"Only one former president, Grover Cleveland in 1892, has ever returned from defeat to reclaim his old office. Trump would turn 78 years old during the 2024 campaign, making him even older than Ronald Reagan when he left office at the end of his second term.... '[Biden] started bleeding, and Trump is like a shark. He smelled blood,' said one confidante with whom Trump has recently spoken. But another cautioned that 'he was running before the Afghanistan debacle. It’s nothing new.'... Former presidents have at times criticized their predecessor, but none have shattered the norms of post-presidential decorum like Trump, who has taken swipes at Biden and offered his own daily commentary."
Why did Politico bring up Reagan like that, noting that at 78, Trump would be "even older than Ronald Reagan when he left office at the end of his second term"? Biden is 78 right now, in the first year of his term. Isn't Biden the proper comparison?
Anyway, I guess we all know that Trump is running. How can he not, being who he is? Are you happy with that?
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66 comments:
I'd prefer he be the king-maker and back a DeSantis/Grenell ticket.
If he does insist on running, he needs to explicitly lay out steps to fire tens of thousands of fed employees, especially those in the intelligence community.
For a start, the FBI should be dismantled along with the Dept. of Education, and that should be done by 2pm on inauguration day.
His pick for AG should be someone who will vow to send thousands to prison, and the 2020 election should be investigated (as if it's a mystery) and people need to be executed for treason.
Then I'd vote for him...
We pay for this massive government that intrudes on every aspect of our lives, and yet we are told nothing. Everything is a secret (until it's strategically leaked) or sealed for 50 years. Other than the names of our spies or war plans, we should know every damned thing the government does in our name and with our money. I am sick of being ruled.
We Need to ask a True Expert, that's NEVER BEEN WRONG... What does Chuck think about this?
One person who has discussed Trump’s plans but declined to comment on the record...
So...
The article was conceived with dishonesty.
Do you just read these trash sources for fun? Why don't you include some sources that at least try to be honest?
If you're looking for the former president who broke the norm of respecting the transfer of power to their successor without trying to undermine them, look no further than Barak Obama. These "journalists" simply are dishonest.
I would be happy with Trump's policies, but the non-stop, over-the-top hostility of the deep state and media and Hollywood and the universities would be exhausting, again. I think that many people felt this way and enough voted for Biden (how bad could he be?) to put him over the top.
Honestly, it will be either DeSantis or Trump. I would be happy with either of them. I understand the issues that come with Trump running again. However, the media will make either out to be literally hitler, so perhaps it's moot whichever decides to run for potus.
[Biden] started bleeding, and Trump is like a shark. He smelled blood,' said one confidante with whom Trump has recently spoken.
The man still has trouble picking the right confidantes. Maybe it's an NYC thing. New Yorkers like to see themselves as sharks and don't understand that for other people, that's not a very positive or reassuring image.
Trump didn't know how to handle the deep state. He had no idea what level of corruption, hatred, and revenge were waiting for him.
Perhaps now he knows - but I'm not sure he has learned his lesson.
I want someone who will take a fire hose to the corrupt generals, the corrupt FBI and the corrupt CIA... The corrupt influence peddling leftist-Pelosi-Biden family grift-show/ shit-show.
Who is this magical person? eh - I do not know, but I do not think it's Trump.
Why did Politico bring up Reagan like that, noting that at 78, Trump would be "even older than Ronald Reagan when he left office at the end of his second term".
Because Reagan contracted Alzheimer’s not long after he left office. Biden has it now, of course.
I'm surprised by the results thus far. I thought the commenters here were mostly Trump supporters.
The Republican Party has a primary-election process.
I hope that DeSantis runs against Trump in the primary elections and defeats him there.
If, however, Trump wins the primary-election race, then Trump should be the Republican Party's candidate in the general election, where I will vote for him.
Joe Smith: "I'd prefer he be the king-maker and back a DeSantis/Grenell ticket."
At this point in time, playing the eventual king-maker requires precisely the same steps as if he were running for president again.
Never tip your hand before you have to.
If the GOP wants to win, it should not pick a loser.
