2024 Presidential Election

[LFC]

Biden's first would be challenger is the Mano Mussolini himself ... maybe.

Politico reports that ex-President Donald Trump is reportedly telling his inner circle that he’s planning on taking another shot at the presidency in 2024 as long as he’s in good health.

But some Republicans reportedly aren’t thrilled with the idea of having the twice-impeached former president, who unleashed a bloodthirsty mob of his supporters upon the Capitol less than six months ago, on the ticket again.

Sorry, gang. It doesn't matter if you're thrilled or not. He's gonna' do what he's gonna' do and y'all are responsible for handing him the amount of power he has in your party.

[goldenvalley]

May 27, 2021 17:50:30 GMT LFC said:

Biden's first would be challenger is the Mano Mussolini himself ... maybe.

Politico reports that ex-President Donald Trump is reportedly telling his inner circle that he’s planning on taking another shot at the presidency in 2024 as long as he’s in good health.

But some Republicans reportedly aren’t thrilled with the idea of having the twice-impeached former president, who unleashed a bloodthirsty mob of his supporters upon the Capitol less than six months ago, on the ticket again.

Sorry, gang. It doesn't matter if you're thrilled or not. He's gonna' do what he's gonna' do and y'all are responsible for handing him the amount of power he has in your party.

Well duh! How else is he gonna keep people sending money to his phony PACs?  And besides if he doesn't run then Jr. or Ivanka will, so the Reps out there better get used to the idea that they don't call the shots.

[pnwguy]

May 27, 2021 18:04:28 GMT goldenvalley said:

Well duh! How else is he gonna keep people sending money to his phony PACs?  And besides if he doesn't run then Jr. or Ivanka will, so the Reps out there better get used to the idea that they don't call the shots.

As the rest of the GOP office holders declare "TrumpSpunk Tastes Great! Less Filling!"

[AnBr]

Trump partners with Gingrich, Graham

www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/trump-partners-gingrich-graham-new-policy-agenda-n1268915

[Bact PhD]

We all knew this was coming.

He’s baaaaack!

www.heraldtribune.com/story/news/politics/2021/06/23/former-president-donald-trump-coming-robarts-arena-sarasota-florida-july-3/5304047001/

Former President Donald Trump will bring some extra fireworks to Sarasota’s July 4 holiday weekend with an appearance at the Sarasota Fairgrounds, his first big rally in Florida since the election.

The Sarasota region has been a source of strong political support for Trump and a launching pad for his political ambitions, making it a fitting place for one of his first post-presidential rallies, which are a potential prelude to a 2024 presidential run. Trump will appear at the Fairgrounds on Saturday, July 3 at 8 p.m., his office announced Wednesday.

[snip]

As Sarasota GOP chair, Gruters brought Trump in 2012 to deliver a speech and receive the party’s “Statesman of the Year” award. The event gave Trump a platform and national media exposure on the eve of the Republican National Convention in Tampa.

Trump came back to Sarasota in 2015 to receive a second statesman award shortly before he announced his run for president. He held two rallies at Robarts Arena, on the Fairgrounds property, during the 2016 campaign, both boisterous, jam-packed events.

The first rally included an elephant with “Make America Great Again” painted in big white letters on the side. Trump arrived by helicopter with operatic music blaring. He gave helicopter rides to children in the crowd, which was so large that thousands could not get into the 5,100-seat arena.

[snip]

Trump defended his continued focus on 2020 during a recent speech to North Carolina Republicans.

"I'm not the one trying to undermine American democracy, I'm the one that's trying to save it," Trump said earlier this month at the North Carolina GOP convention.

Yet even as Trump keeps looking backward, there continues to be speculation that he will run for president in 2024, making his upcoming rallies possible showcases for a nascent comeback bid.

During the same North Carolina speech, Trump said he is “very much” looking forward to the 2024 election and he ended a Tuesday press release with "2024 or before!."

