THE COLUMN: 'There is a Tide in the Affairs of Men'

Michael Walsh04 Apr, 2022 6 Min Read
Taking the current when it serves.

While the country holds its breath awaiting the next Joe Biden disaster or the next supererogatory Donald Trump rally, or the next quixotic Mike Pence 2024 presidential campaign event, beneath the surface the political tides are running at Shakespearean levels. Seeking to enlist Cassius in his plot to assassinate Julius Caesar, Brutus says:

We at the height are ready to decline.
There is a tide in the affairs of men
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries.
On such a full sea are we now afloat,
And we must take the current when it serves,
Or lose our ventures.

From our current vantage point, it looks as though the 2024 election might come down to a rematch between Trump and whoever survives the coming Democrat bloodbath this fall. Can senile Joe Biden continue to impersonate a sentient being behind the Resolute desk for another three years? Or will the likely loss of both houses of Congress to the unworthy Republicans motivate the donkey party to find fresh-faced replacements for both Biden and his manifestly unsuitable vice president, Kamala Harris? As I noted last week, it's not impossible to replace both halves of a winning ticket in mid-stream: the Democrats pulled it off between 1972 (historic Nixon/Agnew landslide) and 1974 (Watergate) and saddled the GOP with two candidates it never wanted or even nominated, Gerald Ford and Nelson Rockefeller. So if you think it can't be done, think again.

Lean and hungry looks all around.

The only question is whether the Democrats have the guts to do it to themselves. Back then, the Howard Baker Republicans labored under the impression that the Democrats wanted the same ends for the nation as they did; they were only arguing about means. They also believed that the media played things straight down the middle and, faithful to their constitutional role in a free Republic, didn't take sides, cut corners, or manufacture stories from whole cloth. In the end, the GOP bonzes even did the Dems' dirty work for them, sending a delegation of senior leadership to the White House to tell Tricky Dick the jig was up and it was time for him to go. From a 49-state, 520-electoral vote tsunami to the bum's rush in less than two years; the bloodless coup really was a remarkable achievement and a first in American history.

Should the Democrats wish, or be forced, to keelhaul Biden, however, such a decision will come with a hefty price tag. They'll have to explain to their black voters why Harris was discarded without ever being able to articulate the reason that dare not speak its name: she's simply too stupid to function:

Another problem is that the Democrats have no plausible replacements ready to step in should the need arise. So dedicated are they to the woke doctrines of their lunatic-Left base, they are saddled with the box-checking likes of Pete Buttigieg, Lloyd Austin, Xavier Becerra, Miguel Cardona, Alejandro Mayorkas, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, and Anthony Blinken, none of whom belongs anywhere near a cabinet meeting unless it's held in a water closet. Further, the Democrats' program of crazy nostrums such as Modern Monetary Theory—just print money!—and Green Energy (free wind and solar!) have resulted almost overnight in rampant inflation, severe energy shortages and skyrocketing prices.

So it should be a simple matter for the Republicans to point out the manifest real-world flaws in the Leftist program, sit back, run a bunch of guys named Moe, and wait for the election returns in 2022 and '24. The only problem is the elephant party has its own elephant in the room in the form of Trump, who seems bound and determined to run again and avenge his tainted loss to Biden in 2020. To that end, he's already embarked on a campaign of waving the bloody shirt in anticipation of settling the score in '24.

The problem is, while Trump still has an enormous, if shrinking, following, the former president's candidacy could easily galvanize the Democrats to turn out at least as many votes against him as the GOP will get for him. This is not the place to debate the details of the "stolen election," which at the very least was held (right under the Republicans' noses) under highly irregular circumstances, including the unconstitutional changing of election law in several swing states and the mysterious hiatus in the wee hours of Election Night that screamed "hinky" at the top of its lungs.

For this, however, Trump and the Republicans are partly to blame. The Democrats took advantage of Trump's fatal credulity about the alleged dangers of Covid-19, as well as the Republicans' habitual indolence when it comes to poll-watching. If the election was indeed stolen the Tammany Party stole it fair and square, and all the GOP needs to do is look in the mirror to find the real culprits.

