Next Steps
Getting beyond the shock of own failures and missteps is the is the beginning. Avoiding them in the future is the next.
Thinking we now have a Senator Fetterneck reminded me of Jon Lovitz’s line as he portrayed Michael Dukakis in a debate with Dana Carvey’s George H.W. Bush:
“I can't believe I'm losing to this guy!”
As I deal with my personal disappointment over the GOP’s lack of performance this week, I realized a couple of things:
Yep. The Democrats were as weak as we thought they were, and
We really sucked. We pulled something that has always been a historical trait of my beloved Ole Miss Rebels, when we are really good, we have an uncanny ability of playing down to the level of our opponents and losing.
OK, Tuesday is over. In the history books. Now I must pull up my Depends and get on with it. The sprint to 2024 has already begun.
Looking two years ahead, I have two real questions stuck in the back of my mind:
Can President Trump get out of his own way for 2024?
Can we pull together as a party to maximize our strengths?
In 2016, Candidate Trump overcame his personality challenges with successful policies and actions. To a large extent his popularity in office was based on those successes. People were willing to overlook the flaws because he was doing the things, Republicans had wanted GOP presidents to do for decades. He sort of lead with policy and suppressed the personality. There was a workable balance created. Nobody gave a crap about the mean tweets because America was finally moving forward at a speed we always knew she could.
But after he, his family, and his close associates have spent 6 years under constant persecution and attack, facing trumped up charges, inflated violations, and in some cases, just outright prosecutorial overreach and criminal prosecution, will he be able to set aside the personal hurt and need for revenge, which he certainly deserves and regain that balance between policy and personality to do it again?
I'm not sure I could.
I'm going to just say it now - I'm weak and vindictive. I would want to crush every pencil-necked cowardly politician, congenital liar and scheming bureaucrat who ever did anything to the people within my circle. My number one motivator would be to become a modern Joshua, marching around the walls of the DC Jericho blowing on God's trumpet, until the walls came tumbling down.
I want Trump to crush them all like the sniveling little cockroaches they are. I, personally, want the bastards to pay with every atom in my body.
But I do think there are early signs are that President Trump is having trouble with that balance this time around. Attacking DeSantis, allegedly blaming Melania for Oz (which I don't know I believe because it came from trash "journalist", Maggie Haberman), blaming some of his endorsees for losing while not kicking help from his own election coffers are some initial warning signs.
I'm already seeing DeSantis being criticized from the sidelines as a weakling, a standard issue establishment Republican, when there are no signs of that.
There are just so many OnlyTrumpers in the GOP who will accept no one else at the top of the 2024 ticket, I guess it is to be expected.
But we can't afford an internecine war in the party to satisfy Trump's hurt, need for revenge and retribution.
There is a way to deliver the blow to the Democrats in 2024 and beyond that can result in a durable and lasting domination of the electoral landscape for generations.
I believe what I wrote yesterday - that we have entered a period of genetic fallacy where nothing we say will be accepted by the other side simply because it is us saying it. I honestly believe if I told a Democrat he was on fire, he would keep walking because he believes I am incapable of telling the truth.
The only resolution to that situation is to win. Total victory is the only way.
The GOP needs to get its crap in a neat little pile and set a long-term strategy for winning and keeping the Presidency and Congress, align the agendas of each function and negotiate between the parties and the powerbases as to who does what to whom all the way from top to bottom. From a policy and ideological perspective, we need to begin to function as an army with a common war strategy.
Some folks are going to need to be shown the door to do that. The RNC must be flushed out and become a war council. The Party needs to recruit generals, people who might not be interested in elected office, but can motivate and plan for the battlefield, we need officers all up and down the line and most of all, we need to show our troops we will stand with them and protect their rights, their families, and their way of life.
Look at our bench strength. We have impressive people at every level of the electoral strata. Look at the Democrats - look at what they have elected - Biden, Fetterman, Harris, the entire cabinet.
Yeah, I know they had to beat us to get there, but there is more to elections than just principle. Hell, the Democrats funded GOP candidates in the primaries. Dirty pool? You bet. But they have a strategy that works. We don’t.
If we work together strategically, rather than tactically, we can deliver justice for America, for President Trump, his family, his inner circle, the J6 people who were over prosecuted, PTA moms and dads who were tagged as domestic terrorists for fighting for their children and every American who has been harmed my ridiculous politically driven pandemic practices, mandates and lockdowns and economic disasters that never had to happen.
President Trump has a role, I’m just not sure it is as the candidate.
Kingmaker? Sure, I can see that.
I guess the real question is less about Trump and more if we can get out of our own way long enough to win.
You’re conflicted. You know that Trump can’t run in ‘24. He’s been officially marginalized. Just say it. The D’s spent $40 mil to get his endorsed candidates past the primaries and won. It was dirty, yes, but effective as hell. The party leaders need to fight Trump’s fight for his revenge. There’s just too much division in inside the party itself over Trump. Add that to the total enmity from the D’s who are way beyond holding their noses to vote despite the economy, the open border, the energy dependence, etc. “Kingmaker” is his only play. Get behind DeSantis. Become his Ambassador to China.
Michael, do you think Trump policies came out of his head? I don't think so. He chose people to surround him that are smart and in the case of Pompeo know their way around the administration. This is a trait of a good manager, but sometimes he missed. Consider Fauci. I think the best way forward for Republicans is DeSantis/Pompeo.