"Rather than lining up behind Vance (or Rubio), smarter Republicans with some survival instincts might do well to look for a fresh face; a D.C. outsider (as Trump was in 2016!) with plausible deniability for the calamities that the Trump-Vance regime has visited on the party and on the country."
So...President Zuckerberg? President Bezos?
I can see these delusional oligarchs thinking they can buy the next election. But they refuse to recognize just how reviled they have become in the eyes of average Americans.
Hopefully they will try, and then fall hard into the oblivion of sizeable tax increases on their precious assets, and strict campaign finance reform that will no longer allow them to convert their wealth into a political stranglehold over the populace writ large.
Yes, there has to be an actual candidate and I can't imagine who it would be. I've heard some Democrats propose a "maverick" like Thomas Massie or Adam Kinzinger, but we aren't the people whose votes they'd need. Seriously — if you had a choice between, say, JB Pritzker, and Thomas Massie, who would you vote for?
I would not trust Massie as far as I could throw him. I would vote for Pritzker or Kinzinger, but I hope we'll have Mark Kelly or John Ossoff or Josh Shapiro. I would love to have Elissa Slotkin or Abigail Spanberger or Maura Healy running, but I don't think our country is ready yet (yes, that phrase makes me furious to write) for a female or even another Black president. We are too immature and disinformed to be able to countenance a qualified woman or person of color in that office. One thing for sure, we need someone YOUNG and DYNAMIC.
I was using Pritzker as an example; I'm far from ready to anoint anyone. I don't think we should write anyone off who is qualified (preferably a governor). I hear people say no to Shapiro because they think we can't elect a Jewish president either. Mark Kelly is hardly "young and dynamic" and I think he's being pushed by the media because he's so moderate and they love to push Democrats to "the center" while praising Republicans for holding strong to their extreme beliefs. BTW Kinzinger is NOT on our side on most policy issues, only on not destroying democracy and letting corruption run wild.
Not to mention his incessant lying and his inability to control his big mouth. Vance is way too obnoxious (while he tries to sound intelligent). There's a reason he seldom appears at Trumper rallies.
Don’t overlook Vance’s unpleasant personality, clumsy interactions with any faintly neutral press, and high dislikability. He is the perfect Republican successor.
It has the ring of a cracked bell. The man has too much baggage to win a a general election. He may have MAGA support, but that tent is beginning to shrink.
Should he decide to run, Vance will face the same scenario Kamala: figuring out a way to differentiate themselves from their boss. Kamala could never articulate her differences from Joe Biden and it was one of the reasons she lost the election.
He's the most repugnant, vile, couch loving piece of excrement around. His attempt to buy donuts to match Tim Walz' buying Runzas, was so cringe worthy. He will never be president.
The bubble would never appear as he doesn't have an original or intelligent idea of his own. He's just a parrot who knows nothing more than what he's trained to say.
The important thing to remember, if we win, is too not get complacent. The fight is about a lot more then one election . Democrats and America need to fight for a better future. The forces arrayed against Democracy are not gonna just give up and they fight dirty.
Folks really need to remember that winning elections is the beginning, not the end, of the fight against the fascists. What we do with power we win at the polls and particularly how we put the limited number of days between election cycles to use will tell the tale. Above all else, the clean out of this regime and all its enablers must be swift and sure before we do anything else.
I have literally never seen a Democrat get "complacent" even though we are regularly lectured not to do so. We are always all doom, gloom and defeatism.
This may not matter. Go back to Herbert Hoover who was such a bad president that America would not consider electing another Republican for 5 presidential cycles. It ultimately settled on Eisenhower in 1952 who was a war hero and who the Democrats would have liked on their ticket as well. The smart guys figured Ike would revert everything to traditional GOP policies pre-Hoover. But they were shocked when their guy proposed a very New Deal-ish and huge spending spree on a national highway system. The GOP never repudiated Hoover; it just waited for circumstances and a politician to come around who met their pre-Hoover need. That was Nixon and then Ronald Reagan. It has been 50 years since Reagan and we’re back in Hooverville. History does not repeat itself but personally, I look forward to what comes after Trump.