The fact that he is delusional is scary enough. What is even more terrifying is how many of our supposedly sane countrymen and -women have bought in to the delusions, 100%.

[LFC]

Jun 24, 2021 13:54:28 GMT Bact PhD said:

We all knew this was coming.

Of course we did. The grift is nearly pure profit and that makes it irresistible. From somebody with a long string of failed business ventures who is only solvent because of Russian, Saudi, and other dirty money along with wide-scale theft through contract violation this is a goose that keeps laying golden eggs.

[Deleted]

Never too early to have this page started, eh?

Pence flatlines as 2024 field takes shape
“There are some Trump supporters who think he’s the Antichrist,” said one Iowa GOP official.

Sweet irony. 

I can feel it coming in the air tonight, (Oh lord)
And I've been waiting for this moment, for all my life, (Oh lord)
Can you feel it coming in the air tonight, oh lord,

[Bact PhD]

And, like a creature rising yet again from that crypt in the swamp…it’s CHRIS CHRISTIE!!! on the speaking circuit. Evidently, he was on Ringling College’s lecture series.

Appeared in digital “print edition” of my local rag. www.heraldtribune.com/restricted/?return=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.heraldtribune.com%2Fstory%2Fnews%2Fpolitics%2F2022%2F01%2F17%2Fcontemplating-2024-presidential-run-christie-breaks-donald-trump%2F6512824001%2F

In full due to paywall (so much for “all access” to sister papers in the state)

Zac Anderson Sarasota Herald-Tribune USA TODAY NETWORK

Get over it.

That was former New Jersey governor and presidential candidate Chris Christie’s advice to former President Donald Trump Monday when it comes to repeating unfounded election fraud claims.

Not only are those claims false, Christie said, but they are “damaging the party and the country.”

Christie spoke in Sarasota as part of the Ringling College Library Association Town Hall lecture series, and he offered a blunt assessment of Trump while also weaving in criticisms of President Joe Biden and Democrats.

Christie described Trump as selfish, dishonest and negligent in big moments like the storming of the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Trump could have stopped what was happening on Jan. 6 if he had spoken out quickly, Christie said.

“Instead he sat there and watched it happen, and I’m sorry if you do that, you are accountable for what happened,” Christie said to applause.

More broadly, Christie said the attempt by Republicans to “revise history” by downplaying what happened on Jan. 6 won’t be “good for our party or good for the country because we all saw it.”

“You know what you saw and it was a horrible day for America and the president at the time let it happen,” Christie told the crowd at the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall.

The Capitol riot was precipitated by weeks of Trump claiming that the election was stolen from him, something Christie said simply isn’t true. Christie said as much to Trump during their last conversation nearly a year ago.

“I said: ‘Mr. President, I’m a prosecutor, I examine the facts,” said Christie, a former federal prosecutor.

“’There are no facts to support what you’re saying.’ And he said ‘I didn’t lose.’ And I said ‘You know how I know you lost?’… And he said ‘How?’ I said ‘Joe Biden’s sleeping in your bed.’ ” That line drew laughs from the audience, which applauded both Christie’s criticisms of Trump and of Biden.

In recent months, Christie has become a prominent critic of how the president has handled his defeat.

In an interview with the Herald-Tribune before his speech, Christie said the GOP needs to “go back to to being the party that tells the truth.”

“The truth is that the election wasn’t stolen,” he added. “The truth is that he lost, and that’s very painful.”

If Trump can’t move past his defeat, then the GOP needs to move on, Christie added.

“He needs to get over it,” Christie said.

“Now that’s one alterative, the other alternative is we need to get over him if he won’t change.”

Christie’s recent criticisms of Trump come after he supported him for years. After Christie dropped out of the 2016 presidential race he became the first major GOP candidate to endorse Trump.

Christie led Trump’s presidential transition team before being fired from the job, but he continued to stay close to Trump and support him throughout his presidency.

Christie is now considering another presidential run in 2024, and some wonder if his change of heart on Trump is a political calculation. Christie told the Herald-Tribune that his critics are the ones being political.