Trump lost the general election. Yeah, yeah, Joe cheated etc. etc., but Trump was ill prepared, and responded poorly.
Trump lost the center of the electorate. His antics and persona wore them out, and they wanted Anybody But Trump.
Trump lost to the deep state. He beat the false collusion rap and the phony impeachments, but he had no clue about draining the swamp for real.
Trump is a yuuge loser. Which may cause another GOP loss. The party needs an appealing pro with vision and skills. So far, DeSantis has passed his auditions.
Pity that guy who arranged the Abraham Accords can't run. These are the biggest foreign policy successes in the Mideast since Sadat gave his life to save Egypt from losing an eternal war. These accords show a path for every single country now supporting the Palestinian desire to kill all Jews, to instead move to normal relations with Israel. Pity nobody can recall them, or how they were brought about, and who did that.
Trump was a master at manipulating the press and controlling the agenda. He accomplished some great things that every sane sensible person should be grateful for. But he's also a loose cannon who squandered opportunities and was often his own worst enemy.
It was childish, selfish, and petty for people to vote for Biden because of mean tweets, but it's still nice to not have the mean tweets. Is a more Trumpian atmosphere the price we have to pay for a more Trumpian presidency?
People have often said there is no Trumpism without Trump, and maybe that was true in 2016, but I don't think it's true today. There are politicians who embrace his program without embracing his combative style. Ron DeSantis comes to mind. I'd rather Trump become a kingmaker, promoting his kind of people throughout the system, rather than making the system all about him once again.
I fervently hope Trump doesn't run. First of all 78 is too old for the job. Secondly, the level of cheating that the Democratic Party and the media will engage in to prevent another Trump term will break the country (if the 2020 level hasn't already done it). They will surely cheat against DeSantis but their heart won't be in so it may be kept to a level that allows the country to hold together.
I voted "No" and I like Trump, but 78 is too old. Years start happening fast around then.
Joe Smith said...
... needs to explicitly lay out steps to fire tens of thousands of fed employees, especially those in the intelligence community.
Currently, there's what? 11 of the twelve richest counties in the USA that are in the DC area?
If employment in DC were to drop by 10% (20%? 80%?) HOW would this be bad, for the country at large?
Seriously, if someone reduced federal payrolls.... HOW would that be bad?
There is not political advantage for Trump to say he is not running right now.
Trump would be giving up a a huge amount of power, attention, and donations if he said he was not runnning.
Especially with Trump's dealing with the GOP Establishment, which hates Trumps guts. Trumps individual fund raising and actions in the GOP primaries is a huge threat to the GOP establishment and their gravy train. The GOP Establishment has had huge success in using a strategy of diluting votes through fake / straw candidates in the primaries, as a way to get their establishment candidate to win. Even though the majority of GOP Primary voters did not vote for the Establishment Primary Candidate.
My choice isn't on your list.
I'm only for Trump because he's not One Of Them, and I also think 78 is too old for anyone to be president.
As for the GOPukes, they are as corrupt as the Ds are, and usually not very bright too.
Nothing good will come from all these people and parties of yesteryear.
I want someone who will take a fire hose to the corrupt generals, the corrupt FBI and the corrupt CIA... The corrupt influence peddling leftist-Pelosi-Biden family grift-show/ shit-show.
Who is this magical person? eh - I do not know, but I do not think it's Trump.
That should be his VP, and it should be his full-time job. That leaves out someone like DeSantis for someone more like Grenell.
Trump can build the wall and play trick-or-treat with the Chinese.
Trump's criticism of Biden is an extension of Obama's "shattering norms" in criticising Trump. Sow the wind, reap the whirlwind.
"If you're looking for the former president who broke the norm of respecting the transfer of power to their successor without trying to undermine them, look no further than Barak Obama. These "journalists" simply are dishonest."
I came to write that..
...also, if you're thinking you'd prefer someone less polarizing than Trump, learn the lesson from history: It doesn't matter who the GOP runs, they're going to be Hitler. It's better to have someone who's a competent fighter than someone who rides the bench for the Washington Generals.
