I read the headline and was expecting to see an expose on Darth Vader or Hans Gruber...
2
Republicans bade a bargain with the Devil, they got their prize requested and now the Devil owns them.
5
"Hang Whatever Star You May Have ON A LOSER".
For any in the GOP, running or hopefully running for any Elective Office, surely the BEST way to lose is to closely associate ones self with LIAR/CON DON!!
4
Future Republican animal control officers. Tainted, damaged goods. Goodbye.
3
90% approval rating for Trump by republicans is a depressing fact that today a lying racist ,tax dodging, draft dodging fraudster is so popular that they ignore his fascist anti democratic nature. What in the world are their values ?
9
Notice no big stories about Niki Haley here, or in the rest of the left wing cable media monopoly.
Lets let the Democrats and Socialist eat at each other for the next year and then when the standing candidate is a weak - weenie, Nicki may join the Trump ticket and that will be the final blow for Socialism and Lefty issues pushed on Americans for a cycle.
1
Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, Tom Cotton. The weak one, the nasty one, the humorless one. Smush them together and they still don’t come anywhere near replicating the abominable grifter known as Donald Trump. Any of the abused struggling migrant children locked up in Trump concentration camps knows more about America than do those three politically hungry, untalented fools.
3
What a joke! Heir to this aberration? Good luck GOP. Mussolini is long deceased. Arms folded with a scowl on his face. Picture that familiar stance. Who could possibly follow the "useful idiot" prototype? Pretty McCarthy of California? He lies easily. Nice natural hair though.
2
I suspect there are many like me (I hope anyway) who see clearly what kind of President someone like Senator Rubio, for example, would be . . . the 2nd coming of President Trump having endorsed or gone along with all that he does . . . none of these people would ever get my vote. Politically astute, maybe in a no-value, grim sort of way . . . champions of Democratic values, the soul of our nation, the preservation and protection of our Constitution they are not. If they wanted to, if Congress wanted to, they could all step up and steer the country away from the damning direction the President and his Republican supplicants are taking us. They could in fact do their duty to preserve and protect.
2
Gee, Liz, partisan???
Too little, too late. The Republican Party is dead.
3
To all the folks Liz Mair mentions in her column:
We will never forget how you tied yourselves to DJT's ankles; how you aided and abetted a sexual predator and draft dodger; how you folded in the face of an obstruction of justice investigation. Never forget.
5
Well, time will tell. There's also a good chance that closeness to trump will become a political liability. But of course we can expect in such a case these 'shape-shifting hypocrites' will distance themselves from trump just as quickly as they sucked up to him.
2
Those who so blatantly support Trump will pay down the line. It use to be people like these would talk around the issues, so later they could claim that was not their true intent, on any given subject. By blatantly supporting Trump, they can no longer hide behind that façade.
1
What would happen if Trump dumped Mike Pence and installed Nikki Haley as his 2020 VP running mate? That might help get him his 2nd term. Maybe Nikki Haley would go against the zero percent historical likelihood of VP becoming Prez (in the absence of presidential death, incapacity or resignation), if she knew Trump would help with her election campaign. Trump may lose in 2020, and vacate the White House, but I doubt he’ll keep his face out of national politics. He’d be razzed every day back in his “hometown “ NYC, so he’ll probably stay in DC so that he can continue to outshine Obama, maybe retire to Mar a Lago. He’d be welcome in Moscow, but I don’t think there are any good golf courses there. Trump worship by Republicans will continue for many years ala Ronald Reagan.
1
It seems like that in order to be Trump’s “heir apparent” - the prerequisite would be fawning sycophancy to Trump aided by endless acts of unctuous ingratiation.
It’s highly ironic that Marco Rubio (“Little Marco”) and Ted Cruz (“Lying Ted”) are being mentioned as Trump’s potential successors albeit they viciously feuded with Trump during the 2016 campaign. It seems like that they folded like “Cheap Suits” because politics definitely makes “STRANGE BEDFELLOWS” - meshuga continues- Oy Vey!
I think the key question is: Do we need a “HEIR” to Trump as he is a Presidential Enigma - essentially a “Shock Jock” provocateur masquerading as the President. The current stalwarts of GOP are aiding Trump by morally bankrupting “Lincoln’s Party” into a Three Ring circus of chauvinism, misogyny, xenophobia, racism and just UNPATRIOTIC activities - GOP has been reduced to political ANACHRONISM.
GOP members totally forgot about Lincoln’s Gettysburg address: “Government of the people, by the people and for the people”. Lincoln also sacrificed his own life for EMANCIPATION. I wonder if Rubio and Cruz understand the true significance of “Lincoln’s Legacy” to our democracy or they just follow their blind ambitions and pursuit of power like Macbeth.
We don’t need Trump’s Legacy - we need to obliterate divisive demagoguery from our history forever. Let’s bring back the goosebump inducing and eyes welling notion of “AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM”.
1
If Democrats win in 2020(and I believe that they will) there will be no Trump inheritance in the GOP. The Republican Party will deny Trumpism, and many who support him now will say that they were part of some secret subversive effort to get rid of him. Luckily there is lots of video. Never forget who supported this monstrosity.
2
The only good thing about the Trump presidency is that it's all based on cult of personality and it will be near impossible to seamlessly pass that on to a successor. Have another cheeseburger, Donald!
2
There is no heir to Trump. He is a unique reaction to the Obama Presidency. Anyone who tries the same thing as Trump will quickly end up in the trash as a number of politicians have already found out.
2
Hopefully Trump will be supporting the next Republican presidential hopeful from his prison cell where he will be serving several years for tax fraud.
2
It sure looks like a family-driven cult of personality - so naturally the “heirs” would be any of the Trump spawn.
And why should true patriots let messy elections disrupt this clearly manifest destiny?
President for Life! He has my vote.
Or at least my acquiescence.
It's one thing for the media to gin up an election that's five hundred more consecutive 24/7 days of Breaking News about
2020. It's more than 'jumping the shark' to do it for the next five years! Please exercise some modicum of responsibility and respect for everyone's intelligence.
Thx!
The nice thing about Marco, right up front, it's all about Marco. A punk intellectually and ethically.
3
Doesn’t matter. Never voting for another trump-publican again as long as I live after this nightmare they have enabled.
4
Let's hope it's Mike Pence for eight years after Mr. Trump finishes his second term.
Rubio is too short to be President.
The United States is no longer a democracy, thanks to the"pragmatic' Republican sycophants surrounding Trump. If they had any consciences they would not let Trump and McConnell destroy the country.
2
Like asking, what can you contract after you get rid of HIV.
1
Rubio is spineless and would never get my vote because he is an invertebrate.
3
Trump has irreparably poisoned the GOP. Base voters are the indispensable population (for the moment anyway) so any presumptive heir to Trump will have to replicate Trump's formula of crowd-pleasing lies, bile, and cruelty. They'll compete among themselves to ramp up the venom from soda-pop level to energy drink to battery acid, and they'll judge their success by the ugliness of the mobs' responses. It'll fail because gerrymandering is crumbing; Trump's voters are getting older; and none of the pretenders is as authentic a preening ugly lout as is Trump. Marco Rubio trying to do that act will be like a Backstreet Boy doing "Richard III". And the family being what it is, Don Jr., will surely try to claim the mantle for himself. Even he isn't up (or down) to The Donald's level of slime. It's a familiar tale we're seeing. Trump will take the GOP down before he lets anyone take it over.