History is against the former president; only one man has come back from a re-election loss to win again the following cycle and that was a Democrat, Grover Cleveland. Cleveland was the first Democrat elected after the Civil War (in 1884), defeating James G. Blaine. He lost to Benjamin Harrison in 1888, but defeated Harrison in the rematch of 1892. The Republican who bears the closest resemblance to Cleveland is probably Nixon, the sitting vice present who lost the election of 1960 to John F. Kennedy, spent some time in the wilderness (losing a California governor's race in the process), and then returned from the political graveyard to beat Hubert Humphrey in 1968. Despite the unfairness of his loss, Trump is not entitled to a second term simply because of it.

Talk about a trick shot.

Can Trump pull it off? Maybe, but unlikely. Outrage over the election-night shenanigans will fade, and Trump will be 78 years old in November 2024, just a year younger than the superannuated Biden is now. The White House is no country for old men, especially one who never forgets a grudge and will spend much of his time seething and seeking revenge. The most a Trump primary candidacy can do is block the path for younger, more viable candidates, some of whom will steer clear of him and thus pre-emptively tank their own prospects.

Further, even a senescent wreck like Joe Biden can still make trouble for the former president, wounding him again even before the presidential campaign season officially kicks off the day after the midterms. Biden is reportedly pushing his attorney general, Merrick Garland, to go after Trump because, well, when you have Irish Alzheimer's, you only remember the grudges.

Finally, even should Trump somehow get through the primaries (he won't be unopposed) and then win, who among us wants to relive 2016-2020? The endless witch hunts, the two impeachments, January 6... the Democrats will never give up their Nixonian pursuit of him, in part because he's just too easy a target. Throughout his term, every slight had to be answered, every dig repaid not in kind but in tweets that served no purpose other than to rally the base. Policies were announced, then abandoned. The Wall never got built; a massive wave of illegal immigration is about to wash over the southern "border" -- which for all practical purposes has ceased to exist. Meanwhile, his personnel choices were almost uniformly terrible (Rex Tillerson? John Bolton?), opportunities were squandered, and most of MAGA was gone before the end of the first year, including Steve Bannon, Rich Higgins, and Sebastian Gorka.

And don't even get me started on the colossal blunder that was Jan. 6, a stench that still lingers in the country's nostrils and which alone should doom a second Trump candidacy, and for which he has shown no remorse even as the poor fools who heeded his words languish in prison.

Sure, it felt great to watch Hillary Clinton and her flying media monkeys melt down on that stunning election night, but what good has come of it? After just a year of Joe Biden, the country is teetering on the edge of bankruptcy and dissolution; would we have been any worse off under Hillary? The sorry truth is, probably not.

The awful truth is there's no time to waste, no time to fantasize about a Trump restoration with a potent vice president who could, in dreams, win two terms outright in the years 2028 and 2032. The country, bound in shallows and in miseries, simply doesn't have the time. The right man has made his entrance: why compel him to waste four years on the sidelines as Trump's veep and then be forced to run on Trump's record in 2028? It makes no sense.

On such a full sea are we now afloat. The decline has long since begun. So whom should the GOP nominate in 2024? I think we all know the answer to that. More on him next week.

Michael Walsh is a journalist, author, and screenwriter. He was for 16 years the music critic and a foreign correspondent for Time Magazine. His works include the novels As Time Goes By, And All the Saints, and the bestselling “Devlin” series of NSA thrillers; as well as the nonfiction bestseller, The Devil’s Pleasure Palace and its sequel, The Fiery Angel. Last Stands, a study of military history from the Greeks to the present, was published by St. Martin's Press in December 2019. He is also the editor of Against the Great Reset: 18 Theses Contra the New World Order, published on Oct. 18, 2022. Follow him on Twitter: @theAmanuensis

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54 comments on “THE COLUMN: 'There is a Tide in the Affairs of Men'”

  1. I am very disappointed with Trump with all things January 6-related.
    -Why have this rally and subsequent march on the very day that election fraud evidence was going to get a national platform in Congress?
    -Why say it was "going to be wild"? (Yeah it was wild alright-smh)
    -Why tell the supporters "we will not be abused"? (Imprisoned patriots that will rot and die in jail might disagree.)
    -Did he really have such a falling out with Pence that he thought the crowd could do anything about it?
    -Why such few mentions of the J6 prisoners when they are where they are because of HIM?

    I voted Trump twice and might make it thrice. But this will be very dicey and the Never-Trumpers might just put up a decent RINO to take some votes away. Like a lot of us I am torn over most of this. DeSantis would be fine. But would Trump hand him the torch?

