 126 RINO House Republicans aren’t incompetent; they are groomed globalists, deep state pawns, traitors, backstabbing pieces of garbage that purposely lie to Conservatives while secretly supporting radical Democrat goals that keep them in the Power Brokers Club in Washington DC. “Plan B” is surrender to National Bankruptcy in which the interest on the National Debt will entirely consume the federal income. That is the path to National destruction that has been planned by the radical Marxist Democrats for decades. The Conservatives have insufficient allies in government to STOP it. I will never contribute to the Republican Party again. Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result and I’m NOT “naïve or not paying attention”.
Just remember, Marxists have no problem seizing our individual assets to fund their Communist form of global government along with the eradication of personal property and elimination of individual rights.
One more point. The “extra (wasteful) spending” over the federal “income receipts” is financed by these federal parasites by ADDING to the National Debt by borrowing (with the sale of treasuries) and PRINTING more dollars resulting in INFLATION and DEVALUATION of the currency. The last Credit Card offer I received in the mail was for 29% APR. I tore it up, immediately!
Thanks for pointing out the HUGE debt issue here, Mr Solomon. Your buddy Trump doesn’t get a pass on this one…..he added over $8T to the problem. And don’t give me the Covid speech. We all know most of that $$ was unnecessary or a complete waste. Another example of the huge blind spots Trump supporters have. He may save the Constitution, but he’ll spend us into oblivion like all the other politicians.
Is Biden YOUR buddy as he weaponizes every federal agency to torment us (using our own money) while he spends 40% more than was spent in 2019? Trump actually paid down a trillion of the growing debt that was scheduled as we had the greatest economic growth in 2019 in our Nation’s history. Over 60% of the federal expenditures are on “auto pilot” by law. Only Congress can change these laws by REGULAR ORDER (not used since the mid 1990s). That is the only way to substantially reduce spending and STOP CRs and Omnibus spending bills (thousands of pages) that no one can read, and that will get a single up or down vote to fund the Pelosi-Marxist agenda already in place.
If Trump had been a dictator he could have wiped out the growing deficit and cancelled the INSANE spending laws passed by a Uni-Party Congress for the last 50 years, but, he wasn’t! Like Buddy said (paraphrasing), most Republicans are more clever at pretending to be Conservatives as they move at a slower pace than the Marxist Democrats. The radical Democrats shout their Marxism honestly from the roof tops!
Based on what occurred today to toss the speaker, I feel it’s safe to say the Republicans have NO plan at all! At least Pelosi could keep HER troops in line!