“If it were a political calculation, if you look at the poll numbers right now, this is not the smart thing to do,” Christie said.

Trump is still broadly popular with Republicans, many of whom also believe his claims about the election.

“The people who are saying it’s a calculation on my part, it’s a calculation on their part because they’re looking at it going: ‘Uh oh, he’s telling the truth. We don’t want him to get any traction so lets call him an opportunist,’ ” Christie said.

Yet even as he criticizes Trump’s claims of a stolen election, Christie defended efforts by Republicans to put new restrictions on voting as they work to appease Trump and the GOP base.

Christie pointed to legislation in Georgia, slamming Biden for traveling to the state to criticize the election law as “Jim Crow in the 21st Century.”

Christie said it’s not fair to compare the new voting regulations to the racist voting restrictions of the past. Among the changes in the law are new voter ID requirements for absentee ballots.

“How is it racist or wrong to say when you’re exercising one of the most important privileges you have as an American, the right to vote, to show an ID?” Christie said to applause.

Christie said he makes “no apologies” for supporting Trump in 2016, even as working with Trump left him with some unpleasant memories. He believes Trump’s actions even endangered his life.

Christie contracted COVID-19 while helping Trump prepare for his first presidential debate with Biden. Christie spent four days in a room with Trump on debate preparation.

“There were seven us in that room, six of us got COVID,” Christie said.

The experience was “incredibly scary” said Christie, who was in a hospital intensive care unit for seven days and “on the edge of getting intubated.” Christie made plans to have Facetime conversations with his children before he was intubated, in case he didn’t survive.

Trump announced he had COVID-19 shortly after the first presidential debate, but Trump’s former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows said in his book that Trump tested positive three days before the debate.

“Debate prep started on Saturday… he tested positive on Saturday morning and he never told any of us, none of us, nor did he tell the American people,” Christie said. “It could have cost me my life.”

Christie pointed to Trump’s actions surrounding his COVID-19 infection as an example of why he didn’t win re-election.

“If you want to know, in my opinion, why Donald Trump lost the election, that’s why,” Christie said.

“Not that incident, nobody knew about it at the time, that attitude. When you become president of the United States, you’ve got to be able to put the country and its people before yourself.”

Blah, blah, blah.

[goldenvalley]

Christie is selling his books and getting speakers fees which may be all that he really wants anyway. Maybe he is trying to appeal to the Never Trump Republicans if he still has political aspirations.  I just wonder if there are many of that type around and if they would trust Christie who clearly went along with Trump for a long time.  

[LFC]

“I said: ‘Mr. President, I’m a prosecutor, I examine the facts,” said Christie, a former federal prosecutor.

“’There are no facts to support what you’re saying.’ And he said ‘I didn’t lose.’ And I said ‘You know how I know you lost?’… And he said ‘How?’ I said ‘Joe Biden’s sleeping in your bed.’ ” That line drew laughs from the audience, which applauded both Christie’s criticisms of Trump and of Biden.

I call bullshit. Christie doesn't have the balls to look Trump in the eye and say that. He's a bully, just like Trump, and only takes shots when he feels safe doing it.

[jackd]

On the other hand, if he feels safe doing it, maybe we should be encouraged.

[LFC]

Jan 18, 2022 19:04:04 GMT jackd said:

On the other hand, if he feels safe doing it, ...

That's a big, fat, bulbous, morbidly obese, multi-chinned "if." I'll go with "Video or it didn't happen."

[LFC]

Is DeSantis planning on going morono e morono with the Mango Mussolini? Sounds like he doesn't want to wait until 2028 so he's trying to out-Trump Trump.

Trump-DeSantis Pissing Match Drags On

A couple of unnamed Trump sources went to Axios this weekend for a helpful “leak” of Trump’s complaints about Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), who has “a dull personality” and “no personal charisma,” the former president has reportedly said.