2
Too bad that Lord Voldemort is British and can't run. Darth Vader? Or Darth Vader's incarnation on earth, Darth Cheney? Perhaps someone could exhume Joe McCarthy. Or, even better, a proven outsider like Roy Cohn. I presume that David Duke is tanned, rested and ready.
The options are endless, once you start thinking outside the box or the coffin.
2
If the Dems win big in 2020 the Republican’s party organization implodes. Syncophants like Rubio will be trying to get jobs flipping bergers at McDonalds.
2
What about the GOP's two leading intellectuals, Darrell Issa, and Louie Gohmert?
2
I would like to nominate Duncan Hunter as the heir apparent.
Breaking the law and committing fraud? Check.
Using said funds to commit adultery with 5 women? Sounds right.
Trying to push his wife to take the fall? Yup.
Of course, meanwhile, declaring he is "pro family values", running a xenophobic and Islamophobic campaign against his opponent, and winning an election despite being indicted and blaming his leftist opponents and fake news. Seems like a shoe-in!
3
Kevin from The Office. He'll just be a slimmer, younger Trump.
Trump never plans to step down. Furthermore, once Trump is gone, his family members will succeed him. That's the Orwellian future where we find ourselves.
4
They're all dirty, the whole lot of them. McConnell, Graham, the whole Republican party is dirty. It's a dirty, unprincipled party with one overriding goal in mind, which is to support the yacht class, whatever else good comes from that is just lucky collateral, because they really could care less.
25
The most appropriate heir to Trump who would bring strong principles to the Republican party would be Satan.
11
Let the Faustian fringe keep in mind that should Trump falter in 2020, there is nothing to keep him from running in 2024. Trump is loyal only to the Trump clan.
7
The long shot: The President in his shattering ways only needs to dispose of an amendment, Trump 2024 for a third term. You know it has crossed his mind.
5
For a long time, going far back beyond 2016, I have thought that there exists no man alive more utterly contemptible than our president.
I am changing my mind, however, as a legion of flunkies, the latest Marco Rubio, swoon fecklessly, prostrating themselves at the feet of a figure who assaults, insults and abuses women, who tears immigrant families apart, who puts children in unspeakably inhumane living conditions, who threatens nuclear annihilations as though he were playing with toys that go "bang," who dismembers reproductive rights for more than 50% of the US population, who glorifies the growing lethality of gunfire, who gleefully advances the pollution of our air and water, who denies the climate change becoming ever more evident right before our eyes, who openly invites foreign powers to interfere in American electoral activity, who obstructs justice by the day, and who lies so often that the odometer is re-setting itself to zero.
All that Trump had to do was to walk in the door, the avatar-in-chief to the raucous acclaim of his vicious toadies who have been eagerly but anxiously waiting in the wings for the arrival of their messiah of hateful bile. How does it feel, Marco, Mitch, Lindsey and Kevin, to grovel at the feet of a criminal charlatan?
Are there men more vile that Trump? Look no further that the hateful "leadership" of the GOP.
22
The Tangerine Nightmare has set very low bar at this point. Would not be surprised to see a convicted war criminal (that DT pardons in the interim) get the nomination.
8
It's simple. We move from a reality show to an old B movie. Film Noir. Trump will hardly notice. Sunset Boulevard. Trump, of course, is the perfect Norman Desmond. Already. He's in her make-believe world. Lindsey Graham is Joe Gillis, the unsuccessful screenwriter, who's dead at the opening, floating in a swimming pool. But nonetheless, insists on narrating the story. Marco Rubio has to be Max, the loving butler who keeps puffing up Norma's/Donald's delusions about her/his imagined popularity. Finally, there's Cecil DeMille who has to be played by Sean Hannity. He indulges Norma/Donald out of nostalgia, tattered respect, recognizing evasion and mis-directs are his only course of action. Ultimately, of course, Norma is confronted about her illusions by Joe Gillis/Lindsey Graham and Norma/Donald shoots him three times and he falls into the pool. Or, is this too "on the nose"?
2
" Second, and despite that, he is very politically weak for a president heading into a re-election and could easily lose."
Actually, Ms. Mair, and you should know this since you were on Bill Maher's show last Friday with Professor Lichtman, he of the "13 keys" that predicts presidential elections, and the man who predicted Trump would win, Trump is in an overwhelming position for a strong re-election showing.
As Prof. Lichtman said, if you were listening to him, Trump needs 7 of the 13 keys to be re-elected and currently he has 10 of the keys in his favor. The only one that is a random variable right now is foreign policy, where events are not always under a president's control.
3
When the truth finally comes out about Donald Trump, he will bring down all of those who quietly supported his outrageous assault on our Constitution and our country by their inaction and covetous plans for the future. Not one of them will be accepted as a honorable or even a viable Republican candidate. The only acceptable credentials will be how far removed each positioned himself from Trump and the candidates proven respect for the Constitution.
5
The article gets it wrong by not understanding that, for practical purposes, there currently is no national Republican Party. (Do you see any RNC-sponsored primary debates between Trump and William Weld coming up?) No, it is the Trump party, not a party of specific principles or even policies. Without Trump the Republican Party has no definition, let alone a clear cut one. Thus, when Trump goes, there will be no heir, because there can be no heir, though many will fight for that mantle while cynically trying to negotiate their way around the negative baggage that would come with such designation.
As generally younger, all-or-nothing ideologues fight it out with the political pragmatists, the next iteration of the Republican party will not coalesce for quite a few years. This is also true of the Democrats whose only claim to a specific national party identity is also defined by Trump.
5
Every one of these people know that their only chance to keep the base is to carry on as trump* would. They are either playing the harlot, or revealing what their inner beliefs were all those years they tried to project more moderation. As conservative commentator Tom Nichols says, “Burn the party down. Never vote for any Republican.” Once the GrossOP is completely dismantled, then we can talk about reconstruction.
4
The article assumes that trump family members are not in the picture. You’re not thinking out of the box like trump does. It’s very possible he may toss out Pence in favor of either Ivanka or Don Jr for the 2020 election. Pence has served his purpose; the evangelical vote is solid. What better way to create a dynasty than to place another trump in line to be president if he dies in his second term? What better way to stick it to Hillary than sliding in his daughter as the first woman president? I’ve heard rumblings that there is support among his base for either one to be the next president after him.
64
@Louisa Glasson There could be a constitutional problem with that. The Constitution requires that the president and vice president must be residents of different states. They can't both be residents of D.C. or both be residents of New York.
13
@Louisa Glasson
Ivanka and Don Jr. live in New York State. It would be unconstitutional for them to run on the same ticket with New York State resident Donald Trump.
9
@Louisa Glasson The reason, perhaps, the writer did not include Ivanka and Jared is because those two lean more towards the Democratic party than Daddy's "make believe" Republican party.
I wonder if any articles addressed the possibility of Obama passing the baton to Michelle Obama who was several times smarter than phony Ivanka.
In a presidential match, Michelle would beat Ivanka and Jared many times over.
The country is in no mood for more trumpists. The legacy will end in 2020.
13
If it were not for the electoral college, I don't think it would be possible for another Republican to be elected president in my lifetime.
192
@James R. Filyaw
Which might be why we have it. Demographics indicate we will eventually have one-party rule, and that usually tends to go a certain way.
2
The Republican campaign strategist Liz Mair doesn't seem to have a very high opinion of her party's politicians or their level of principled conviction.
1
Marco Rubio is a cynical shape shifter. The more exposure he gets the smaller he looks. Whatever I think of Trump, his Little Marco nickname was spot on.