I want Trump because if he steps aside for someone else it will be a victory for the GOP establishment. They'll know that their tactics worked, and that they can undermine the next guy in the same way. Additionally, a second Trump administration would likely be vastly different than the first. The GOP will be much more Trumpian than before, making it easier to push through his agenda and put his desired people in place in key agencies.
If Trump doesn’t run, expect him to sabotage the GOP race like he did in GA.
I don’t see his ego being able to handle him being 2nd fiddle to a newly elected Republican president.
retail lawyer said...
I would be happy with Trump's policies, but the non-stop, over-the-top hostility of the deep state and media and Hollywood and the universities would be exhausting, again. I think that many people felt this way and enough voted for Biden (how bad could he be?) to put him over the top.
If this is humor directed at certain people it is very penetrating and excellent.
If it is honest then it is one of the most cynical things I have ever seen.
Thanks to an unchecked and unending media fury, the nation elected President Not-Trump. Were Donald to run & win in 2024, it's hard to imagine the ensuing madness. But I do know in 2028, AOC would be of age.
1. It's waaaaay too early to say who the candidate will be or even who will try.
2. If you think the Left will treat DeSantis even a smidgeon better than they treated Trump, think again.
3. I'd love to see whoever wins demand the resignation of every member of the Executive branch above a certain, and know before the election whose you will accept or decline. That won't happen because you can't campaign on that and word would leak out - "from anonymous sources close to Trump".
Your poll, when I looked at it just now, had 442 votes total and of those, just 12 were for the three "want GOP to lose" combined.
I know, online polls aren't random; still, that seems wildly out of line with your usual readership.
The first 45 months of his administration were great, but his post-election temper tantrum cost us the Senate. He also made my politically mixed marriage very stressful from time to time. Finally, his organization is sending me incessant text messages that are impossible to opt out of or unsubscribe from. Is anyone else getting these, and is there any way to stop them? Rude! If he is the Republican nominee, I'll vote for him, but please, NO!
Politico is simply covering for Biden by mentioning Reagan. It would prefer that we forget that the oldest-ever President is currently in the Oval Office. And that Biden, should he still be with us (in both senses) in 2024, would remain much older than Trump.
The first 45 months of his administration were great, but his post-election temper tantrum cost us the Senate.
Huh? The Senate was lost in the 2020 election, not sure how it could be attributed to any post-election activity?
word salad does not improve as we age.
The poll is up to 558 respondents, with 97% wanting the GOP to win. Two percent —11 respondents — do not want Trump to run and also want the GOP to lose. I imagine at least a few of those 11 do not want Trump to run because they want the GOP to lose.
Main reason I want Trump to retake the Presidency is my belief that Biden and Harris and Pelosi will have so thoroughly screwed up the economy and foreign policy that it will take and out-of-the-box thinker like him to fix things.
Trump turned out to be a surprisingly good president, but his last few months in office showed that he never really learned the Washington game. It doesn't seem likely that he will have learned it by 2024. I don't want to be in the position again of hoping that George W. Bush would somehow magically show qualities that he just didn't have.
Usually, after presidents' first term you know if they can they can do the job or not. With Trump I got the feeling that he could do the job, but that a lot depended on chance or luck. It's possible that he could have great policy successes, though not certain. It is certain that there will be a lot of collisions with the Establishment.
Will we have a Trump who still doesn't know how to deal with the Deep State and gets dragged by it through all the nonsense again, or will we have a more skilled Trump who goes after the Washington swamp with a vengeance and ultimately gets into trouble doing the kind of things that he was falsely accused of doing before? Neither prospect is very appealing.
I'll vote for Trump, but I suspect too many Americans won't.
I have no doubt that Trump's first thought is accumulating as much donation cash as he can as early as he can. His only interest at any time is aggrandizing himself (primarily financially, but also otherwise), by whatever means necessary.
Whether he'll actually run or not may be something he's still deciding. If indicators at the time suggest he would face a strong chance of losing...he won't risk it. If indicators look good for victory, he probably will go for it.