• Trump’s clearly trying to put DeSantis in his place several days after the GOP governor, a potential 2024 contender, jabbed at the Trump administration’s COVID-19 lockdown policies.

• Ex-convicted Trump crony Roger Stone hopped in on the action after the Axios gossip dropped, calling DeSantis “fat slow and dumb” on Telegram.

[Bact PhD]

Jan 18, 2022 19:26:07 GMT LFC said:

Is DeSantis planning on going morono e morono with the Mango Mussolini? Sounds like he doesn't want to wait until 2028 so he's trying to out-Trump Trump.

Trump-DeSantis Pissing Match Drags On

A couple of unnamed Trump sources went to Axios this weekend for a helpful “leak” of Trump’s complaints about Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), who has “a dull personality” and “no personal charisma,” the former president has reportedly said.

• Trump’s clearly trying to put DeSantis in his place several days after the GOP governor, a potential 2024 contender, jabbed at the Trump administration’s COVID-19 lockdown policies.

• Ex-convicted Trump crony Roger Stone hopped in on the action after the Axios gossip dropped, calling DeSantis “fat slow and dumb” on Telegram.

Oh, please, PLEASE…ANYthing to tamp down the chances of Supreme Emperor’s re-election come November…

Some points to ponder re recent Flori-DUH gubernatorial elections:
-In 2010, incumbent Gov. Charlie Crist sought an open US Senate seat rather than run for what looked to be a sure second term. He got whumped by “Little Marco”; Rick Scott took the GOP nomination for Governor and won narrowly again Dem Alex Sink.
-In 2014, Scott won handily against Rep-turned-Dem Charlie Crist.
-Four years ago, Supreme Emperor came out of nowhere in the primary contests and won by the narrowest of margins after recounts.
-Conventional wisdom in these-here parts is that Supreme Emperor will be returning to Tallahassee for a second term by a comfortable margin, regardless of who ends up being the Dem nominee. One of those contending for the nomination is none other than the dude once known as “Chain Gang Charlie.” I would prefer not to have a “retread” be the nominee, but…

If this pissing match continues or devolves and turns off the Trumpist supporters from the Supreme Emperor, that will be oh, SO Schadenfreudelicious (wicked grin).

[LFC]

Still more. It's pretty obvious that DeSatanist is planning on going full tilt in 2024 and Trump is pissed about it.

In recent weeks, if you’ve run in the ex-president’s inner circle or floated in and out of his social or political orbits, chances are high that you’ve heard Trump casually insulting DeSantis, even in conversations that initially had absolutely nothing to do with DeSantis.

Ever eager to protect his turf and with an eye on 2024, Trump has gossiped with certain confidants and advisers about DeSantis’ political vulnerabilities and “weaknesses,” according to the two sources familiar with the situation, and another person with direct knowledge of the matter. On a number of occasions, the twice-impeached former president has lately told associates that if they’re asked about the DeSantis-Trump tensions on TV, they should decline to confirm or deny the existence of a simmering cold war between the two conservative icons.

Instead, the former president has instructed, the Trump allies should stress that the ex-president is the “undisputed” leader of the Republican Party, and that if Trump runs to reclaim power in 2024, there is nobody else in the party who could come close to beating him. Indeed, when behind closed doors, the former president is fond of saying he would easily “destroy” DeSantis in a hypothetical intra-party race.

The source with direct knowledge recounted that in one private conversation earlier this month, Trump sounded “confused” about why DeSantis wasn’t simply coming out and saying that the 2024 GOP nomination is Trump’s, if he wants it. This source added that the former president, who remains staggeringly popular among Republican voters, rhetorically asked if DeSantis “remember[ed] what happened” in the 2016 primary, during which Trump humiliated and steamrolled over his prominent conservative rivals like Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio.

Trump is just being Trump. Anything but obsequious bowing and scraping is not to be tolerated.

