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I Shake My Head Every Time A Reporter Or Pundit Talks About "Lanes" In the GOP Presidential Race. [1]
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Date: 2023-03-28
The So Called Multiple "Lanes" In the GOP Presidential Primaries.
When it comes to handicapping the “horse race” in the GOP presidential race, there is a new buzzword I keep hearing over and over again: “lanes.” I don’t think there are any lanes in the Republican presidential primaries. There is one lane and a shoulder for stalled or wrecked political campaigns. The lane is Trumpism, and the shoulder is Never Trumpers. But the Media and GOP officials, with the exception of folks like Stuart Stevens and Matt Dowd, keep insisting that there are multiple lanes for candidates. And this latest installment from Axios by Alexi McCammond is just another variation of the so called multiple lanes
The only difference is that McCammond just needs to see that she is splitting non-existent hairs.
New polling is reinforcing the Trumpworld view that traditional GOP primary "lanes" are a thing of the past, leaving just two viable campaign styles: "Always Trump" or "Sometimes Trump." Why it matters: The remaking of the Republican base is proving to be a massive challenge for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and other potential 2024 candidates, especially as they discover the dangers of sparring directly with former President Trump… Zoom in: A majority of the GOP is represented by "Sometimes Trump" voters, who voted for him twice but think he's too focused on the past, Republican pollster Whit Ayres told Axios. Some pollsters say the path to winning without the "Always Trump" bloc requires capturing the bulk of "Sometimes Trump" voters and a slice of the “Never Trumpers."
The first likely candidate to test that theory is DeSantis, who is tacking hard to the right on policy and beginning to lob soft criticisms at Trump tied to his leadership style and penchant for personal drama.
No offense, but how many times has Trump ran for president? Twice. How often did those in the “Sometimes Trump” vote for Trump? Twice. So how are they “Sometimes Trump” voters?
The Media is so in love with a horse race narattive they are literally making shit up. If you voted for Trump twice, you are a TRUMP VOTER who will probably vote for Trump again! The only real difference between “Always Trump” and the imaginary “Sometimes Trump” is that his diehard supporters will leave the Republican Party if Trump has to go the independent route to run for president in 2024.
As for the Never Trumpers, they are a very small minority of the GOP voters. On a good day they may be 15%, but it wouldn’t surprise me if they were less than 10%. The rest of Republican voters want TRUMPISM.! They want all the performance, hatred, and cruelty that goes with Trumpism.
It’s just nuts. It’s either Trump or a clone of Trump. And to be Trump’s clone you have to drive the Semi Truck of Political Punches to hog that one lane leading to the GOP nomination.
The debris you see on the shoulder is any Never Trumper who tries to take on Trump in 2024.
And you can tell that both GOP officials and the Media are DESPERATE for there to be a real race for the GOP nomination. Here is some of the delusion that passes for journalism today:
Between the lines: While some Trump campaign strategists say there's a third "Never Trump" lane, they're quick to note that so far it's vacant — and will likely stay that way. Some long-shot candidates could include New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson and former Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney.
Liz Cheney? For real? With the winner take all primaries in the GOP contests, and people expect Liz Cheney who lost her seat in Wyoming to take on Trump? She’s a brave woman for taking on the Orange Ape while on the Jan 6th Committee, but Republicans paid her back by running a Trumpista against her in 2022.
And does anyone seriously see Sununu or Hutchinson taking on Trump? The one thing McCammond got right is that the “Never Trump” shoulder will stay clear of debris. Only rubber neckers enjoy seeing wreckage on the shoulder not most politicians.
This whole lane thing will continue until DeSantis and a few other daredevils decide to join in the fray. And it is only when Republican primary voters are done tearing to pieces the Trump mini-mees that the Media will stop with this lanes BS. But the Media will have an out for their next failure. They will simply state that they knew all along that Trump was invunerable.
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[1] Url:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/3/28/2160598/-I-Shake-My-Head-Every-Time-A-Reporter-Or-Pundit-Talks-About-Lanes-In-the-GOP-Presidential-Race
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