Yep. They didn't realize that Eisenhower was not loyal to any party. He wanted a better world. Imagine that. History does not repeat itself in every detail, but it does in general. What we've seen over and over is the determination of the wealthy and powerful to control us. When they stay hidden and move behind the scenes they largely get away with it. But when they exceed the limits of what most people can tolerate, you get backlash, sometimes violently as in the French Revolution and the Reign of Terror. The American Revolution was also backlash, followed by an unusually egalitarian period in our country (and compared to the rest of the world of that time). Then there was the backlash to the Gilded Age, which ultimately led to FDR and prosperity and social progress through the 1960s. The wealthy and powerful never stop trying to take it all -- and we need to remember that. It's critical that Democrats make it clear they are fighting for regular Americans. No more corporate Dems, please.
There is a law school saying about evidence obtained from an illegal event or source called fruit of the poisonous tree. Trump is the tree and Vance is the fruit and unless he totally disavows MAGA and Trumps early, his political career is over. In the Mid-terms he is poison, just like Trump.
Perhaps. Consider though the possibility that a Dem led Congress will thwart his "in the oval office" grift and make his remaining time pretty untenable. He can quit and move back to Mar-A-Lago, using his SCOTUS gifted immunity (plus tax immunity), to keep the wolves at bay (with Blanche at his side) until he dies. The years of litigation involving his pardoned family and friends will continue for generations. No one is going to recoup the money, and America will necessarily have to move forward from this mess. Remember, we're talking Trump, and he is unpredictable. Not being cynical, just honest.
Resignation would serve his interests better than impeachment would. So while I agree he's deluded enough to want to stay in office to profit more, I wonder.
Except that he is receiving the topnotch medical treatment that is keeping him alive and that he denies to the rest of us. Lucky for him that his Drs are loyal to their oaths as he isn't to his.
Sure, but there's just so much doctors can do with an 80 year old obese man who lives on diet soda and fast food. His family history also shows a pattern of dementia that is already very obvious in Trump. He also shows,neurological decline, including memory loss, inability to walk in a straight line and drooping on one side of his face.
I agree with Jim (B?) Agent Orange will just up and take his golfball and depart to some place offshore without an accessible extradition agreement with US.
Depends on how strong his separation was and when it happens. If he fired every one of Trump's cabinet if he became President after Trump's death in office and told the country the horror was over, then yes, I would believe him. If not, then no. It would either have to be a total separation of none at all.
It is suspect that Vance's name is poisoned enough already, from his own words, to his association with the worst president the U.S. has ever had. He does little to endear himself to the majority of voters, who are tired of the chaos and lies that surround him.
My biggest concern was Vance's calling Trump America's Hitler, then changing his stance. This indeed brings his motivation into questions as well as his personal integrity.
As we near the election and blue wave, I feel it needs to be more important that candidates make a stronger emphasis on how democrats will govern with their pledge of integrity and openess and have a clear message that real reform of government will take place. I am very proud and encouraged that the American people are showing the mettle needed to push back against the appalling corruption we have never seen before.
Why write suggestions of ways the Republican party can win in 2028? And Clinton was not an "obscure governor." He and Al Gore were 2 young politicians with good ideas, at a time when Americans were tired of old, unimaginative men running the country. I remember their campaign and its upbeat, positive messaging.
Unfortunately, when I hear "heir apparent" I can't get past the idiotic media frenzy over Trump's new look (Is it dyed? Is it a wig? Whee, this is much more fun than covering that tiresome tussle with Iran).
As for the humanoid shape-shifter that calls itself JD Vance, another Substack subscriber recently offered what IMHO is all anyone needs to know about JD: The charisma of a compost pile.
I think you are missing a very possible alternative. If, as I continue to propose, Trump Quits/Resigns following the midterms (don't be so quick to dismiss this - it is Trump after all), guess what happens to J.D.? He will effectively have two years to perpetrate his own brand of chaos on American institutions and society. Perhaps a thoughtful article imagining this scenario would benefit your readers. I actually think it would have to be multiple articles considering the range of possibilities. A Vance administration presents an entirely different set of problems to society.