Ron De Santis needs to be president, but I really do think Trump needs to be his secretary of state.
Robert Cook: "I have no doubt that Trump's first thought is accumulating as much donation cash as he can as early as he can. His only interest at any time is aggrandizing himself (primarily financially, but also otherwise), by whatever means necessary."
The "tell" on loser "analysis" is the default to mindreading and absolutes.
"I have no doubt", "His only interest".
Loser analysis.
Something to be expected of every cafe marxist.
"If indicators at the time suggest he would face a strong chance of losing...he won't risk it. If indicators look good for victory, he probably will go for it."
These decisions are always made on such basis. The current VPOTIS dropped out of the primaries using that exact logic.
"It doesn't matter who the GOP runs, they're going to be Hitler."
Yep. Even a total squish like Romney got turned into a monster. The guy was governor of (the people's republic of) Massachusetts for Pete's sake, a place where even the Republicans tend to be Democrats.
tommyesq said...
The first 45 months of his administration were great, but his post-election temper tantrum cost us the Senate.
Huh? The Senate was lost in the 2020 election, not sure how it could be attributed to any post-election activity?
Georgia runoff, January 5 2021.
He also made my politically mixed marriage very stressful from time to time.
Not advocating for or against, but Trump II would be different in many respects from Trump I.
For one thing, the idea he was illegitimately elected was part and parcel with the ideas he was incapable of holding the office and no reasonable person could have voted for him. He now has a track record of executing the office and it's abundantly clear people have any number of reasons outside of entertainment value to vote for him.
For another, he would be voted in by people well-aware of his social media habits. It was too easy the first time to believe he might stop Tweeting once in office or tone down his attacks. The "can you believe Trump just Tweeted this" chorus would now be met with "I fully expected him to do so" rather than having to defend each and every individual post.
More still, his attacks on the media (fake news) have been borne out too many times to take them as an unfortunate verbal tic. While one may have wished for a more collegial relationship between the media and Chief Executive, his four years in office have shown the media to have no hold, or even interest in, the truth. His detractors will have to do more than simply send around sound bites taken out of context to rile up his supporters. They will bear the burden of truth, rather than the assumption of forthrightness.
As Floridian I want DeSantis in the governor's mansion for another four years. Too many New Yorkers and other Blue Staters are moving down here to escape the mess they created and have not concluded they are the problem and will create the same problems here. DeSantis is young enough, smart enough and talented enough that with a state GOP controlling the legislature can prevent the New Yorkization of Florida. De Santis has plenty of time to run for national office later. As for 2024 I would be quite happy with Trump and Grenell. Grenell can be and would be a very effective hatchet man while Trump does the "big picture" For those upset about Trump's mean tweets, the guy has been banned from Twitter and Facebook so he can't mean tweet/post even if he wanted to. However it would surprise me if Trump ran again that Twitter and Facebook remove the ban during the campaign on the premise Trump would shoot himself with mean tweets.
Sebastian said...
If the GOP wants to win, it should not pick a loser.
Trump lost the general election. Yeah, yeah, Joe cheated etc. etc., but Trump was ill prepared, and responded poorly.
Trump lost the center of the electorate. His antics and persona wore them out, and they wanted Anybody But Trump.
Trump lost to the deep state. He beat the false collusion rap and the phony impeachments, but he had no clue about draining the swamp for real.
Trump is a yuuge loser. Which may cause another GOP loss. The party needs an appealing pro with vision and skills. So far, DeSantis has passed his auditions.
Your analysis is very limited and really kinda stupid.
First Trump won the election 75-79 million votes to 60-65 million votes. It was a historic landslide.
The biggest problem with your analysis though is not addressing the root cause of the problem which was backstabbing traitors in the Republican party Like Kemp, Ducey, McConell etc. who participated in the fraud.
The issue is that the Republican party from top to bottom failed. We have let too many apparatchik's and scum suckers into positions of authority. They have wormed their way in as they always do.
Everyone wants to blame Trump. But the problem is cellular and endemic to a representative Republic that people who are interested in power seek it and those that don't want to do other things.
