The New York Times is running a big article talking about "shadow" candidates in the GOP getting ready for 2020 in case President Trump cannot win re-election. Supposedly, senators Sasse and Cotton, Vice President Pence and even last-time big loser John Kasich are getting ready to run for the presidency. My question is this: do the reporters at the Times actually believe this stuff or is it total propaganda?
For the last decade, the mainstream media has run a constant stream of articles about the "schism", "civil war" or just "infighting" in the Republican party. After Obama won in 2008, these media outlets told America that the GOP was doomed to be nothing more, at most, than a regional party that could never win a national election. After the GOP took the House and many seats in the Senate in 2010, the media stories continued, but they focused more on how there were splits in the GOP. As the Republicans made gains in 2012 although Obama won re-election, the stories continued. Even after the total defeat of the Democrats in 2014, the story line about the civil war in the GOP just kept coming. During the 2016 election, when the voters picked Donald Trump as the candidate pretty early in the process, the media saw constant civil war among Republicans. Meanwhile, as Clinton and Sanders continued battling for the Democrat nomination until the convention, nothing was said of splits in that party. During the general election campaign, think back on how many times we were told of all those Republicans who would never vote for Trump. Then Trump won. The GOP held both houses of Congress with clear majorities. Two thirds of the governors were Republicans. A majority of state legislatures are under total Republican control. The Democrats have been reduced to a regional party that seems to win only on the coasts and a few spots in between. The story of the GOP civil war just keeps rolling along.
So why are we getting another installment of the GOP in-fighting propaganda today? The mainstream media has tried for a decade to demoralize Republicans with the idea that the party is fractured, but it has not worked. Why do they think it will work now? There's a famous definition of insanity as doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. Isn't that what the media is trying once again? It certainly seems so.
Look, pointing out the activities of John Kasich does not indicate any split in the GOP. Kasich clearly hates the President; he's made that clear over and over. Kasich, however, had little support among Republicans. He kept running, but he never won anywhere except in his own state. Trump took Ohio in the general election anyway. Vice President Pence is clearly loyal to the President; not even the Times could question that. His political activities are not on his own behalf, but on behalf of the administration. I doubt that Sasse or Cotton harbor presidential ambitions at this point, but maybe they do. They may be preparing for 2024; I don't know.
What I do know is this: right now, the Republicans do not have an ongoing civil war no matter what the media says. No amount of phony propaganda is going to change that.
For the last decade, the mainstream media has run a constant stream of articles about the "schism", "civil war" or just "infighting" in the Republican party. After Obama won in 2008, these media outlets told America that the GOP was doomed to be nothing more, at most, than a regional party that could never win a national election. After the GOP took the House and many seats in the Senate in 2010, the media stories continued, but they focused more on how there were splits in the GOP. As the Republicans made gains in 2012 although Obama won re-election, the stories continued. Even after the total defeat of the Democrats in 2014, the story line about the civil war in the GOP just kept coming. During the 2016 election, when the voters picked Donald Trump as the candidate pretty early in the process, the media saw constant civil war among Republicans. Meanwhile, as Clinton and Sanders continued battling for the Democrat nomination until the convention, nothing was said of splits in that party. During the general election campaign, think back on how many times we were told of all those Republicans who would never vote for Trump. Then Trump won. The GOP held both houses of Congress with clear majorities. Two thirds of the governors were Republicans. A majority of state legislatures are under total Republican control. The Democrats have been reduced to a regional party that seems to win only on the coasts and a few spots in between. The story of the GOP civil war just keeps rolling along.
So why are we getting another installment of the GOP in-fighting propaganda today? The mainstream media has tried for a decade to demoralize Republicans with the idea that the party is fractured, but it has not worked. Why do they think it will work now? There's a famous definition of insanity as doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. Isn't that what the media is trying once again? It certainly seems so.
Look, pointing out the activities of John Kasich does not indicate any split in the GOP. Kasich clearly hates the President; he's made that clear over and over. Kasich, however, had little support among Republicans. He kept running, but he never won anywhere except in his own state. Trump took Ohio in the general election anyway. Vice President Pence is clearly loyal to the President; not even the Times could question that. His political activities are not on his own behalf, but on behalf of the administration. I doubt that Sasse or Cotton harbor presidential ambitions at this point, but maybe they do. They may be preparing for 2024; I don't know.
What I do know is this: right now, the Republicans do not have an ongoing civil war no matter what the media says. No amount of phony propaganda is going to change that.
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