I simply think it's possible, if not probable, in this universe. Trump's a quitter so I choose to use that word in place of resign. Trump can very easily decide to direct focus on our nation's issues on J.D. as the new Oval Office occupant. He'll still have Truth Social and, while most of the universe will have to focus on the chaos of a Vance Administration (whatever that will look like as it will not be Trump's), he will have his immunity protections in place long enough to keep him safe there in Mar-A-Lago. There is zero evidence available that anyone will actually do something to Trump - like arresting him and putting him in jail. The proceeds from his current grift will remain, if not continue. His family, given their immunity by pardon, will be able to delay any accountability for literally decades under our current system. The same can be said for the rest of his enablers. The nation will have to move on, spending far more of its limited capital on repairing the damage caused by Trump - not to even mention Vance - than will be spent on holding Trump accountable. Trump will be dead before any real accountability is given him. He knows that - as do we.
Lap dog to the worst president in US history. JD, that has a campaign ring to it.
"Rather than lining up behind Vance (or Rubio), smarter Republicans with some survival instincts might do well to look for a fresh face; a D.C. outsider (as Trump was in 2016!) with plausible deniability for the calamities that the Trump-Vance regime has visited on the party and on the country."
So...President Zuckerberg? President Bezos?
I can see these delusional oligarchs thinking they can buy the next election. But they refuse to recognize just how reviled they have become in the eyes of average Americans.
Hopefully they will try, and then fall hard into the oblivion of sizeable tax increases on their precious assets, and strict campaign finance reform that will no longer allow them to convert their wealth into a political stranglehold over the populace writ large.
That would be a fitting end to them. Their money should neither count as influence nor as political authority.
Yes, there has to be an actual candidate and I can't imagine who it would be. I've heard some Democrats propose a "maverick" like Thomas Massie or Adam Kinzinger, but we aren't the people whose votes they'd need. Seriously — if you had a choice between, say, JB Pritzker, and Thomas Massie, who would you vote for?
I would not trust Massie as far as I could throw him. I would vote for Pritzker or Kinzinger, but I hope we'll have Mark Kelly or John Ossoff or Josh Shapiro. I would love to have Elissa Slotkin or Abigail Spanberger or Maura Healy running, but I don't think our country is ready yet (yes, that phrase makes me furious to write) for a female or even another Black president. We are too immature and disinformed to be able to countenance a qualified woman or person of color in that office. One thing for sure, we need someone YOUNG and DYNAMIC.
I was using Pritzker as an example; I'm far from ready to anoint anyone. I don't think we should write anyone off who is qualified (preferably a governor). I hear people say no to Shapiro because they think we can't elect a Jewish president either. Mark Kelly is hardly "young and dynamic" and I think he's being pushed by the media because he's so moderate and they love to push Democrats to "the center" while praising Republicans for holding strong to their extreme beliefs. BTW Kinzinger is NOT on our side on most policy issues, only on not destroying democracy and letting corruption run wild.
Not to mention his incessant lying and his inability to control his big mouth. Vance is way too obnoxious (while he tries to sound intelligent). There's a reason he seldom appears at Trumper rallies.
Word. Everybody hates Shady, especially Magats who apparently wanted Doug Burgum as Trump’s VP.
Don’t overlook Vance’s unpleasant personality, clumsy interactions with any faintly neutral press, and high dislikability. He is the perfect Republican successor.
AND he has a brown wife, which wouldn't go over well with MAGAs.
She's further down that cruel path than he is.
It has the ring of a cracked bell. The man has too much baggage to win a a general election. He may have MAGA support, but that tent is beginning to shrink.
Or, "Lap dog to the very worst Putin Lap Dog." Definitely a campaign ring.
Should he decide to run, Vance will face the same scenario Kamala: figuring out a way to differentiate themselves from their boss. Kamala could never articulate her differences from Joe Biden and it was one of the reasons she lost the election.
JD, as in "juvenile delinquent"? :-)
Vance is the AntiCharisma. I sincerely hope he ushers in an Apocalypse for the rethuglicans,
He's the most repugnant, vile, couch loving piece of excrement around. His attempt to buy donuts to match Tim Walz' buying Runzas, was so cringe worthy. He will never be president.
That picture of him looks like a guy who ought to have a thought bubble over his head that says, “what the hell am I doing ?”
The bubble would never appear as he doesn't have an original or intelligent idea of his own. He's just a parrot who knows nothing more than what he's trained to say.
Correct, Carol. Peter Thiel is his master.