The New York Times reported on Sunday that Trump now refers to a statement from DeSantis forswearing a presidential run if Trump is in the race as “the magic words”—a statement the Florida governor has so far refused to make. Similarly, Axios ran a story this weekend on how Trump is “trashing Ron DeSantis in private as an ingrate with a ‘dull personality’ and no realistic chance of beating him.”

Numerous Trump pals and informal advisers have already stated that the ex-president has privately assured them that he plans to run against his successor Joe Biden in the next presidential election. When publicly pressed on the topic over the past year, Trump has consistently remained cagey.

Recent polling from the University of Massachusetts paints DeSantis as the second most popular potential 2024 candidate among Republicans but one who trails the frontrunner, former President Trump, by a hefty 35 points.

However, whether he ends up declaring or not, Trump has regularly taken the temperature of donors, conservative politicians, and other influential Republican figures, to determine who is definitely with him ahead of 2024, and who may be going wobbly. For now, he is increasingly viewing DeSantis as a primary nuisance, possibly standing in the way of what he hopes to be a leisurely MAGA coronation.

DeSantis, who typically polls the strongest in 2024 GOP surveys, when the 45th U.S. president’s name is excluded—had made what Trump dubbed the “wiseguy” remarks last week to the “Ruthless” podcast, in which the Florida guv took an implicit swipe at Trump’s presidential record on the initial COVID-19 response.

And that's where the GOP is today, folks. The top two polling picks to be president are Trump and DeSatanist. I can't think of a better summary of how far the party has fallen.

[AnBr]

Jan 18, 2022 20:09:38 GMT Bact PhD said:

Some points to ponder re recent Flori-DUH gubernatorial elections:

[goldenvalley]

Jan 18, 2022 20:58:03 GMT LFC said:

Still more. It's pretty obvious that DeSatanist is planning on going full tilt in 2024 and Trump is pissed about it.

Trump is just being Trump. Anything but obsequious bowing and scraping is not to be tolerated.

And that's where the GOP is today, folks. The top two polling picks to be president are Trump and DeSatanist. I can't think of a better summary of how far the party has fallen.

I wonder who the monied folks of the Republican Party will support.  I suspect they're tired of Trump's capriciousness.  DeSantis is a lot more disciplined and therefore predictable.  He might be seen as the better investment.

[jackd]

You know he's gong for it with his submission of a bill that would prohibit teaching anything that would make White people feel guilty.

[LFC]

Jan 19, 2022 3:26:52 GMT jackd said:

You know he's gong for it with his submission of a bill that would prohibit teaching anything that would make White people feel guilty.

Trump is probably thinking, "Damn! I wish I had thought of that." Of course if he gets back in the White House he'll propose it nationally and take credit for the idea.

[LFC]

A bunch of the people who enabled a fascist wannabe president are now trying to figure out among themselves what to do about him. With their reputations in tatters and a poor history of actually accomplishing much of anything under Trump I don't see them as capable of doing much of anything. But who knows, maybe they'll surprise me.

Around three dozen former Trump administration officials, disillusioned with their former boss and concerned about his impact on the GOP and the nation, held a conference call last Monday to discuss efforts to fend off his efforts to, in their view, erode the democratic process, several participants told CNN.

The only items the group seemed to agree upon in its first meeting, however, were that they're not sure what their way forward should be, and that they are way behind the efforts of former President Donald Trump and his allies to set the stage for 2022, 2024, and beyond.

The highest-ranking participant was former White House chief of staff and retired Marine Gen. John Kelly, who told CNN that because of a prior commitment he was only able to "monitor" about 10 minutes of the call, which lasted about an hour.

Other participants included former Trump White House communications directors Alyssa Farah Griffin (now a CNN political commentator) and Anthony Scaramucci, former Homeland Security and counterterrorism adviser to Vice President Pence Olivia Troye, former Department of Homeland Security official Elizabeth Neumann, and former Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Chris Krebs, among others. Stephanie Grisham, who first publicly discussed this group a couple of weeks ago on CNN's "New Day," was not on the call because she was sick with Covid-19, though she told CNN she is engaged with the group.