6
This is the scenario. IF trump loses in 2020 he will be arrested before the year is out for tax fraud, etc., etc.,. Thus he cannot afford to lose. The state of New York will crucify him for starters and well so he deserves it. Thus, the confusion he has sown over the past couple of years will either have to be tied up neatly by the end of the summit on Saturday, or he is a lame, soon to be incarcerated, duck.
4
I hope there is no Republican Party by 2024. The current GOP has become a political cancer that threatens to destroy this country.
8
Poor Marco. He just doesn't get how absurd he is.
5
For the GOP, this is the road to irrelevance and extinction.
5
The next Republican presidential candidate after Trump?
I picture someone straight out of central casting. All style, no substance. Good looks but rugged. Smooth, yet edgy in a Nationalist - Racist - Misogynist sort of way.
I picture a returning Navy Seal, because who doesn't love Navy Seals? I'm sure Republicans have market tested and Seals score high. Maybe a patch over one eye for that roguish look.
The person can be a sexual predator because, well, that doesn't matter anymore.
The candidate will have a tattooed cross with a Bible verse on their upper arm. If they have never been to church in their lives, it won't matter, because we've seen it doesn't matter. When the candidate rolls up their shirt sleeves, Republicans of both sexes will swoon.
The candidate will be strongly "Pro Life" and pro gun and pro death penalty. In fact they will have a confirmed combat kill number in the low hundreds. These facts will test high with Republican voters.
The candidate will be a bootstrap Republican who made everything they are themselves. They will rail against takers, and welfare queens and socialists.
The candidate will be cruel, and mean, and show no empathy whatsoever. This tests well with Republican voters.
The Republicans now know what is possible to get away with: graft, corruption, endless wars, etc This is just the beginning!
Oh yes, the candidate will always wear their uniform. This also tests well with voters.
7
Is the support of Trump by shallow pols like Marco Rubio "out of character?" Not unless you had any character to begin with.
5
William Weld is a thoroughly pickled wasp who cares about common people even less than Trump does.
He will first de-fund, and then under fund public education, then social services, like every true right-wing wasp. He's an elitists elite. Ivy League, descendant of the richest family in Boston in the 1600s. Barely worked a day in his life. Will dismiss you rather than listen to you when you see him in the street.
3
Every dead, starving or sexually abused child at the southern border is Trump's legacy along with every GOP enabler who was too cowardly to speak out against his atrocities. This stain on our nation's history, will not be forgotten.
5
Marco Rubio, my senator, is an empty suit whose ambition far exceeds his (supposed) Christian compassion. I wouldn't vote for him for dogcatcher.
5
@Mark Preston
Ok, I get it. Would you even vote for him as dog?
Rubio should be the last person the GOP puts up for president. He is as dishonest and unethical as trump.
5
@Rev. Henry Bates
OK
Those are his features, not flaws.
2
If Trump loses in 2020, he will certainly be running for a second (nonconsecutive, obviously) term in 2024. Given the devotion of the members of his party, Trump will easily win the nomination.
And if Trump wins and serves out his full term, he will probably be endorsing one of his children -- Don Jr. or Ivanka -- as the 2024 Republican candidate.
The Republican party is the Trump party, now and forever.
3
The greater laugh will be when this mystery person offers a platform of ethics, morals, honesty, free trade and improving relations with western democracies.
3
Trump takes no prisoners and he certainly leaves no heirs. Although I hear Ivanka has plans.
1
That's Republican hair not heir.
Republicans need someone even more fake than Trump. To keep up the entertainment PROPAGANDA.
3
Rubio is being overestimated and Rick Scott is being underestimated. Rubio potentially could easily be overshadowed by the junior senator in his own state. It’s well known in the State of Florid that Rick Scott harbors 2024 ambitions and could possibly be even closer to DJT than Senator Rubio.
2
I really don't care which party runs the country as long as they have their heads in the air, can think logically, aren't a psychological mess and honor the family at every level in American Society with excellence in parenting, health care, nutrition, education and opportunity.
At the moment, ALL POLITICIANS seem to have their heads in a dark, dank, malodorous part of their bodies. Yeah, I'm having a bad day. What it is.
This all assumes that we don't have a perennial candidate Trump if not just to stay relevant and feed his ego.
Any bets on Paul Ryan resurfacing? No way his political ambitions are over.
I think if/when Trump loses in 2020, assuming he stays out of jail, he will run again in 2024 and get the nomination.
@Sam Kahn If he is alive and able to stand upright, which he might not be.
They are certainly all sufficiently deplorable.
2
If Biden wins the nomination I'm certain that some prominent Republicans will quietly be voting for Joe. But, what any "centrist" Republican should understand is that the GOP is the Trump party now and it may remain the Trump party long after Trump has left office.
Since well before the days of Nixon there have been extreme rightists representing the GOP. What is different now is that the center-right is rapidly disappearing, leaving only those on extreme right to survive the primaries.
To watch people like Lindsey Graham shift to pretend they fit right in among the true right-wing Trump nationalists? Well, it's quite sad and pathetic.
3
It is foolish to believe that Trump will ever get behind someone not sharing his last name for the future of the republican party. Here is what's going to happen: if reelected, he will begin floating trial balloons about a third term immediately (he'll claim he's joking, but within a year all the Very Serious Republicans will be behind the idea), and then if that proves a non-starter, he will endorse Don Jr.
He wants nothing more than to embarrass Pence (to prove the power imbalance), and to those saying Sanders or Haley, he certainly does not believe a woman or a non-white person should be president.
There will never be a "normal" center-right GOP president again, at least not the next 50 years.
4
When Obama was president, I had Republican friends that stated Obama would not leave the White House if he lost reelection.
Once he Obama was reelected, these same friends claimed he would never leave the White House.
I told them it was nonsense and that they suffered from Obama Derangement Syndrome.
After reading these comments, I see that many commentators say the same thing about Trump. They suffer from another version of the same disease -- Trump Derangement Syndrome.
3
He has already said he wants a third term, and a fourth and a fifth. Are these Republicans expecting him to die on schedule?
1
As long as we are speculating about what would happen if Trump loses 2020, does anyone think he would not run himself for another term in 2024?
He can spend 4 years criticizing the Democratic president on Fox News, keep his base riled up and then mobilize them for an end-run.
There is no way Trump would let "Lil Marco" steal his second term.
Any republican with ambitions of succeeding Trump shouldn't waste their time. If he wins in 2020, there very likely will not be another election until he drops (presuming he's mortal, but who knows, right?).
The preservation of your democracy is likely predicated on the dems winning in 2020. Wish I were kidding. But I'm not.
6
I find it amusing that Washingtoncentric columnits and pundits tend to see the country more or less evenly divided while in fact, less than 1/3 of voters embrace the GOP. Frankly, who cares who the GOP runs after Trump, they have not only lost their way but have lost their party. Where I live, PA 6th, there is no functioning Republican party, all the country club GOP'ers bailed when their wives said in 2016, "we will take the former air force officer female over the nice but moderate GOP incumbent." At local primary last month, I spoke with some GOP local officials for almost an hour as several doazen voters came by, many stopped at Dem table, no one else at GOP table and I only stopped because one of them is an old friend, I changed parties when Trump was nominated. The GOP as we knew it, is gone.
8
@Lionrock48 That's funny. I used to be a Democrat..for nearly 30 years. I left the party..actually the party left me.
The Democrat Party as we knew it, is gone.
Trump will be his own heir - he has been " joking " about running for a third term in 2024, and neither he nor his base give a hoot about the constitutional two-term limit.
5
Don't forget or underestimate Sarah Sanders.