    1. In power politics, torches are not handed over, they are wrested away. Ask Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero, for starters.

  2. "[Who] among us wants to relive 2016-2020? The endless witch hunts, the two impeachments, January 6... the Democrats will never give up their Nixonian pursuit of him..." -- Well, quite. But that is akin to a heckler's veto. The Dems just about destroyed Trump's first term with their nonsense, and for that, they should be rewarded with a de facto veto on his second? There are many good arguments against (and for) Trump, but basing one on the Dem's reaction seems like giving up far too much power to ones opponents...

  3. In 2015-2016 at every rally Trump promised to build the Wall and desperate Americans cheered. I listened closely. If he'd once said he'd ask (rabidly open borders) congress for approval, I'd never have listened to another word he said. Not that there was anyone else to vote for. Hearing no mention of congress I did vote for him in Nov. 2016. A week or two later I heard him say he'd have to ask congress for approval of the Wall. Meaning, no wall. GOP even prohibited a single inch of Trump "wall," only allowed flimsy fencing in the few feet of replacements. By this time Trump had made Jared de facto president. Jared was in charge of the border and its few feet of flimsy fence. Jared was also in charge of the pandemic which meant he attended meetings and always cut off Dr. Scott Atlas who was our only hope. I had 4 years to observe Trump. Everyone ignored Trump's "fighter" talk because he always caved--for whatever reason, it doesn't matter. It didn't matter because Jared called the shots. Trump is "fighting" today as front man for the new Trump/Kushner family business-politics which is run and staffed entirely by open borders, globalist, Jared (a Soros business partner). Absolutely no one in DC fears Trump. In spring 2017 after bombing Afghan. and Syria, he publicly announced turning over 100% authority for his Commander in Chief duties to the Pentagon. I voted for him in 2016 because he advocated normalizing relations with Russia, but he did the opposite. He became the vicious warmonger he is today, sent two shipments of lethal weapons to Ukraine to kill Russians, which even Obama didn't do.

  4. He wasn't the reason for the "insurrection", but I agree that he's been too silent about them. I'm not sure either about him running again. His age, not helping the J6 prisoners, and still fit the jab. I'd he would bring Bannon back, that would help. Better yet, Bannon should run.

  5. Seems like the GOP-e neverTrumper faction in the GOP is aghast at the prospect of another Trump Presidency... Almost as much as the Chinese, Europeans, Russia and our other adversaries. Just go ahead and get used to that "orange-man-bad" supository. The left has nobody to run against it to the point that the doddering head of a crime syndicate that you idiots helped elect wants him prosecuted...
    The GOP-e is so bereft of leadership, being composed of flim-flam-men that they'll probably trot out a kamikaze ticket of Romney-Cheney... They are reduced to touting and proposing DeSantis as a potential challenger... DeSantis is young. He will remain in Florida until '28, 32' or even '36... Because he can... I would expect a Trump-Pompeo ticket. I also expect Trump to have a list of hires for cabinet and agency head positions that are not beholden to the DC kleptocracy... And I expect that he will put Ric Grenell in charge of shining light on the 2020 election rigging... And let the chips fall where they may. If the democrats and some GOP-e colluded, they might as well retire from politics, dissolve the neo-socialist party, because Trump and our part of the Party will make sure that the terms "cheat", "thief", "fraud" and "usurper" become synonym to them. Trump will snap the country out of the doldrums by putting people to work and cutting imports to the quick.
    If he does, you better get some good scotch to swallow when his head goes on MT. Rushmore.

    You know he's capable, the EU knows he's capable, and so do the "Friends of Biden"... Looking forward to the clearcutting of scoundrels in DC, Brussels and China...

  6. Exactly how I feel. What has been done to stop them or at least slow them down? They have got away with more than the screwing they gave Trump.

  7. Everywhere I see that it's a given that the Republicans will hammer the Marxists come November. Thats all well and good and I surely hope so, but the Marxists may have something to say about it. They stole one election in 2020 and got away with it so what is to stop them from more of the same? What has been put in place that guarantees fair elections? Can they cheat enough to keep from losing the house? Probably not, but any loss of a seat because of cheating cannot be ignored. As for the republicans running there are 2 issues every one of them should swear to be wanting to stop. One is the insane number of illegals pouring across our borders. They must also swear to deport all illegals that have come here since 2015. No matter the cost. I saw this idea from VDH though I am not sure it is his idea. The second issue is every one of them should be ready to denounce and protect us from the freedom sucking desire of the elites to put us under the shadow of a digital currency system. That should absolutely be a non-starter for any "conservative" running for office. We need bold men and women but I'm afraid that we will get a bunch of squishes.