[goldenvalley]

Jan 19, 2022 15:45:28 GMT LFC said:

A bunch of the people who enabled a fascist wannabe president are now trying to figure out among themselves what to do about him. With their reputations in tatters and a poor history of actually accomplishing much of anything under Trump I don't see them as capable of doing much of anything. But who knows, maybe they'll surprise me.

Around three dozen former Trump administration officials, disillusioned with their former boss and concerned about his impact on the GOP and the nation, held a conference call last Monday to discuss efforts to fend off his efforts to, in their view, erode the democratic process, several participants told CNN.

The only items the group seemed to agree upon in its first meeting, however, were that they're not sure what their way forward should be, and that they are way behind the efforts of former President Donald Trump and his allies to set the stage for 2022, 2024, and beyond.

The highest-ranking participant was former White House chief of staff and retired Marine Gen. John Kelly, who told CNN that because of a prior commitment he was only able to "monitor" about 10 minutes of the call, which lasted about an hour.

Other participants included former Trump White House communications directors Alyssa Farah Griffin (now a CNN political commentator) and Anthony Scaramucci, former Homeland Security and counterterrorism adviser to Vice President Pence Olivia Troye, former Department of Homeland Security official Elizabeth Neumann, and former Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Chris Krebs, among others. Stephanie Grisham, who first publicly discussed this group a couple of weeks ago on CNN's "New Day," was not on the call because she was sick with Covid-19, though she told CNN she is engaged with the group.

I think Olivia Troye spent a lot of time talking to the media about the behavior of Trump towards the Covid committee that Pence headed up.  I don't recall if she talked about the rest of the issues with Trump or if she knew about them.

[LFC]

Josh Marshall has a piece plus an addendum up on Trump and his control over the GOP. It's still vast, of course, but his personal grudge shtick might be getting old. In another 2 years DeSantis could be the new hotness because he's always outraged about something new.

This points to a central but unstable dynamic with Trump. His great power is that despite being born to privilege and having every advantage he speaks the language of grievance as a native tongue. That makes him a natural for revanchist grievance politics in a way that others more immersed in the formal ideology never can be. But there’s always this risk of him going off the rails because it really is all about him. Obsessions become rabbit holes.

The move away from any policy agenda, even one that is sloganeering and insubstantial, is tied to a related trap. Anything you say is terrible today inevitably raises the question of why didn’t you fix it when you were President. We need the wall? Didn’t you have four years to build it? What about what’s happening now? What’s new?

The big thing the GOP is running on now is inflation. But that’s not something that gets Trump revved up. And really he’s mainly focused on stuff about him – all the the ways he’s been wronged. It’s not that he can’t still do a lot with this stuff. He can just say that antifa’s in power and we’re going to lose our country and all his standard lines. But taken together it makes him seem a bit dated and more so as time goes by.

Over time that creates some opening for someone like DeSantis who is very much in the Trump mold but also responding to current events, things that are happening now. Just something to think about.

[LFC]

Gov. Larry Hogan (R-MD) may be trying to run from the same position that Jon Huntsman attempted, with pretty poor results.

Republican Maryland Governor Larry Hogan said on Sunday morning that he is indeed considering a 2024 run for president and would announce his decision after his gubernatorial term ends next year.

At the same time, while insisting that there is a “very large lane” for a “common-sense conservative” to defeat former President Donald Trump, Hogan also railed against the “insanity” of members of his party labeling the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection “legitimate political discourse.”

Much like New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, another fairly popular Republican governor in a largely Democratic state, Hogan left Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) disappointed when he decided against running for Senate this year. Appearing on CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday, Hogan explained why he wasn’t throwing his hat into that ring.

“First of all, I was very flattered that they were expressing interest and encouraging me to run, and certainly made the argument that I could be a voice of reason and sanity in Washington,” he told anchor Jake Tapper. “But I just have never had a desire to be a U.S. Senator and my heart wasn’t in it.”

