Tipsheet

Trump Names Who He Thinks Represents the Future of the GOP...Other Than Himself

The Republican Party is Trump’s party. It’s done. There are still rebel holdouts, but it’s clear the base has undergone a populist facelift that was years in the making. The same is going on with the Democrats. Populism is rising because career politicians are running out of magic tricks to amuse us while they do nothing, collect a paycheck, and get even richer once they leave the Hill. The $1.9 trillion so-called COVID relief bill did none of that, of course. What could go wrong with such a massive grocery list? Everything. We spent hundreds of millions…preserving the Native American language and culture. How does that help working families pinched by the Democrat’s fear-riddled COVID lockdown regime? Where are the $2,000 checks? Frankly, it should be bigger than $2,000, but this is Congress. The epicenter in mastering the art of doing nothing.

Yet, with the next election not until 2024, who will lead the party? If Donald Trump runs again, the nomination is in the bag—period. He will do what people thought Jeb Bush could do but didn’t which is clear the field. Nikki Haley will have to wait, as with a slew of other Republican candidates. Nothing is more damaging to your career than getting beaten half to death by Trump. I mean look at what Trump did to the rest of the 2016 field. They’re either out of politics or have boarded the Trump train. There’s no stopping it. 

Fox News’ Lisa Boothe has started a new podcast and what a first guest she snagged in former President Donald Trump. You can listen to it here, but he was asked who represents the future of the GOP, other than himself, Trump named Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), Sarah Sanders, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), and Ted Cruz (R-TX).

Cruz will forever be a semi-comical choice since Trump bashed him, his wife, and all but accused his father of being part of the plot to assassinate JFK. We’ll see if this pans out. One thing that’s true right now is that if Trump isn’t on the ballot, turnout suffers. Coalitions are seldom transferable; Hillary Clinton found that out rather brutally. It’s a tragedy because the Trump coalition is primed for competition in national elections. Even when Trump was on the stump for other Republicans in 2018, it didn’t help. In fact, some 30 percent of Trump supporters backed Democrats. This isn’t a base that’s 100 percent loyal to Republicans. If there are Democrats who promise not to be crazy, create jobs, and be sensible on other issues, they might vote for them; a good chunk of the base is actually economically progressive. There’s a lot of messaging and maneuvers one has to do to keep this together and so far, only Trump can do that.