12
@Steve
I daresay most would like to forget Sarah Sanders.
22
@Steve Just what would she be qualified to run for? Chief Sneerer? Fake-News-Secretary? Apologist-in-Charge? Her only qualifications for a political position are based on her blind loyalty and willingness to lie for Trump.
23
Does anyone honestly believe Trump will leave the White House, should he lose the 2020 election? And, if it looks as if he will, does anyone honestly believe he would let this election go forward? All this talk about "Republican heirs" assumes that our elections will go forward as they have for more than two hundred years now. And those who make these assumptions are painfully naive.
There is no doubt in my mind that this "president" will leave office at a time of his choosing, and not a minute sooner. He will declare some sort of "national emergency", which will involve an edict cancelling the election, and will state that he will remain "President" as long as the wholly fictitious "emergency" continues. Oh, sure, maybe blue states will go ahead and try to hold elections. But red state governors and legislators, his heavily armed base, and "his military" will toady to any of his edicts.
And the reason is really quite simple. He will face a number of state felony charges immediately upon leaving office, if the statutes of limitations on them haven't run. And most of the charges against Trump will be live claims in 2021 and several years beyond that.
Recall that state crimes may not be pardoned. So the man has absolutely every incentive to remain in office. And if needed, he'll call out his rabid, heavily armed base to silence the rest of us, should we protest.
Trump is counting on our silence, our passivity. And we've shown him that he is right, to do so.
6
It's amazing how two guys, Mayor Pete and Tom Cotton, who both served overseas in horrible wars, both went to Harvard, and emerged with such divergent worldviews. It's kind of like they stayed with what they were born with, maybe the town they grew up in, and the parents they had.
2
@dave beemon
In the 1980's a good friend since high school was a staunch Republican and graduated Cal Berkeley -- He was a Young Republican frat guy who never once belittled liberals. In fact, he is a lawyer now and never lets his political views obscure his judgments. He is a remarkable human being.
I often joke and tell him I don't think the Berkeley campus would be safe for him in 2019 -- And his response is-- "Why wouldn't it be?" He just doesn't get it- and this is the problem with conservatives !! They just don't get it! They don't view the world the same way liberals do -- The barn is burning and they walk around thinking everything is fine ... I envy Republicans.. I wish I too could be so shallow and not acknowledge a burning barn ...
The Flip Side:
Liberalism has turned militant, vindictive and anyone outside their norm is either a racist, homophobic fascist or xenophobe.
Their myopic view of justice is the same as being in a burning barn.
I am a +50 YO centrist -- Which I guess makes me now a Republican.
1
There are, in fact, some reasonable Republicans in public office: John Kasich, for one. Even in the Senate, I doubt that Ben Sasse or Martha McSally or Lisa Murkowski, even if I disagree with them on a number of issues, would be anything like Trump or his political enablers (Cotton, Rubio et al.).
1
Ms. Mair,
Your party is going to lose in 2020. But if you want to spend your time dreaming of 2024, have at it.
7
Rubio, Cruz, Graham and the other Senators should be discounted immediately for their weak and spineless silence during the Trump years. Imagine how egocentric one would have to be to stay silent for 4 years simply for personal gain, knowing their silence is helping endanger the country. They did nothing to protect their party or their country from an incompetent and unqualified ignoramus, and recently were even seated at a Trump rally. Haley has the benefit of not having voted over and over for the Trump agenda, but she too should be infected with Trumpism as she served in the administration. As with Trump voters, these folks have lost any and all credibility by supporting a circus clown for President.
4
"Who Is The Republican Error to Trump?"
I fixed it for you.
2
"Is their support of Mr. Trump heartfelt or merely strategic?"
Give me a break! We know they all hate is guts. They've just joined the long line of sycophants hoping to gain advantage by associating themselves with this corrupt, immoral, unhinged con man. If any of them have a shred of now deeply buried decency, they will live to loathe their self-debasement.
3
Or, to put it another way, "which lickspittal will try to succeed Trump?"
2
Graham, Rubio and Cotton. A trio of political remoras.
5
Snakes. Every last one of them. I hope they end up selling insurance at a strip mall.
6
The Republican party will be hard pressed to survive the moral depravity, intellectual dishonesty and rank hypocrisy of Donald Trump, Mitch McConnell and their enablers. If Trump has done one good thing as president, it is that he has torn the mask from the GOP and revealed its true face for all to see.
4
"And if they make nice with him now, they might be able to nab his endorsement or at least the support of a big chunk of his highly motivated voters when they step up to presidential plate sometime in 2023."
So the crocodiles are circling, but being crocodiles they are not being blatant about looking for trump's body upon which to feed. But if any crocodile thinks that trump is going to endorse anyone other than Ivanka, he/she is a fool. He will leave the presidency thinking that he is the greatest president ever - and he will depress the pretensions of any Republican to fill his "great" shoes - other than his daughter.
1
Let's not have one, shall we?
There were/are many Republicans who might one day become President.
Let's not have heirs to this. k?
2
We already know that Republicans lack a heart, but it is now apparent that they also lack a spine, (and maybe a brain?). Republicans used to stand by principle, now they bounce all over the ball in a pinball machine. The machine is now on full tilt!
3
If Trump is re-elected in 2020, there is a persistent scary suggestion that he will at least consider declaring an “extension” to his term that will carry him past 2024. I doubt these weak-kneed Republican sycophants would challenge any such assertion. Even if they did, who can be sure the Supreme Court would not endorse the idea? It may be more likely that the next President will also be a Trump — Ivanka — if “45” chooses his successor whenever he tires of being Ringmaster of the circus.
Trump will not endorse anyone to replace him, he is psychologically incapable of that kind of unselfish decision. When his time is up as President, he will be on television promoting himself in some other context, not giving guidance to some Republican prodigy.
104
@Casual Observer
Looking at the list of POTUS campaign clients Ms. Mair has managed, I wish Trump would choose her for his campaign manager.
5
@Casual Observer
I'm not so sure. Assuming trump accepts the fact that he cannot be Eternal Dear Leader -- and there is no guarantee he will -- I can see him giving his endorsement for the candidate who most stokes his ego. Say, if one of them were to suggest that New York City be renamed Trumpville, America be renamed Trumplandia, the fencing or whatever physical barrier is on the southern border when he leaves office be named The Great Wall Of Trump, etc, that could do the trick.
7
@Casual Observer
Not unless some Republican prodigy is his own progeny.
2
DJT has exposed many R's as unprincipled, self serving, and pliable to the point of sycophancy. Few have demonstrated the courage of conviction or moral courage of leadership and all except Amash have shown they're willing to countenance any transgression.
2
Sure, Rubio can preside over the Southern States of America.
2
This entire piece assumes that post-Trump there will even be a functioning Republican Party. With the Fake President out of office either via the ballot or impeachment, in the process his completely commandeered party will be destroyed, along with the electoral ambitions of its shameful Trump-compromised members. He will have forever made the designation “Republican” toxic. R.I.P.
All the guys listed as potential "heirs" to Trump really can also now be described as Trump's "herum."
2
Thank you Susan, you saved me from writing. The luxury car dealer also funded his teaching job at FAU.
These guys do understand that if Chump loses in 2020, he'll be coming to take back his "stolen" 2nd term in 2024, right?
2
The Devil
2
Freaking Liz Cheney is in the news way too much this month. Please don't let her be our 1st female President.
3
Politicians are so unseemly. Always have been. Principles? Who needs 'em. Pee-yoo!