Could the thought bubble possibly say “duh”?
That would imply that he is even trying to think... wouldn't it?
Funny, Steve.
The important thing to remember, if we win, is too not get complacent. The fight is about a lot more then one election . Democrats and America need to fight for a better future. The forces arrayed against Democracy are not gonna just give up and they fight dirty.
Folks really need to remember that winning elections is the beginning, not the end, of the fight against the fascists. What we do with power we win at the polls and particularly how we put the limited number of days between election cycles to use will tell the tale. Above all else, the clean out of this regime and all its enablers must be swift and sure before we do anything else.
I have literally never seen a Democrat get "complacent" even though we are regularly lectured not to do so. We are always all doom, gloom and defeatism.
The subscribers to Andy Borowitz voted to dub him JustaDick. It is fitting.
This may not matter. Go back to Herbert Hoover who was such a bad president that America would not consider electing another Republican for 5 presidential cycles. It ultimately settled on Eisenhower in 1952 who was a war hero and who the Democrats would have liked on their ticket as well. The smart guys figured Ike would revert everything to traditional GOP policies pre-Hoover. But they were shocked when their guy proposed a very New Deal-ish and huge spending spree on a national highway system. The GOP never repudiated Hoover; it just waited for circumstances and a politician to come around who met their pre-Hoover need. That was Nixon and then Ronald Reagan. It has been 50 years since Reagan and we’re back in Hooverville. History does not repeat itself but personally, I look forward to what comes after Trump.
Yep. They didn't realize that Eisenhower was not loyal to any party. He wanted a better world. Imagine that. History does not repeat itself in every detail, but it does in general. What we've seen over and over is the determination of the wealthy and powerful to control us. When they stay hidden and move behind the scenes they largely get away with it. But when they exceed the limits of what most people can tolerate, you get backlash, sometimes violently as in the French Revolution and the Reign of Terror. The American Revolution was also backlash, followed by an unusually egalitarian period in our country (and compared to the rest of the world of that time). Then there was the backlash to the Gilded Age, which ultimately led to FDR and prosperity and social progress through the 1960s. The wealthy and powerful never stop trying to take it all -- and we need to remember that. It's critical that Democrats make it clear they are fighting for regular Americans. No more corporate Dems, please.
Vance has negative charisma. We can hope the 'Pubs nominate him in 2028, because he is likely to lose bigly.
Vance is more eyeliner than headliner.
Even if he doesn't use the stuff, there are appearances...
😂😂😂😂
There is a law school saying about evidence obtained from an illegal event or source called fruit of the poisonous tree. Trump is the tree and Vance is the fruit and unless he totally disavows MAGA and Trumps early, his political career is over. In the Mid-terms he is poison, just like Trump.
Is there any law school wisdom about chameleons?
No idea. My legal knowledge is limited to serving as a summary court martial officer way back when.
But, as I predict, Trump quits following the mid-terms, there he will be. Perhaps worse.
I don't agree he will quit. He and his family are profiting way too much to willingly give up the golden goose!
Perhaps. Consider though the possibility that a Dem led Congress will thwart his "in the oval office" grift and make his remaining time pretty untenable. He can quit and move back to Mar-A-Lago, using his SCOTUS gifted immunity (plus tax immunity), to keep the wolves at bay (with Blanche at his side) until he dies. The years of litigation involving his pardoned family and friends will continue for generations. No one is going to recoup the money, and America will necessarily have to move forward from this mess. Remember, we're talking Trump, and he is unpredictable. Not being cynical, just honest.
Resignation would serve his interests better than impeachment would. So while I agree he's deluded enough to want to stay in office to profit more, I wonder.
Trump will never quit. The idea is preposterous. He may die though. It's far more likely, considering his age and obviously poor health.
Except that he is receiving the topnotch medical treatment that is keeping him alive and that he denies to the rest of us. Lucky for him that his Drs are loyal to their oaths as he isn't to his.
Sure, but there's just so much doctors can do with an 80 year old obese man who lives on diet soda and fast food. His family history also shows a pattern of dementia that is already very obvious in Trump. He also shows,neurological decline, including memory loss, inability to walk in a straight line and drooping on one side of his face.
I agree with Jim (B?) Agent Orange will just up and take his golfball and depart to some place offshore without an accessible extradition agreement with US.
