From Rachel ‘Tin-Foil-Hat’ Maddow’s glorious near-tears to Eric ‘Nuke-em’ Swalwell and his pal Adam ‘Pencil-Neck’ Schiff’s stubborn refusal to give up even the most minuscule aspects of the Russian collusion conspiracy theory, it’s more than obvious that Dems were more than just a little upset to watch their carefully orchestrated hoax go down in dumpster fire-style flames.
For going-on two years now, every Trump hater from Bill Kristol to Tom Arnold had pinned their hopes on the Mueller probe to “find” the “crime” and “get Drumpf” for good this time. But, like Wile E. Coyote’s always-futile attempts to catch the Road Runner, “Individual 1” managed to escape their clutches yet again and, at least as far as the Mueller investigation is concerned, likely for good.
Yes, this was a big one, and this time it feels different. Sure, there are ongoing Southern District of New York investigations, and you’ll hear the talking heads bring those up as if using his own money to pay off an extortionist or forgetting to dot an i on a tax form from the 80’s is going to somehow amount to some sort of impeachable offense, but tears and protestations aside there seems to be a sense of resignation, acceptance even, to the fact that Donald J. Trump is going to be president of these United States for at least two more years.
Their goal now, it would seem, is to make sure the bleeding stops at two. So, as the shift finally moves away from “Dump Trump mode” and into “Campaign 2020 mode,” it’s worth mentioning the underlying reasoning behind Democrats’ frantic efforts to thwart the will of voters and undo a valid election. Because understanding this will help us understand why Trump has a better than average shot at winning in 2020.
First of all, let’s start with the obvious. Had they succeeded in somehow impeaching the president or otherwise forcing him to resign, even the less intelligent Trump-haters (OK that’s most of them, but we won’t quibble over details) surely knew they would get Mike Pence as president. I’ve had that discussion multiple times with multiple people on our side who always wondered why his enemies acted like removing Trump was the key to everything. “Surely they know they would get Pence then, right?” they would incredulously ask before noting that if libs didn’t like Trump, they would HATE the social conservative Pence.
But here’s the rub - Trump’s haters didn’t care. Nevermind that Trump is not an ideologue and is actually willing to work with Democrats on a host of issues many staunch Republicans, especially social conservatives, would never consider working with Democrats on. Getting stuff done they agree with doesn’t matter to them if it’s being done under the “wrong” president. If it did, Van Jones wouldn’t get such a hard time for working with Trump on prison reform. They don’t WANT to get stuff done under Trump, and they KNOW they wouldn’t get stuff done under Pence.
What they DO want, however, is to win in 2020, and they know they will have a much tougher time beating Trump than they would any other candidate the Republicans could trot out. Make no mistake, the “deep state,” the Washington establishment, the Democrats and the liberal media are all scared to death of the prospect of facing Donald Trump in 2020. Why? Because, just like in 2016, the man can actually WIN.
It’s not like any of us just figured this out. In an article for TheBlaze, I argued in September 2015 that Trump, unlike any of his competitors, could win the 2016 election because he could “appeal to moderates ... sway independents and even attract a few Democrats.”
“If Trump can get past the GOP field, I’m convinced he can win the general election in one of the last election cycles where Republicans have a snowball’s chance,” I wrote.
Let’s face it, demographic changes have made it all but impossible for traditional Republicans to win national elections. Virginia is gone, maybe forever. We lost Ohio during both Obama victories. Florida is teetering. The path any GOP presidential victor takes from 2016 onward is going to look strikingly similar to the path Trump took in 2016 - the Rust Belt states of Ohio, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Michigan. The president appeals to working class people in those states not only because he talks about an America first trade policy, as he did while campaigning in 2016, but he backs up his talk with actions - which is why he’s got a good shot at keeping enough of those states to win the electoral college in 2020. Can anyone claim with a straight face that Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, or Marco Rubio could have won any of those states?
A CNN piece titled “Inside Trump's re-election machine” should cheer up any Trump supporter who is doubting our chances in two years. It’s an inside look at the already churning Trump campaign under the brilliant Brad Parscale, a “more organized and better-structured” campaign than “its 2016 predecessor ever was,” already with a “formidable ground game across the country.”
Finally, there’s this well-done piece by Townhall’s Kevin McCullough. I don’t know about a “landslide,” but there’s certainly enough reasons to be optimistic if you’re a Trump supporter and more than a little worried if you’re a liberal snowflake.
Democrats failed to remove Trump from office, and now they must face their worst nightmare, Donald J. Trump on the ballot in 2020. Let the games begin.