The Georgia senate seats were lost because the Georgia GOP did nothing in response to the obvious fraud from November 3rd. Why go vote again if your vote truly doesn't matter? I warned about this in November of last year- the unwillingness to do anything about the fraud would discourage GOP voters in January, and I was right- GOP voters declined relatively to the Democrats in the runoff vs November- the runoffs weren't even close.
Magilla Gorilla said...
The first 45 months of his administration were great, but his post-election temper tantrum cost us the Senate. He also made my politically mixed marriage very stressful from time to time. Finally, his organization is sending me incessant text messages that are impossible to opt out of or unsubscribe from. Is anyone else getting these, and is there any way to stop them? Rude! If he is the Republican nominee, I'll vote for him, but please, NO!
The aristocracy is counting on people like this to maintain their power.
Magilla Gorilla said...
tommyesq said...
The first 45 months of his administration were great, but his post-election temper tantrum cost us the Senate.
Huh? The Senate was lost in the 2020 election, not sure how it could be attributed to any post-election activity?
Georgia runoff, January 5 2021.
Magilla incorrectly attributes Kemp's failures to Trump.
The GOP lost the runoff's because Kemp and the other traitors in the Georgia government covered for the obvious voter fraud in Georgia.
It is really kinda silly.
I would be happy to have Trump run again, and voted so, but I don't think he will run- 78 really is too old, but Trump today has the vitality of a 50 year old man, but he will also be looking carefully at what he would like to do with the following 4 years, and being president will likely not be one of those things since he has been there and done that.
The most likely thing is that Trump endorses DeSantis in late 2023. I like DeSantis because, like Trump, he treats the media in exactly the correct manner- as lying scumbags. He doesn't let them set the agenda either. However, none of this matters if the GOP doesn't stop the mail-in-voting fraud.
I like Republicans that weren't the architects of both a Taliban "peace deal" AND an eviction moratorium.
Trump voters love to throw out the term "RINO" but what do you call it when a president directs the Centers For Disease Control to prohibit property owners from evicting deadbeats? Smells an awful lot like a RINO to me.
"Drago said...
Robert Cook: "I have no doubt that Trump's first thought is accumulating as much donation cash as he can as early as he can. His only interest at any time is aggrandizing himself (primarily financially, but also otherwise), by whatever means necessary."
The "tell" on loser "analysis" is the default to mindreading and absolutes.
"I have no doubt", "His only interest".
Loser analysis.
Something to be expected of every cafe marxist."
Don't forget lazy. So many of the same people who think he incited the "insurrection" to retain power were also certain he was just running in 2016 because he really wanted to launch a new media venture/aggrandize himself/make more money. That he didn't really want to be president. Mr. Cook's conjecture is poorly recycled hogwash that clearly shows the people who espouse this thinking have no actual insight or understanding of his mind. I don't either, for the record, but at least I don't try to obscure the fact.
"Why did Politico bring up Reagan like that, noting that at 78, Trump would be "even older than Ronald Reagan when he left office at the end of his second term"? Biden is 78 right now, in the first year of his term. Isn't Biden the proper comparison?"
Is that a rhetorical question, Ann?
Of *course* Politico wants to make that comparison, what with Reagan's Alzheimer's and all. They *don't* want the comparison to Biden, who seems to have lost a step or three in the last few years.
Information, to the press, has utility first and foremost, so leading scenarios, missing data, irrelevant data, and flat out lies all must support the narrative first and be factual second.
The Trump administration was more successful that Trump. And the Dem nominee in 2024 will almost certainly be someone other than Biden (and unless they really want to lose, not Kamala either). So what is the upside for the Reps in nominating the failed candidate from the last go-around -- he'll still have all the personal downsides that led the electorate to vote for an obviously impaired hack like Biden, supposedly as the 'normal,' 'moderate' and 'safe' candidate, in an election that wasn't especially close? That voters thought those were the qualities that Biden brought to bear tells you what they thought Trump did not bring to the party.