1
Scott Walker, of course. He screwed up Wisconsin, which is a good start for the rest of the country. Done deal.
1
Hmmm, all the would-be successors are Southerners. What do we make of that?
2
The Republican game plan has been to weaponize politics.
This will all end with extrajudicial disappearances and finally a military coup.
1
I think nobody in the Republican Party will ever measure up to the cult that is the Party of Trump now. By any measure, any human being who is capable of telling more than 10,000 lies in two years, and suffer no condemnation from his supporters, is most certainly the Leader of a Cult.
I am very sorry America, but someone has got to break the news to the Republicans because they will never see the light.
There is no question that Republicans have to replace Trump, the problem is that Cult Leaders are never replaced. They are self appointed for life; or, till the leader fades away and the cult either dies or not.
Trump is all yours, Republicans. We democrats were happy to dump him. You can keep him for as long as it takes for the Republican party to split into Trump Cultists and everyone else.
2
Till now it is early to ask who will be the Republican Heir to Trump in 2024 if he wins in 2020. The President changes frequently the people of his inner circle.
I wouldn't vote for Haley or Graham. I've experienced them both as a citizen of SC. He flip-flops, she was too busy keeping her job to work on anything substantive. As for Rubio, the little I know about him suggests he is not presidential material, even though he might be better than Trump. Anybody would be better than Trump, maybe even Roy Moore, God-forbid.
Bottom line: Republicans over the past 8-12 years have shown themselves less interested in governing for the benefit of the people than holding office to line their own coffers. That's a bad place to be.
I've said this to loved ones and it bears repeating here. If you think he is bad just wait until you see who follows him. The party already abdicated morals and responsibility to the extremists so don't be surprised at who ever leads party polls for 2024.
4
Republican heir? The best path for the nation is to eradicate the Republican Party (2020) and start over. And I say that not in jest, but in all seriousness.
3
The Republican Party, as an institution, is a danger to the rule of law and the integrity of our democracy.
The problem is not just Donald Trump; it’s the larger Republican political apparatus that made a conscious decision to collaborate with him.
5
I used to consider each candidate on their merits and past performance. Never on what they say during their election. However, I will never, ever for any reason vote for a Republican again. Specifically because of the continued mess in government, lack of morals and massive failure to provide leadership for this country 70 year old, conservative white man that I am.
5
If the nation recovers its senses enough to fire Trump and enough of his Senate sycophants to deliver the WH and both chambers of Congress to Democratic control, it will be encumbant upon the RNC leadership to rethink the mindless misdirection of the party.
When Romney lost to Obama in 2012, the RNC assembled its top Republican leaders of the House and Senate to a distant retreat to consider how they could lose twice to the man they had devoted their energy to making a one-term president; the man they refused to listen to, to negotiate with.
By the time the meeting had ended, everything we heard from them was referred to by most pundits as, "same pizza, new box."
So if Trump loses in 2020, will the Republicans begin to reassess how they got to this position of amorality, of spineless devotion to an autocrat who dissed our allies while kissing up to the the most blood-thirsty dictators in the world? Will they rediscover the Oath of Office they have betraye with such abandon?
However, in the hideous event Trump can bamboozle enough voters to win a second term, 2024 could become the final unraveling of our experiment in democracy as the dreams of The Heritage Foundation and The Federalist Society for one-party rule come true.
In my 74 years, I never imagined the terror of a Trump presidency. Please, America, make this madness stop in 2020!
4
This is assuming there will be anything left of the country after two terms as President and 10 more years as Emperor.
2
Republicans have actually made evaluating them quite easy over the last few years.
Some briefly stood up to the insanity that is Trump but quickly fell in line once they realized that their low information base was solidly behind him.
Others never really came around but remain very quiet in order to avoid disturbing that very angry base.
Finally just a few have had the courage to stand up for their principles and keep calling Trump out as the incompetent traitor that he is. I expect that this small group's days are numbered.
Only that last group should be acceptable to most Americans, which would leave at most a handful of Republicans in Congress. Luckily for the rest of them their base does not appear to be fully rational and they vote with cult like fervor.
In my opinion it all comes back to Faux News which has poisoned the minds of its loyal viewers and destroyed rational discourse in this country. Their 24/7 stream of hate, fear and lies have done their job and the Murdoch's have thrust a knife into the heart of American politics. Too bad we didn't put Australians on our list of unacceptable immigrants prior to the Murdoch's arrival here.
3
Trump has made the Republican Party into a party that condones rampant corruption and contempt for the welfare of the people outside of their narrow constituency. Whenever Trump is replaced, the Republican successor will have to be exactly like Trump or have no Party at all.
How silly.
Pence is entrenched that his nomination will be foregone.
The real intrigue is who he will pick for VP.
It will be a woman.
Haley - too unreliable.
Cheney - good but can be shrill
Joni Ernst - Possible
Ivanka - Possible
Americans may have ditched royalty but they lap it up.
Nepotism permeates politics.
Having a Cheney or Trump on the ticket for VP would not be out of line with historical trends.
1
Pence is pure milquetoast. He has no chance at winning a national election with his 10 charisma, he doesn't even get a bonus. The base voted for a tv star, and not cspan.
Politicians are very prone to positive reinforcement. Trump is the first shark that took a bite of the prey, and to the dismay of some, that blood in the water he let loose -- racism, cruelty, anger at the social changes that are decades old -- lo and behold, it still can start a feeding frenzy.
The next Trump, the next Republican presidential winner, will be Trumpian. He will have to sing Donald's tunes.
The base has spoken. They like this blood, they like these tunes.
So don't kid yourself.
Trump is a one-time phenomenon. He excites crowds. He redirects establishment hatred into devotion. No one else, not Rubio, not Cotton, and certainly not any of his children, possesses his abilities. Once he's gone, who will rally the masses with insults? Who will credibly claim to be the outsider, the only one who can fix things? Who will be able to lie and deflect like Trump? No other Republican is in his league.
3
If Trump wins in 2020 (Heaven forbid), he will not step down for any of these wannabe presidents. Because by then he will be able to declare himself "president for life". He will also start grooming Don Jr. to take over from him -- something his good buddy in Pyongyang will surely advise him to do.
2
I don't think Trump has any intention of stepping down, ever. He's looking for an heir, and it'll be someone in his family. He's using the Senate right now to get what he wants, just like Caesar Augustus used the Roman Senate. Eventually, we'll all forget what it's like to have free and fair elections, the Senate will forget what it means to actually balance the Princeps, and we'll be well into the Trumpian dynasty.
3
It is my belief that the Trump Era will arrive at some form of disastrous end, and those who supported him will be called to account, and that in future they will find that the Trump Taint never goes away.
4
The article gets it wrong by not understanding that, for practical purposes, there currently is no national Republican Party. (Do you see and RNC-sponsored primary debates between Trump and William Weld coming up?) No, it is the Trump party, not a party of principles or even policies. Without Trump it has no definition, let alone a clear cut one. Thus, when Trump goes, there will be no heir, because there can be no heir, though many will fight for that mantle while cynically trying to negotiate their way around the negative baggage that would come with such designation.
8
Liz, the Republican heir to Trump, really? There are no meaningful differences between them, so who cares? The decline that began in 1980 has yet to bottom out, even with Trump.
9
The big question is whether Trump's voters will respond to anyone else the same way they respond to Trump. Will the MAGA hats disappear? Will they attend 3-hour rallies for Marco Rubio? Is there anyone else who could shoot someone in the middle of Fifth Avenue and not lose one vote, or anyone else who would even dream of saying such a thing?