Hogan continued: “I make decisions every day that impact people’s lives, and I like to get things done. In Washington, it seems as if there’s a lot of divisiveness and dysfunction and not a lot gets done. It wasn’t the right job, right fit for me.”

Asked if he agreed with Sununu that the Senate concentrates too much attention on being a roadblock for President Joe Biden and isn’t focused on getting things done, Hogan said Republican senators seemed too wrapped up in the “wrong things” instead of having a “hopeful vision” for the country.

Tapper, meanwhile, pointed out that Hogan’s non-profit organization recently put out a video that recently argued that America is “too divided” and that the governor has “shown a path forward” that the rest of the country can emulate.

“That’s a nice video. It just lacked the Hogan 2024 banner at the bottom,” the State of the Union moderator quipped. “Are you considering a presidential run?”

After Hogan said he’ll “make a decision about 2024” after he finishes the job of governor, Tapper noted that it sounded like he was “certainly considering” getting into the White House race.

[goldenvalley]

Feb 14, 2022 1:21:30 GMT LFC said:

Gov. Larry Hogan (R-MD) may be trying to run from the same position that Jon Huntsman attempted, with pretty poor results.

Republican Maryland Governor Larry Hogan said on Sunday morning that he is indeed considering a 2024 run for president and would announce his decision after his gubernatorial term ends next year.

At the same time, while insisting that there is a “very large lane” for a “common-sense conservative” to defeat former President Donald Trump, Hogan also railed against the “insanity” of members of his party labeling the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection “legitimate political discourse.”

Much like New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, another fairly popular Republican governor in a largely Democratic state, Hogan left Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) disappointed when he decided against running for Senate this year. Appearing on CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday, Hogan explained why he wasn’t throwing his hat into that ring.

“First of all, I was very flattered that they were expressing interest and encouraging me to run, and certainly made the argument that I could be a voice of reason and sanity in Washington,” he told anchor Jake Tapper. “But I just have never had a desire to be a U.S. Senator and my heart wasn’t in it.”

Hogan continued: “I make decisions every day that impact people’s lives, and I like to get things done. In Washington, it seems as if there’s a lot of divisiveness and dysfunction and not a lot gets done. It wasn’t the right job, right fit for me.”

Asked if he agreed with Sununu that the Senate concentrates too much attention on being a roadblock for President Joe Biden and isn’t focused on getting things done, Hogan said Republican senators seemed too wrapped up in the “wrong things” instead of having a “hopeful vision” for the country.

Tapper, meanwhile, pointed out that Hogan’s non-profit organization recently put out a video that recently argued that America is “too divided” and that the governor has “shown a path forward” that the rest of the country can emulate.

“That’s a nice video. It just lacked the Hogan 2024 banner at the bottom,” the State of the Union moderator quipped. “Are you considering a presidential run?”

After Hogan said he’ll “make a decision about 2024” after he finishes the job of governor, Tapper noted that it sounded like he was “certainly considering” getting into the White House race.

It'll be DeSantis facing off against Taylor-Green and Taylor-Green has the fundraising edge and the most loony, dedicated base.

[pnwguy]

Feb 14, 2022 3:17:13 GMT goldenvalley said:

Feb 14, 2022 1:21:30 GMT LFC said:

Gov. Larry Hogan (R-MD) may be trying to run from the same position that Jon Huntsman attempted, with pretty poor results.

It'll be DeSantis facing off against Taylor-Green and Taylor-Green has the fundraising edge and the most loony, dedicated base.

Hogan and Huntsman are both competent managers and leaders, so they are instantly disqualified by the GOP base.  

If there was any current GOP politician that might be a worse nightmare winning the White House in 2024 than Dumpster, it would be MTG.  You can at least predict both 45 and DeSatanist would be all about using the presidency for more grifting on steroids.  But MTG truly is a lunatic, and no one could rationally predict what she would do in any situation, except make the most disastrous choice.