  8. "And don't even get me started on the colossal blunder that was Jan. 6, a stench that still lingers in the country's nostrils and which alone should doom a second Trump candidacy, and for which he has shown no remorse even as the poor fools who heeded his words languish in prison." You had me until this leftist bullshit.

  9. With the Rs likely to be controlling the house and senate and Adam Schiff on the Alaskan agriculture subcommittee it's unlikely the impeachment will on the tap for Trump. The Ds and their left leaning nature will have destroyed their brand. And I guess you would have to be a 16 year veteran of Time magazine to believe the black vote would be furious about Kamala Harris being made to walk the plank. Those who actually cared live in dark blue states that don’t matter. The Dems live by the “by any means necessary” mantra. There’s no room for the Mike Pences of the world that would go wobbly on us. Trump won’t go wobbly on us.

  10. The Never Trumper 2.0 cadre will continue with their dazzling array of tortured inverted logic loops for another month or two before Trump’s massive 50+ point lead over DeSantis with GOP voters becomes truly insurmountable. Oh, and nobody’s running around waving a bloody shirt. That’s YOUR fantasy, not ours. We are not your daddy’s MAGA.

  11. Yes, that's correct. Florida's electors would have to vote for Trump for president, and then someone from another state for vice-president.

  12. I, too, would prefer Trump not be the 2024 GOP candidate, though he did a lot of good in office. But reluctance to relive endless impeachments and investigations is not a reason. That's how it will be for all future Republican incumbents.

  13. If I understand that correctly, it means that if, for example, there was a DeSantis/Trump ticket, then all the electors in 49 states could vote for both of them, but the Florida electors would have to vote for one or the other. Correct?

  14. I like the idea of Trump being elected Speaker of the House. One doesn't have to be a member of Congree to be Speaker

  15. This piece was well thought out sans 1 point: "who among us wants to relive 2016-2020? The endless witch hunts, the two impeachments". What makes anyone think that with a different, MAGA-style Republican candidate that it will be any different? Do you really want a President that is a pincushion for the left and doesn't fight back? I don't at all understand this mentality. We finally has a candidate in Trump that fought back against this. Whether you loved him or hated him, Trump showed Washington DC for what it really is: A swamp! A true den of thieves. If you want kinder and gentler and goes along nicely with Democrats, then try running Romney again. Tell me how that works out. Spinelessness is why I gave up membership in the Republican Party long ago.

    1. So many things that might have been done did not get done because Trump was constantly under bombardment.

  16. The answers to the 1st, 3rd and 4th questions are definitely true. I'd be surprised if the second turned out to be true (if you're taking flack, you're over the target), but DeSantis is smarter, more disciplined and would respond more effectively than Trump. As for the fifth, I doubt anyone knows...but we know Trump won't grow--the question would be just how far he would regress.

  17. Trump seized effectively on the frustrations so many of us felt about the imperial class (of both parties) in Washington DC to win in 2016 and did better than many of us had reason to expect. He was doomed in 2020 by his neurosis over COVID (his germaphobia prevented him from taking a dispassionate look at the actual threat and allowed the government response to be hijacked by a group of drama queens--e.g., Fauci and Birks) and lack of discipline: he got in his own way far too often with unnecessary verbal battles that kept him from focusing on creating and executing good policy. In 2024, Trump will be very old; with the Biden experience fresh in the voters' minds, offering a candidate whose mind will likely turn to Jell-O soon after election (if not, as in 2020, before) seems like bad strategy.
    There are a couple of credible candidates the Republicans could run; right now, DeSantis is probably the leading candidate, and would be the first candidate in years--of either party--who knows how to direct something larger than his mouth. But November 2024 is still a long way off and things could change before the Primaries have played their role.

  18. The Constitution bars Trump from choosing DeSantis as VP because they are from the same state. I guess he could move back to New York if he really wants him, but I would be just as happy to see someone like Mike Pompeo or Tom Cotton on the ticket.