I see a bunch of conventional Republicans jockeying for Trump's mantle; I don't see another Trump.
However, if the symbols and peculiarities of Trump's Presidency outlast him, that will be scary indeed.
6
@Patrick: Since you're from Wisconsin, I'll personally give you a "pass" on an inaccurate observation of Marco Rubio; it's Collins Avenue (in Miami Beach), not Fifth Avenue, where he would hypothetically shoot someone, and still win the election.
There’s always Roy Moore
1
Playing with the divide-and-conquer match in American elections is dangerous business, likely to burn the fingers of short-term would be gainers.
2
I struggle to think of a single Republican who is still visible even thinking of running next year. The only one who still has integrity is the House member Amash who is now the pariah in his party because of his integrity. His fellow GOPers have all lost theirs defending the indefensible. But it will have to be someone who has not been a part of the current administration and the Republican Senate and House.
6
I think they missed the memo. Trump said he's going to be the nominee in 2024, 2028, etc.
7
Unless someone new comes along from the shadows and is promising an entirely different Republican party I don't see any of the Republicans currently holding office getting much traction. Sycophants one and all. Minus Bill Weld.
5
Let us pray to God that there is no heir to Trump. America will not withstand any additional insults to Democracy and the Rule of Law.
14
Since he’s still in office the “rule of law” part is moot.
Like it it not, he’s part of today’s law. That doesn’t reduce the embarrassment he’s caused us and i’m not even talking about Climate Change (the religion) or China ongoing. He’s allowed children at the boarder to be separated from their families. That alone is inexcusable!
@William Perrigo
"Allowed"? Didn't he order it?
Not that I'm a big fan of her's but I'm really kind of surprised that Nikki Haley hasn't entered the race already.
She's an intelligent, poised woman and well versed in national and global issues. Trump doesn't know how to deal with such a woman. Just look at how many times Nancy Pelosi has put him in the corner. He'd be toast by super Tuesday.
2
I'm calling it now: Ivanka is gonna run in 2024.
Our worst nightmare compounded over itself: a Trump as America's first female president. I REALLY want to be wrong, but this is my prediction. The storm clouds are already brewing, can't you see?
2
Can’t Trump run again in 2024 if he loses in 2020?
@Mercury S
Sadly for the country, the answer is yes.
What sickens me about those that are mentioned in this article and their ilk is that each & every one has stood by and supported the egregious abuse that Trump has heaped upon every decent thing in the country. They have embraced the baseness of his actions without regard for the inhumanity that results from these actions. I am horrified by Trump's crudeness, lack of empathy and propriety, and ignorance. There is nothing nuanced or insightful about his style. And yet, these politicians stand up for the most indecent person ever to set foot in the White House. These sycophants will have Trump wrapped around their necks as they try to gain power. Their lack of insight into what happens when Trump is no longer a benefit is pure folly. Political expedience will, one can only hope, will be their undoing.
12
This analysis is rather astute. I agree about Rubio having a goal (the Presidency) and working to get there. I don't see a big future for Graham because he does not have the courage of his convictions: he sticks his finger in the wind and goes in that direction.
I think we'll see the re-appearance of Paul Ryan and Jeff Flake when Trump has left the stage.
1
Hasn't anyone noticed that a Republican has already declared to run in 2020. His name is Bill Weld, the former Governor of Massachusetts. He is a Moderate Republican. Maybe that is why no media outlet has given him any notice, except for the Boston Globe.
I guess he is too sane to mention And what we need right now is sanity, stability and backbone. Start covering an already declared Republican Candidate who has the guts to buck the GOP.
578
@Jean The national GOP abandoned sanity, decency, integrity, etc., long ago. Republicans would never vote for Weld. In fact, it was Republicans who shred Weld after Pres. Clinton nominated him to be Mexican ambassador. Why? 1) Too moderate (read: too sane); 2) as a prosecutor in the DOJ, Weld had the gall to recommend prosecution for Ed Meese, then US Deputate Attorney General, for financial corruption..shades of what was to come with William Barr and Donald Trump (not to mention Alberto Gonzales. Republicans appoint corrupt DAs who refuse to hold Republicans accountable for crimes they commit). And of course, the GOP base went right along with what their leaders told them to think and say, namely rejected Weld, supported republicans committing crimes, and screaming "RINO!". When you think about it, not much has actually changed in the GOP for forty years.
80
@Jean In fairness to the NYTimes, the article was about Trump's political successor, which Weld, as you point at, is clearly not. I think Weld's candidacy is getting all the attention it deserves.
9
@Jean
Compared to Trump, Atilla the Hun was reasonable and sane.
Bill Weld is still a corporatist Republican who seems to believe that money is meant for rich people, and that the American people are there to be exploited by the rich.
That said, anyone but Trump would be an improvement.
23
When Marco Rubio was serving in the Florida House of Representatives, he was unable to handle even his own personal finances without being bailed out more than once by billionaire auto dealer Norman Braman, who also put Rubio’s wife on the payroll. He was also caught using his state GOP issued credit card for personal expenses from 2005 to 2008. Do we really want another grifter with the intellectual heft of a fruit fly sitting in the Oval Office!?
14
After Trump, I don't see the GOP—as unprincipled and ruthless as it is—winning the White House for another two decades.
2
Of the five named, Rubio and Graham are shameless opportunists and Cruz and Cotton are dangerously extreme Christian Dominionists. In my humble opinion it is no coincidence that the only one with any sense of balance whatsoever is the woman, Nikki Haley, who is the only one that I would pay even the slightest attention to.
5
@Chuck Burton
here's "Nikki Haley on the Issues"
http://www.ontheissues.org/Nikki_Haley.htm
She checks off all the boxes of a typical "Christian" anti choice corporatist Republican.
Liz Cheney, mainstream and mean as her father.
The Republican party's subservient groveling to Trump has proved time and again that it contains no one who could possibly restore the country to its once revered position in the world. So expect more of the same from it for a long time to come -- or until mindless dogma leaves the political stage and its willingness to protect a horde of rampant liars dies the death it needs.
6
This candidate would work: Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii
She's a fake Democrat from a cultish family. The GOP will go for her looks; everyone else can look up her actual history. She's a joke for President.
3
Don't need an "heir." Need a whole new bloodline!
6
Any Republican that laid down like a rug for Trump to walk on shouldn't get anywhere near public office in the future.
6
@Cyclopsina
I suggest that they all go to re-education camps
after they're voted out office OR they won't be allowed back into society as a private American citizen.
Professional politicians are opportunistic and amoral.
1
@Judith MacLaury And so are real estate developers turned politician.
David Duke comes to mind.
5
If any Republican running for President in the future think an endorsement from this parasite in the WhiteHouse will benefit them think again. As soon as he’s out of Office he’ll be indicted for the crimes he’s committed as President and before. The lawsuits brought against him by some women claiming he had raped them will not go away. Instead of a Presidential Library for a former president he’ll instead be facing Federal Prison and a Democratic President will not Pardon him. Our next President will be trying to clean up the mess he’s leaving them and find out how much intel he’s shared with other countries like Russia
3
It's hard to agree with the statement that Rubio has influence on Latin American policy when Trump recently
cut off aid to central American countries. This would seem to harm Rubio's base. One fact that is obvious in Cruz, Rubio and Graham flip flopping on support of Trump is that they all have no scruples and would throw their mom off the train to get ahead politically.
5
To quote Seneca: "Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful".
Through all the filthy mess of Trumpism, remember that it was religion as one of the major causes.
2000 years of christianity gave us Donald Trump.
