On the one hand, Trump, or anyone legally qualified should be able to run for office. The issue is we know how the left will fight him every step of the way regardless of the validity of the action. The country doesn’t need another four years of infighting. The other side is that can we really expect a different non-confrontational Congress with any other candidate? I have no doubt DeSantis would get the same treatment as Trump. We have to elect officials who put America first over and above their personal agendas.
I don't know. I think it would be harder to go after Haley or DeSantis as Trump. It's the constant battles that hold us back. And the D's wonder why we go after Hunter. First, he totally deserves it and second, D's you started it.
While these things are all true, they (and the GOP primary field) miss the driving force behind Trump: rage. Trump was elected on a wave of nova-hot rage, felt by the general public and toward pretty much the entirety of the federal apparatus. Trump's base feels betrayed by the government they had been taught to revere, no longer believe the federal government can ever fix anything, and want Trump to burn it down. Trump was a grenade rolled into the halls of Washington, with the genuine intention of blowing stuff up.
In fairness, I don't think Trump really understood it the first time around. I believed then, and I still believe, that Trump never intended to actually win. He'd use it for free publicity and then ride that to the creation of his own Ted-Turneresque TV channel empire. He flirted with that populist rage, and found himself vaulting WAY further than he had intended. That's why his first term was so impossibly stupid. And it was impossibly stupid. Objectively, Trump brought us the bump stock ban and Anthony Fauci. Thanks, Don.
So he floundered around through that first term, unsure of what to actually do or how to actually do it, or what he even wanted to do in the first place. Because he never intended to actually be there. In his floundering, though, he accidentally unmasked the very thing his base hated so. He ripped back the curtain (because he tripped on it) and showed the shadowy powermongering going on among those who style themselves the ruling class. He knew they were there. He was one of them. But then they turned on him.
So now, for Trump, it might actually be personal. He might be just as enraged as those voting for him now. And his base senses it. He may not have been totally the guy they wanted in 2016. But he may well be that now, because he's just as pissed as they are. What that means, well, we'll see.
This is what the primary field doesn't get. They don't know how to tap the rage. For them, it's not personal. It's just politics. And Trump's base just doesn't have patience for politics this election.
All great points. My only issue with Trump is that he is more likely to be fighting attacks, legal and otherwise, throughout his presidency, which will limit how much he can get done.
That's fair, and unfortunately his narcissism almost guarantees he'll pick fights that don't serve him when he could be doing other things. He SHOULD follow the Milei Argentine model and pink-slip half the executive branch on day one. Will he? Or will he get distracted crowing on twitter about how he's now serving the second term he was "cheated out of" last time and everybody can suck it and he's the greatest bestest ever so there? We'll see.
On the one hand, Trump, or anyone legally qualified should be able to run for office. The issue is we know how the left will fight him every step of the way regardless of the validity of the action. The country doesn’t need another four years of infighting. The other side is that can we really expect a different non-confrontational Congress with any other candidate? I have no doubt DeSantis would get the same treatment as Trump. We have to elect officials who put America first over and above their personal agendas.
I don't know. I think it would be harder to go after Haley or DeSantis as Trump. It's the constant battles that hold us back. And the D's wonder why we go after Hunter. First, he totally deserves it and second, D's you started it.
While these things are all true, they (and the GOP primary field) miss the driving force behind Trump: rage. Trump was elected on a wave of nova-hot rage, felt by the general public and toward pretty much the entirety of the federal apparatus. Trump's base feels betrayed by the government they had been taught to revere, no longer believe the federal government can ever fix anything, and want Trump to burn it down. Trump was a grenade rolled into the halls of Washington, with the genuine intention of blowing stuff up.
In fairness, I don't think Trump really understood it the first time around. I believed then, and I still believe, that Trump never intended to actually win. He'd use it for free publicity and then ride that to the creation of his own Ted-Turneresque TV channel empire. He flirted with that populist rage, and found himself vaulting WAY further than he had intended. That's why his first term was so impossibly stupid. And it was impossibly stupid. Objectively, Trump brought us the bump stock ban and Anthony Fauci. Thanks, Don.
So he floundered around through that first term, unsure of what to actually do or how to actually do it, or what he even wanted to do in the first place. Because he never intended to actually be there. In his floundering, though, he accidentally unmasked the very thing his base hated so. He ripped back the curtain (because he tripped on it) and showed the shadowy powermongering going on among those who style themselves the ruling class. He knew they were there. He was one of them. But then they turned on him.
So now, for Trump, it might actually be personal. He might be just as enraged as those voting for him now. And his base senses it. He may not have been totally the guy they wanted in 2016. But he may well be that now, because he's just as pissed as they are. What that means, well, we'll see.
This is what the primary field doesn't get. They don't know how to tap the rage. For them, it's not personal. It's just politics. And Trump's base just doesn't have patience for politics this election.
All great points. My only issue with Trump is that he is more likely to be fighting attacks, legal and otherwise, throughout his presidency, which will limit how much he can get done.
That's fair, and unfortunately his narcissism almost guarantees he'll pick fights that don't serve him when he could be doing other things. He SHOULD follow the Milei Argentine model and pink-slip half the executive branch on day one. Will he? Or will he get distracted crowing on twitter about how he's now serving the second term he was "cheated out of" last time and everybody can suck it and he's the greatest bestest ever so there? We'll see.