Not if he isn't allowed to leave the country.
Yep
Who would believe any disavowal that streams out of his glib lying mouth?
Depends on how strong his separation was and when it happens. If he fired every one of Trump's cabinet if he became President after Trump's death in office and told the country the horror was over, then yes, I would believe him. If not, then no. It would either have to be a total separation of none at all.
It is suspect that Vance's name is poisoned enough already, from his own words, to his association with the worst president the U.S. has ever had. He does little to endear himself to the majority of voters, who are tired of the chaos and lies that surround him.
He has become an unthinking sycophant. Before Trump, he seemed like a pretty reasonable guy.
Vance couldn't have been too reasonable; he hooked up with Trump. If nothing else, his judgement is lacking as is integrity and moral compass.
My biggest concern was Vance's calling Trump America's Hitler, then changing his stance. This indeed brings his motivation into questions as well as his personal integrity.
He was always a fake, witness the untruths in his autobio.
LOL seriously?
Yes, just listen to some of his pre-Trump interviews.
And every time our faux president opens his mouth, he losses more support among the American people, especially his Republican base.
When he said in his illegal "public service" ad over the weekend that he will banish the "warmongers" from power in Washington, we hope he succeeds.
Everything he "touches" does truly die. Trump got Mark Carney elected in Canada. With our votes, he'll get a Democratic Congress elected on Nov 3.
Carneys approval is at 70% I hear…
As we near the election and blue wave, I feel it needs to be more important that candidates make a stronger emphasis on how democrats will govern with their pledge of integrity and openess and have a clear message that real reform of government will take place. I am very proud and encouraged that the American people are showing the mettle needed to push back against the appalling corruption we have never seen before.
They're doing that. What campaigns are you following?
Well, I read recently that Pretty Pete Hegseth and his wife are preparing him to be President. Talk about tone deaf and out of touch!
They should be preparing for his impeachment hearing.
Why write suggestions of ways the Republican party can win in 2028? And Clinton was not an "obscure governor." He and Al Gore were 2 young politicians with good ideas, at a time when Americans were tired of old, unimaginative men running the country. I remember their campaign and its upbeat, positive messaging.
Unfortunately, when I hear "heir apparent" I can't get past the idiotic media frenzy over Trump's new look (Is it dyed? Is it a wig? Whee, this is much more fun than covering that tiresome tussle with Iran).
As for the humanoid shape-shifter that calls itself JD Vance, another Substack subscriber recently offered what IMHO is all anyone needs to know about JD: The charisma of a compost pile.
A compost pile serves a purpose, though - not sure about JD.
I think you are missing a very possible alternative. If, as I continue to propose, Trump Quits/Resigns following the midterms (don't be so quick to dismiss this - it is Trump after all), guess what happens to J.D.? He will effectively have two years to perpetrate his own brand of chaos on American institutions and society. Perhaps a thoughtful article imagining this scenario would benefit your readers. I actually think it would have to be multiple articles considering the range of possibilities. A Vance administration presents an entirely different set of problems to society.
The problems of competency, direction, and hate would still persist.
In what universe does Trump quit/resign (same thing)?
I simply think it's possible, if not probable, in this universe. Trump's a quitter so I choose to use that word in place of resign. Trump can very easily decide to direct focus on our nation's issues on J.D. as the new Oval Office occupant. He'll still have Truth Social and, while most of the universe will have to focus on the chaos of a Vance Administration (whatever that will look like as it will not be Trump's), he will have his immunity protections in place long enough to keep him safe there in Mar-A-Lago. There is zero evidence available that anyone will actually do something to Trump - like arresting him and putting him in jail. The proceeds from his current grift will remain, if not continue. His family, given their immunity by pardon, will be able to delay any accountability for literally decades under our current system. The same can be said for the rest of his enablers. The nation will have to move on, spending far more of its limited capital on repairing the damage caused by Trump - not to even mention Vance - than will be spent on holding Trump accountable. Trump will be dead before any real accountability is given him. He knows that - as do we.
The shape shifting amoral JD Vance is also perfectly capable of becoming the more vicious more hateful post MAGA leader that Ms. Rubin warns about.
His “Elegy” is a story with a very bad ending…for him.