By TIM BARTO
And so it begins in earnest. Super Tuesday’s results, expected though they may have been, bring us the 2024 presidential campaign, and it looks like it’s going to be an ugly eight months.
The incumbent can’t stand his predecessor and there’s absolutely nothing Democrats want more than to keep Donald Trump out of the White House; so much so that they will stick with their party leader despite his obviously advancing dementia, low popularity, and embarrassingly unqualified vice president.
Perhaps because Biden’s clouded mind makes him easy to handle, or because there’s no other Democrat on the national stage that can rally the collective, the president’s party is staying with him, gambling that either Trump hatred runs deeper than party lines or the bevy of legal complaints by Democratically-controlled prosecutors will keep their man propped up at the podium.
Similarly, Trump supporters can’t fathom a second Biden term. The difference between the two party’s attitudes seems to be that the Democrats’ distaste for #45 is personal while the Republicans’ complaints are political. Democrats hate Trump with a passion never before seen in American politics. And that’s saying something. Trump supporters, on the other hand, want Biden gone because his presidency has been an unmitigated disaster and they fear the very survival of our republic is at stake.
Nikki Haley’s dreams of a Bill Mazeroski* miracle fizzled on Tuesday, and Robert Kennedy Jr.’s presidential bid is coming down to a long-shot third party (possibly as a Libertarian?) bid.
So, if Biden can fend off forced admission to a senior citizens’ home and Trump can fend off forced admission to a federal penitentiary, then our presidential choices this November will be the same as they were four years ago.
Allow me, please, to now completely anger many of my fellow conservatives.
I voted for Donald Trump twice, the second time being much more hesitant than the first, and I will fill in the oval for The Donald again, but would rather not be in the position to have to do so. Trump’s record as president was impressive. He curtailed the influx of illegal aliens and was constructing a wall that would have curtailed it even more. The economy was doing well prior to the Covid hysteria that swept the nation with the help of the mainstream media. Our enemies abstained from invading fellow Slavs or despised Semites.
If Donald Trump had articulated his accomplishments clearly and with a sense of decency, he would still be in office. Instead, his bombastic demeanor and constant tweets provided fodder for his opposition, and great distaste for those important voters sitting on the fence.
It is perfectly understandable that conservatives find Trump’s confidence and acerbic oratory motivating. Republican presidential candidates over the previous three decades – Bush 41, Bob Dole, John McCain, and Mitt Romney – were anything but combative, despite the extraordinary military records of the first three. Democrats and non-partisans found Bill Clinton and Barack Obama charismatic and full of inspiring rhetoric. Sure, large doses of political correctness, racial guilt, and a desire to set precedents helped them (especially Obama), but they articulated their messages clearly and with vigor.
Perhaps Ronald Reagan spoiled it for those of us on the right. Republicans longed for a candidate who could communicate like the Gipper, or at least stand up to the attacks from the left. Trump doesn’t get his point across like Reagan, but he certainly stands up to the left and – even more so – to his critics.
This is refreshing and invigorating, but it is also Trump’s biggest weakness; not among his diehard supporters (the MAGA crowd, as they have derisively become known) but among those who want to support him and see him succeed, but find his mannerisms off putting.
Donald Trump has a unique opportunity. His opponent is unpopular and inarticulate. If Trump can compare his administration’s record to Biden’s record, and do so in a manner that comes across as presidential and not petty or condescending, then hesitant conservatives and centrists will have feel more comfortable voting for him. Many of us are praying he does so.
_____________________
- *In 1960, Bill Mazeroski hit a home run in the bottom of the ninth inning to win Game Seven and give his Pittsburgh Pirates a World Series victory over the heavily favored New York Yankees, despite the Yankees outscoring the Pirates 55 to 27 during the Series.
_______________________
Tim Barto is a regular contributor to Must Read Alaska, and is holding his breath for the next eight months.