  19. While I agree with much of the critique about Trump, good luck convincing the candidate. He is is enraged about the Russia collusion hoax and 2020 election fraud. He will not go quietly, and he is clearly moving to crowd out potential primary challengers.

    At his age, health issues could suddenly arise to complicate things, but if not, no one is taking him down in the primaries. So sit back and enjoy the show. He’ll say a bunch of things you wish he hadn’t. He’ll cultivate unnecessary drama. It’s all part of the bargain. But no one on Earth will be more focused, passionate and aggressive about actually draining the Swamp.

    It’s almost as if his first term was a necessary prerequisite to learn all the ways they can come after him, and who he can (and can’t) really trust. He might again fail to dismantle the Deep State, but it won’t be for lack of effort. For better or worse, it’s Trump’s nomination to lose, so enjoy the ride. He will be a honey badger seeking vengeance. It will be a beautiful thing to watch.

  20. I see it every day at my golf club here in Florida, where I'm a youngster at 66. There are several very good players at the 78-79-80 year mark, but by the middle of the back nine they are fading, sometimes badly.

  21. I have to agree that Trump is not the strongest possible candidate for 2024. He might easily beat Biden (though I expect Biden to be out of office within 12 months), Harris, or Clinton...but the Democrats might run a Fresh New Face. And Trump will lose. Mostly because the entire panic-demic hysteria will be tied around his neck as a ten-ton millstone. Trump's overall job performance appears good mostly because predecessor and successor were both anti-American incompetents. Viewed objectively, it was mediocre.

    No. DeSantis is the strongest orthodox candidate available. The only other option would be a Republican Fresh New Face - who would run on a militant conservative platform.

  22. I think the point "mick" is trying to make is that no matter who the Republicans nominate for 2024 the Democrats will use the new Trump template to bring the nominee down. The "Trump Template" is built upon the shoals of the effective "Bush W. Template" which was built on the earlier "Reagan Template". Each new iteration is more horrible than the previous, but each PROVEN EFFECTIVE. For my part, I think there is much unfinished business from Trump's first term and a reckoning is due. Only President Trump can bring the fire for such necessary massive reforms. However, I believe two aspects must be included in Trump 2.0. One, he absolutely must learn from his past mistakes, particularly in personnel choices and understanding the full depth of those allied against him (of course including many top Republicans. Two, his selection of a Vice-President must hold serious fervor for reform policies, carry a huge sledgehammer and be willing to swing it wildly throughout every agency, bureau and department in Washington, DC!

    1. Which is why, in one of my Epoch Times columns, I suggested one potent ticket could be DeSantis/Trump. Trump would have no legal responsibilities and could be free to stomp around the country like Godzilla, breathing fire on his enemies, while DeSantis goes quietly about the business of governing.

  23. I agree. I think we've all seen how age affects politicians. Just look at that geriatric collection in the Democratic Party.

  24. The last few Republican nominees have all been 'Grandma killing, Hitler reincarnated' individuals to the Left. McCain, Romney, et al. Makes no difference who the Republican nominee is in 2023, they'll be worse than Hitler and want to kill your grandmother, and the MSM will dutifully line up and repeat that message ad naseum. Heck, Jesus Christ could show up, walk across the Potomac, and if he declared himself a Republican the Chyron's would read "Jesus cant swim!" and blame him for any ensuing drowning deaths by association....
    The only was DeSantis is the nominee is if Trump steps aside, which is a small possibility, but I doubt it.
    If forced to run on Trumps record in 2028, well, you have to admit there's little Trump can do to make thing's worse. Heck, at the very least DeSantis could point to the price of gas being sub $2 again, and get a majority of voters.
    Honestly, the ultimate twist would be Trump/DeSantis running and winning in 2024, then two years and a day later Trump resigns for health reasons, and we get 10 years of Ron.

  25. DeSantis 2024. There just doesn't seem to be any choice. I would vote for Trump if he ran, but I really hope he won't.

