Hey Never Trumpers — we’re not Republicans
by digby
I’m not one to bash Never Trumpers, generally. Republican apostates are welcome to join the fight on the right side as far as I’m concerned. We can settle old accounts when the emergency has passed.
But some of them really need to step off and recognize that they may not be the best people to advise the Democrats on politics considering where their party ended up. For instance, the Daily Beast’s Matt Lewis has an article chastising Democrats for trying to elect someone they want for president. Here’s the headline:
Democrats, Your Twitter Mob Is Going to Re-Elect Trump
They rip into Joe Biden, who has the best shot at beating Trump. They defend AOC up and down, even though she misspoke. Twitter Dems, whose side are you on?
Democratic voters are watching Biden step in it over and over again which doesn’t bode well for a strong campaign against Trump. Even if all you care about is beating Trump this isn’t a good sign. Just because a bumbler eked out a victory in the electoral college in 2016 by dazzling easily duped Republicans doesn’t mean it will work for Democrats.
He’s making ridiculous mistakes that a front-runner should easily be able to avoid. The best you can say for him is that he’s rusty, in which case he needs a primary to get him in shape. The worst is that he’s a man whose time has past.
Never-Trump Republicans should know all about that. They ran men like that in 1996 and 2008 and they lost. Democrats aren’t going to make the same mistake. Not when the stakes are so high.
Biden may figure out a way to finesse his past starting with recognizing that the party and the country have changed since the 1970s and 80s and harkening back to that time is not exactly considered a big selling point. (After all, Republican presidents dominated those alleged glory days in case he doesn’t remember…) If he can’t figure out how to use his experience and resume to appeal to swing voters while at the same time assuring his liberal base that he’s capable of leading the country in the 21st century then maybe he’s not a guy who can win the general election.
This is what primaries are for. Republicans who ineffectually flailed about in 2016 as Trump took over their party probably aren’t the best people to lecture anyone about how to prevent his winning again. Just saying …
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