Don’t repeat the mistakes of 2016
Yes, it’s Mike Allen. But remember how wrong we were in 2016. No way was America crazy enough to elect Donald Trump as president:
Call it the Trump Law of Inverse Reactions: Everything that would seem to hurt the former president only makes him stronger.
Why it matters: Trump’s grip over Republicans seems stronger than ever — and chances of beating President Biden are as high as ever.
Allen checks off the Trump investigations, the 34 felony indictments, the expected indictments, the rape trial and the rest, like he’s Arlo Guthrie ticking off the 24-8×10 color glossy pictures, etc. And that’s not to mention the two impeachments. (Allen doesn’t.)
And still Trump is the frontrunner for the GOP’s 2024 presidential nomination.
What we’re hearing: For the first time in a long time, top Republicans and Democrats are telling us the same thing, in the same words — Trump looks impossible to beat for the Republican nomination.
- And if Trump is the GOP nominee, he could have a better-than-coin-flip chance of moving back into the White House. A Washington Post-ABC News poll out Sunday had Trump leading Biden by seven points — outside the margin of error — in a theoretical rematch.
- A stunning finding in that poll: Even though majorities think Trump should face criminal charges, 18% (!) of those who want him arrested still back him over Biden.
The bottom line: Here’s another echo of 2016. Beltway and establishment Republicans are fantasizing that something magical will make Trump go away — instead of deploying a coordinated effort to supplant him.
You know how that worked out last time.
The 18% have gone down the rabbit hole, turned the hole inside out, flattened reality and formed it into a Möbius strip. They are beyond saving. What of the rest of us?
“Trump far surpasses Biden in being seen as having the mental sharpness and the physical health it takes to serve effectively as president,” reports ABC News. Yes, and quartz crystals soaked overnight in water energize it into a renewable, nonpolluting fuel.
I underestimated the lunatics in 2016:
“Do you think Trump can win?”
One after another nervous Democrat asked that as Nov. 8, 2016 approached. No, I reassured them. Hillary Clinton’s campaign may have been a mess viewed from our redoubt, but a Donald Trump presidency would be a disaster. As crazy as Americans can be, they were not that crazy.
Then I greeted voters outside a nearby polling place on Election Day. A smiling woman wearing a thick, black shawl in seventy-degree weather offered Republican voters a list of “pro-life, pro-Israel, constitution and liberty” candidates. Occasionally, she raised her arms and talked to the cloudless sky.
Talks To The Sky’s candidate won that day. Get busy beating him/them.