  26. Really well done, touching on so much that has run through my thinking too. I hadn't gotten Trump's was credulity about the severity of COVID; he certainly maneuvered around it (and was definitely not a leader on it). Boy did he (and the Republican party) let a lot of the vote fraud go on too - we are in Wisconsin and saw the fraud playing out, and Rs did nothing - until it was too late and a whole herd of horses (or donkeys) were out the barn. Then Trump complained and raged, demanding something be done, when nothing could be done. And he hasn't stopped complaining since, even going to the point of saying one man, Mike Pence, could have changed everything - in our constitutional system! I think he did that partly to show his base that he can squash Pence. But think about it: he makes an argument that if carried out would have contributed to the destruction of our constitutional system - all so he can show he can make Pence unelectable (which he is anyways). I voted for Trump twice, and think he did some really good things (foreign policy especially). But now? It's an act. True to form he plays to his loyal core of supporters, who like him are quite willing to complain about 2020 as though that in and of itself means he should be elected in 2024. I'm beginning to think it doesn't seem he can talk to people beyond his core though. But your point is the big one. Democrats are about as demoralized and shattered to pieces as I've ever seen them. Biden will try to use congressional Repubs as a foil to try to unify Democrats but he is mentally incompetent 85% of the time, and how can he motivate them? The party is all about serving the identitarians who have taken it over. But Donald would give them purpose and unity. I don't know that Donald would be able to say what he is for anyways. Most of the time he likes to talk about himself too much to think about the general good. This is apostasy to the Trump core; go easy on me, I voted for him twice and the guy I have in mind (and it's who you are going to talk about next unless i am utterly mistaken) is much like him but far better at defining and asserting the public good.

  27. DeSantis will be better than Trump?
    DeSantis will be less attacked than Trump?
    DeSantis will do a better job than Trump?
    DeSantis will be harder to defeat through lawfare?
    DeSantis won't "grow" in office?

  28. I’ve voted for every GOP candidate since Reagan, but if the GOP pushes Trump aside, I won’t vote.

  29. If it is about Trump then there is only endless BS to fight. I supported and still support Trump because of policies, not the ego.
    Give me DeSantis, a real policy guy without the ego.

  30. Michael is usually reliable but I think he’s made an error here. Trump has not shown that he understands the forces against him. But neither has DeSantis. I think he needs 4 years to get allies and understand the byzantine DC culture. IMO, it comes own to one thing: A President’s ego. Most presidents choose a weak VP because they don’t want to be overshadowed. And then they enhance the error by not giving the VP any chance to grow. What will Trump do?

  31. 78 is too old for a 4-yr term as US president. I'm 79 and I can see first hand how aging works.

  32. He is gone and sadly forgotten by many including this author, Rush Limbaugh, the "Mr Big" the "doctor of democracy", taught us for the last 30 years, it doesn't matter who you put up or no matter what facts are rubbed in their faces, the left will agitate and lie and lie ...and did I say lie about our candidates and positions.
    The simple act of someone other than DJT / pacifying the left and the media (sorry I repeated myself), is providing the left a "win" and the encouragement / increased future behavior.

    1. Just before he died, Rush wrote to me to ask for a copy of my new book, LAST STANDS, which I of course immediately sent to him. He was very kind to me throughout his career. Of course the Left lies -- it's what my earlier book, THE DEVIL'S PLEASURE PALACE, is all about.

  33. We are in devolution. When everything is done, we will go back to the original constitution. We will then have a commander and chief. Washington d.c. is a bankrupt corporation. We will not have the same structure as we have now.

  34. While I'll admit to being a Rand Paul fan, (I was horribly disappointed when he dropped out before I got a chance to vote for him in the S.C. primary.) and I think he'd make a remarkably good President....

    He really tanked in the 2016 primaries, and there's no good reason to expect he'd do better this time around. Sadly, he's not the guy most Republican primary voters want. (That says bad things about Republican primary voters!)

    If not Trump, I expect the nominee will be DeSantis. And the best case scenario is probably their combining forces; Trump as President, (He has too much ego to settle for VP.) and DeSantis as VP, ready to take over if Trump strokes out, and failing that, run in 2028.

    Alternatively, if Melania persuades Trump that he doesn't want a messy divorce in 2024, or he comes to his senses about his age, he could play king maker for DeSantis, (Or possibly somebody else.) rendering all the Democrats' preparations to go after him wasted.

    But, sadly, I don't expect I'll ever get the chance to vote for President Paul again. (Voted for his dad way back when.)

  35. When it comes to stealing elections, we could almost certainly expect a bloodbath in the House: the Presidency has a weak point in that a few Democrat-controlled counties can throw in enough votes to throw a State, and thus the Electoral College, to a competitor. To be sure, this is a nature of the beast -- while this is a weakness of the Electoral College, it's also a strength, because one has to guess which States will be relevant, and no amount of cheating in California or Texas is going to throw those States.