Something is seriously wrong here.
The theocrats are very capable of creating hell-on-earth.
7
I am among the silent non-religous minority (majority?) and all I can think of as a response to the article headline is "god help us!"
If there is another one like him primed for "leadership", I think we are done for.
5
The Republican heir to Trump will be one of the stars from Fox News. They are well-known, charismatic, and most importantly, good on televison. Their military experience and devotion to public service are on a par with Trump. And Rupert Murdoch will be able to say "The president used to work for me."
5
The next non-Trump Republican nominee will have to answer for their support of this appalling man. Whether that is in 2020 or 2024, the country will be both younger and browner, and trying to thread the needle of explaining away your support of Trump while seeking enough votes to win will prove impossible.
I've thought for a long time now that as soon as Trump is gone, the country will exhale and wonder how in the world we let that awfulness happen. We must vow to never let it happen again.
6
Pence?
1
Dear god, NO.
5
@troglomorphic
Yes, Valerie, I agree. I know it's a nightmare, but why isn't anyone discussing this particular nightmare. I did not see it mentioned in the article. It would seem the most probable outcome that could just sneak up on us if we are unprepared to counter it.
2
Pence has said many times God chose Trump. Since Pence and God have such a close working relationship, it's certain God will give Pence his heartfelt endorsement in 2024. He's already whispered the good news in Pence's ear.....from God's lips to Pence's ear.
2
It is nice to know that there are vultures waiting in the wings to get Trump's blessing to be his successor. Those mentioned here, and others, have pledged their undying loyalty to Trump. And, each of them are stepping over each other to keep in Trump's favor and the be blessed by him. Most of Triump's base see Trump as anointed by God or a God send. IN some cases he is seen as a God.
The only thing standing in the way of the GOP that the Trump golden idol comes collapsing down like it did with Nixon. In three weeks Mr. Mueller may be pulling down the Trump idol, like Iraqis toppled Saddam Hussein's statue.
Also, If Trump falls, the GOP may suffer the same rebuke from voters, like they did after Nixon's fall from grace. It probably be worse, because once the golden idol drops, those blinded by Trump's aura may actually figure out how much they were duped by Trump and the GOP; from "Contract With America" in 1995 through "Compassionate Conservatism", "Make America Great Again" and now "Keep America Great". Each one of these GOP "movements" have made it worse fro 99% of Americans and great fro the 1%.
Let's hope Mr. Mueller brings down the GOP golden calf; the graven image that is Trump. Else, their next movement may be Make America White Again.
4
KAG?
Dennis Hastert!
2
Republicans haven't been heartfelt about anything for a long time. They have no use for hearts, it's just an inconvenience against "winning" their jobs (or stealing, more appropriately). There is not a single Republican in congress who goes against Trump at this point. They're all his heirs, because they have chosen to be long ago.
4
The "heir apparent" of Trump? Does that mean another grifter? Another liar? Someone who puts his/her own interests above the country's and bends policies and laws to further those interests? Whatever Trump's "policies" may be, they won't be remembered as much as what he did to our democratic institutions, our discourse, and our respect for the truth and the rule of law.
If the Republican Party were not the existential threat to humanity that it is, no one would want the mantle of Trump's heir apparent. But alas, power is too tempting.
5
What these Republican politicians has proven is that they are a spineless lot, each and every one of them. None is worthy of sitting in the Oval Office, but then, neither is Trump.
3
I really think that we should be ready for the first woman president in 2024. And that person, I predict, would be none other than Ms. Ivanka Trump. After all the trouble that #45 is going through to build an empire t would be a pity if the next president is not from his family. And, of course, the subservient, spineless GOP would only be glad to help.
2
@semmfan
My sister described Rubio as having the intellectual heft of a fruit fly. I think I’d give Ivanka that of an amoeba - or maybe a paramecium. In either case a worthy successor to her daddy.
1
Any Republican who has endorsed Trumpism, particularly those who have "converted" are tainted. They've demonstrated that they have no moral compass, no honesty and no integrity. May the Republican Party implode.
3
Ms. Haley is going to have trouble with evangelicals, because evangelicals consider it degrading to take orders from a woman. That's the root of their hostility to Hillary Clinton. I even read that one evangelical leader was urging VP Pence to hire less women for the Civil Service.
By design, there is no on. Would-be authoritarians imagine tee possibility of anyone but themselves being the “maximum leader”.
In 2000, we had George W. Bush and Dick Cheney. Thought it couldn't get any worse, but I was wrong. In 2016, we had Donald Trump and Mike Pence.
If this trend continues, in 2024 I expect Sarah Palin and Ted Nugent.
2
Rubio is called Little Marco but what is small is not the issue. He has awfully big ears!
“But there is almost certainly at least a decent scoop of straight-up political realism mixed in with perhaps a dollop or large scoop of genuine warmth.”
This is nuts. Soulless operators like Cruz, Rubio and Graham certainly despise Trump deep in their narcissistic and cold little hearts. With the thought: “I should be president, not this psycho.” It’s ALL “realism” — ie. absolute ambition.
1
The greatest fear - if “trump” leaves, which is doubtful - is that now every republican has been taught by "trump" how to convert the presidency into a criminal syndicate with 100% immunity.
The presidency post-“trump” will forever ALWAYS be a dangerous thing, unless it is chopped down to size, with curtailment of many powers and lines of reporting up to the president.
3
hmm… in the brief bio at the end of this piece it’s plain that Liz Mair has been a strategist for some very despicable politicians. I applaud The NY Times for getting us a glimpse into her thinking.
1
Here's a thought: Trump dumps Pence as running mate for 2020 and picks Graham or Haley.
3
@himillermd
Or Ivanka!
Who could be Trump's heir? That's easy: Joffrey Lannister, First of His Name.
"Is their support of Mr. Trump heartfelt or merely strategic?"
Does it matter? The entire gaggle of them, the entirety of the GOP accessories before the fact; duplicitous sycophants whose fidelities are clearly to themselves, and clearly not the country.
2
Need you ask? Trump intends to become king so his children are all that matters. Time to dump the "GOP" it is not a political party anymore.
1
Hope the GOP exists in 2024.
Probably, and regrettably, Mike Pompeo. West Point grad, Military type, past elective experience, executive branch experience, and Koch Bros. approval and financial support.
Any Republican currently serving in Congress, and most Republican governors, have failed to speak up or fulfill their responsibilities. They are at least aiders and abettors, and possibly worse.
None are qualified to serve as President.
2
A political heir is a politician who inherits the philosophy, tactics, and supporters of his or her predecessor.
Philosophy is ruled out, because Trump has repeatedly demonstrated that he has none.
Tactics are ruled out because Trump has a highly obnoxious approach to campaigning and governing that centers on his own psychological needs for affirmation and domination and abuse.
Finally, supporters are ruled out because the have shown themselves to be slavishly devoted to Trump and perfectly willing to accept and justify all of his statements, regardless of consistency, accuracy, and decency.
In short, the 90 percent of the Republican Party that is devoted to Trump is a cult of personality, and at best can only support another Trump.
I don’t see how multiple Trumps can compete for the same perch. If Trump is to have an heir, it will be someone he names personally, and since it appears that he is slowly drifting to earth and breaking up like the Hindenburg, it seems unlikely that any there will be much appetite for either a direct descendant or a knock-off of the original.
3
90% of Republicans luckily the GOP is 30% of the population. I can't see Trump winning independents this time. This time he is a known and extremely damaged quantity. I honestly think America tires of Trump's erratic style of government by chaos. Never forget even out strong economy cannot elevate Trump's numbers, to me that tells us everything.