If they want to win, better for the Reps to go with a candidate attuned to the realities (and the Dem candidate) that will be on offer in 2024 rather than trying to fight a battle that was lost 4 years earlier.
One person who has discussed Trump's plans...
I'm immediately suspicious. With whom did they have this discussion?
Anyway, I'm not voting for a person who will turn 80 in office. Ever. And there's no way anyone can know who will be running in 2023/2024.
Achilles said...
Magilla Gorilla said...
...
The aristocracy is counting on people like this to maintain their power.
... and
Magilla incorrectly attributes Kemp's failures to Trump.
The GOP lost the runoff's because Kemp and the other traitors in the Georgia government covered for the obvious voter fraud in Georgia.
It is really kinda silly.
Kemp may have screwed up, but Trump made it much worse, both after the November election and by running a terrible campaign. As for the aristocracy counting on people like me, you don't know me at all.
“The most likely thing is that Trump endorses DeSantis in late 2023. I like DeSantis because, like Trump, he treats the media in exactly the correct manner- as lying scumbags. He doesn't let them set the agenda either. However, none of this matters if the GOP doesn't stop the mail-in-voting fraud.”
I like DeSantis for just that reason, that he controls the discussion, always seemingly a step ahead of them. He’s the one guy who seems to be, more and more, living in their heads, as Trump does. Only other one like that, maybe, is Ted Cruz, and the big difference there is that Cruz looms more and more like a crazy guy, while DeSantis, with his severe buttoned down look, doesn’t come across like the wild eyed crazy guy that Cruz, and maybe Trump do.
Grover Cleveland and his wife told everyone they spoke to that the election had been stolen. It worked for them. He had a young attractive wife that he married in the White House.
Daddy's not coming home he has a new family now
"Daddy's not coming home he has a new family now"
Quite true. Unfortunately, Mom's new boyfriend is a senile old coot who ruins everything.
"The 'tell' on loser 'analysis' is the default to mindreading and absolutes.
"'I have no doubt', 'His only interest'.
"Loser analysis."
You're ignoring the entirety of his decades of public personal and business life. It's all right there in spades, except for those who choose to be blind to Trump's true character. He's as blatant a conman and liar as one can be without actually saying, "I'm lying to you and swindling you."
"He's as blatant a conman and liar as one can be without actually saying, "I'm lying to you and swindling you.""
All very possibly true, and all known to those who voted for him. Trump's personal flaws were never hidden. His fans weren't voting for him so much as against the political class that spent the last half century screwing things up and NEVER paying a price for it.
Biden is a creature of that class and is demonstrating the same combination of arrogance, ineptitude, and callousness that has his kind so despised. Since they have learned nothing from Trump's rise, it's not hard to imagine Trump (or someone like him) defeating them again.
I judge Trump based on his performance in office. It's a mixed bag, but for three years, Trump benefitted the country. Until COVID, the country was in better shape than it was when he took office. Now it's worse off than it was when Biden took office. So speculation about what Trump's deepest motives are or what's going on in his mind seem to be beside the point. Politicians are always egotistical and always more narcissistic than other people, and it's likely that Trump was more narcissistic than most, but judgment has to be based on results and achievements and not on generalizations about how one thinks his mind works. I'd say the same thing about Obama, too. One can hate him, but he did leave the country better off than Bush did.
Robert Cook: "You're ignoring the entirety of his decades of public personal and business life."
LOL
No. I'm not.
You're just another marxist idiot.
I'll vote for him if I have to, but 78 is just too damn old.
Trump will be indicted in New York early next year. Doesn't matter that it's bogus, Dems will hang him around every republican candidate. Are you a Trump supporter? No, alienate every Trump supporter. Yes, alienate at least half of independents. Dems clean up between that shiny object and mail fraud. And for the next year it's all Trump all the time instead of the Biden Harris disaster.
"'He's as blatant a conman and liar as one can be without actually saying, "I'm lying to you and swindling you.'
"All very possibly true, and all known to those who voted for him."
No...the majority of Trump's voters are blind to Trump's true nature (as witness the benighted Drago, above).
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