    The House is a different beast, though, because the districts are scattered across the nation, and not all of those are amenable to cheating. Indeed, while some cheating certainly happened in 2020 House elections, a major reason why the Democrats lost so many Representatives is because it's so much harder to orchestrate cheating in all the Counties, rather than just target it in a dozen counties spread out in half a dozen States.

    Nonetheless, we need to be vigilant, and we need to refine our strategies on dealing with cheating. (Illinois long ago discovered the value of Republican counties waiting until Chicago has reported their numbers, for example, rather than releasing their numbers early, so that Chicago knows how many more votes they need to print; also, we need to improve poll watching, and do better at calling out illegal changes to voting procedures.)

  36. The better solution would have Trump getting into Congress a providing heat to those lazy Republicans there. Start an impeachment against Beijing Joey and Karmela. Then DeSantis comes into office in 2024... and starts slaying the Dragons... the only problem is, the Democrats have until 2024 to allow China to gobble up Taiwan. That will be the end of the US as a acknowledged super power... we won't be much different than Russia... a gas station with thermonuclear weapons.

  37. Who wants to live through 2016-2020 again? Gosh, I do. Yea, the booming economy, rock solid foreign country policy, China, Iran, ISIS, etc on the run. Who wants that back?
    Are you really that naive, that void of thought, that, sorry, stupid, to think that DeSantis won’t be targeted just like Trump. Excuse me for saying so, but, duh. Come on, wake up. Your arguments are weak and full of rainbow and unicorn thinking.

  38. The article is accurate, and yet I agree with the comments. Trump is pretty much the only trustworthy game in town. Presumably he's gotten himself an education and can be more effective if he did another round (he's going to have to convince me of this).
    However, there is one other....Rand Paul. Unlike Trump and most others, he's got ideology. He's used to going against the grain, and he comes from a different wing of politics--- he's proven to be independent of the corporate machine and certainly the globalists. He's also gotten the crap beaten out of him, he's got skin in the game, and won't be suffering shell shock like Trump apparently did. I think he'd be willing to select some giant killers for administrative positions, and this is where the rubber meets the road.

  39. We ridiculously refer to a Democrat Bloodbath or Red Wave even with full knowledge that Democrats are allowed to steal elections. They have the apparatus established and have a number of elections under their belt. We haven't done much to stop or punish them. So...

  40. Trump is still the only one in the country that does not belong to the donor class which is exactly why they stole 2020. I love DeSantis and will gladly vote for him, but I am not confident he can bypass the donors and therefore do what is necessary - remove the deep state as much as possible. I understand the concerns Michael has, but I have zero sense that Trump exists to solely settle 'scores'. Trump simply talks about it toward future elections and their stability. Jan 6th? Walsh talks about it as a stain against Trump when it is actually a stain on our defunct 'justice system' which is a direct stain on GOVERNMENT. All of the great work like de-regulation and pro-America/middle class economics that Trumps team did is an afterthought. AND, practically having to drag REPUBLICANs into the room for what amounts to be a rounding error on our budget for Wall funding never seems to be re-lived. Oh and gee, cutting our corporate tax rates in half is actually going to preserve us through this inflationary bullshyte and you can thanks Trump for that. I would favor a DeSantis if I had greater confidence that he will not be beholden to 1% donors like most other 'republicans'. Thanks for allowing comments.

  41. First of all let me say - I disagree!! The support that PRESIDENT TRUMP had is still there!! Remember when The hilLIARry was up 12 or 20 points heading into 2016 Election Night? The MEDIA was LYING THEN and even more so NOW! A TRUMP/DeSANTIS ticket would be enormous!! That would give PRESIDENT TRUMP the ability to enact my SCORCHED EARTH Policy while enabling VP DeSantis to gain valuable experience and INSIGHT into WHO needs to be in the upcoming DeSantis/?? Administration! I'd love to see TRUMP/DeSantis followed by DeSantis/Hawley! No matter WHO it is on the R ticket, they had better be prepared to DESTROY the DEMOCRATS at the Polls and then in OFFICE! No "reaching across the aisle" unless it's to choke the living crap out of one of those communist destroyers of Our Nation!! It can't be "politics as usual", the dems have taken it WAY TOO FAR for that!!

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