I think Trump is terrified he will lose and be open to legal and political scrutiny but he does into seem to be doing anything to advance his cause among the other 70% of Americans. If we have record turnout like 2018 Trump is toast and the GOP will probably be the minority party. As Martha Stewart says "A Good Thing".
7
The Time's analysis of the Bundy decision's opinions is terrifying. It's the harbinger of a libertarian's idea of utopia. A place where the Government, as we know it, ceases to exist. The FDA, the EPA, FAA or any other regulatory body will effectively cease to exist without explicit legislation that would replace most rule making. That's the final part of the experiment of the "invisible hand" making sure that corporations are honest, that food is safe, that drugs do what they're supposed to safely, or that our commercial aircraft are properly inspected and certified. To them, today, removing those constraints is what will make America great. If that is the core of the new Republicans it is a true existential threat.
5
You assume there will be an election. Bannon warned us that the 2020 election might be postponed or cancelled. Bannon isn't by trump's side but he's still influential. I look for some great emergency before the next election that they can use to do just that. If things look dismal for them, expect some type of action.
Nikki Haley will be America’s first female president.
She’s eminently qualified, having both governed a state (executive experience), and worked at the highest levels of global affairs.
She’s tough and smart and likeable.
Get ready.
5
Any Republican who has stood by silently in the face of Trump’s lies, disdain for the law, and disrespect for the other branches of government is equally guilty. In my opinion it will take another generation to rid the country of this aberration.
In the meantime let’s work hard to restore the rule of law, preserve our environment and slow down climate change. Let’s treat human beings seeking a better life with the dignity they deserve while we rework humane immigration policies. And let’s make the 99% our priority so that our country works for all of us.
270
@Barbara
I assume that in your first paragraph you’re describing “little marco “. ?
3
@M.J.Herrera
I’m referring to all Republicans, in national office and out, who do not protest Trump’s actions, lies, and attacks. I am a lifelong Democrat but in my youth I admired Eisenhower and Nelson Rockefeller. Upstanding Republicans are long gone. Today’s Republicans are Trump’s bootlickers.
23
Nikki Haley is their next candidate, she's just laying low. She's well liked, very conservative, and a woman of color. Democrats better be ready for that.
83
@Tom J
Republicans don’t trust women. Bank on that!
36
@Tom J Maybe in 2028 I honestly think Trump has tarnished the GOP everywhere but in the deep south. Close Democratic wins or gains in the largest Southern States show the GOP grips in in core regions is slipping. Smaller prairie and rural southern states does not win you elections. You need Florida, Texas and Georgia. I suspect extreme conservatism will be in retreat and disgraced. It will be interesting to see which Republicans survive the Trump carnage.
23
@Tom J
She is just not their type.
38
Rubio is "winning" on policy vis-a-vis Cuba, Nicaragua and Veneula? When that policy is essentially nothing more than rolling the clock back to 1959 or 1979 or 1999, or whenever the heck it was when Batista or Somoza or your generic America-appointed dictator-of-choice/United Fruit Company proxy was still running the show.
Rubio might well get his way here, but it's hardly "winning" -- at least not in the long term. For anybody. Including the Marines who will get killed making sure that the next American-appointed dictator-of-choice doesn't end up like Batista or Somoza or ...
4
Rubio has to realize that most Latinos do not like Cubans. They see Cubans as immigrants who have been given the silver spoon for unfettered access into the U.S. Winning the White House will require him to overcome some of these issues with the Latino voters.
6
What’s their platform going to be? I can murder more immigrants and their kids than Trump did? I can improve on his record for lying? I can be more deceitful? Women have it too good under Trump? He didn’t get tough enough with Gay and transgender citizens? Minorities did too well with Trump as president? The rich didn’t get a large enough percentage of income and wealth? Everyone else got too much? Why is the minimum wage this high? Farmers didn’t suffer enough? We can assault more women than Trump? America wasn’t tough enough on our Allies? Latin America wasn’t ignored sufficiently? Canada wasn’t alienated as much as it deserves?
Publishers are likely jockeying for the right to publish the next Republican Platform. After Trump it will undoubtedly be an international bestseller.
7
In what other profession is it a necessity for one to look the other way when it comes to ethics or moral vision, to grovel at the feet of a person one despises, to swallow insults that person has launched your way repeatedly, and who has personally insulted members of your family?
Marco Rubio will apparently do anything to win. Add Ted Cruz to the list, Lindsey Graham, etc., etc. Even Kellyanne Conway.
The list is rather long. Men and women who openly and vocally despised Donald Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign, but now? He's a Republican king maker in their collective eyes.
It turns my stomach.
7
@Len I'm not surprised. Republicans don't have low standards. They have no standards.
3
I thought it was common knowledge that Ivanka would take over after Donald's third term?
2
Not her style. Don Jr.
In 2024 Haley wins with 350 electoral votes and is our first female president. She will be outstanding.
4
Thanks for making me lol
3
Who Is the Republican Heir to Trump?
Putin hasn't made up his mind yet.
6
"Who Is the Republican Heir to Trump?"
Gee, Ms. Mair. I dunno. How does Satan strike you? He's VERY experienced, has a long-term committment to seduction and betrayal and he's also the Prince of Lies. The King of Lies, of course, is none other than Trump. I know it will be kind of a come-down for you and other Republicans to swallow, but Satan just might be your best choice. Why not team him up with Sarah Sanders? Sound like a win-win combo for you?
6
@Jimbo
Oh my gosh I can't stop laughing!
If the Trump base has become the GOP's base, it seems at least as likely, if not more so, that the candidate that would have the advantage as the GOP successor to Trump, especially if he is re-elected, is the one who has been closest to and most loyal to him---Mike Pence
1
Trump's secret sauce contains a combination of cruelty, crude delivery, and lies that aim to please, and a big part of his base love his style. Can Republicans go back to a traditional politician like Rubio? To my mind, only Mitch McConnell can match Trump's level of nastiness.
7
Governor Charlie Baker (R) of Massachusetts is someone who could bring credibility and sanity back to the Republican party. He is an effective and well respected Republican leader in a blue state.
1
And who’s to say that if Trump loses in 2020 that he won’t run again in 2024? I can’t imagine that he would accept the loss-would probably blame voter fraud, etc and to prove it he would have to run again. So all of those who are kissing up to him now better be careful..they could be up against him again...
1
The GOP is gone. What are the values of the GOP under Trump? Not free trade. Not fiscal responsibility. Not reliable foreign policy. The GOP is nothing more than a brand. And KAG might well mean: Keep America Gagging.
7
I think the real contest is between Donald Jr. and Ivanka.
2
In my mind, it doesn't matter that the Republicans give Trump a 90% approval rating. Nationally, they are the minority party; there are almost as many independents as there are Republicans, and Democrats far outstrip both. Please, Democrats, show up to vote!!!
4
What a strange topic. It is like asking in 2016 who will take over from Hillary. Meanwhile, all of the commentary in the media about the Democrat Presidential candidates reminds me of the lead up to the Kentucky Derby.
Liz - You completely miss the obvious in your column. Your conventional thinking overlooks what the Republican Party has transformed into - a family business with a willing and pliant consumer base. That means the Republican Party will be looking to Don Jr., Ivanka, Eric, Jared, or some other non-politician as the next president. Sound ridiculous? Look who they elected and revere now. The base is done with establishment politicians.
137
@GeorgeAmerica
It's possible. Consider the Bushes and Kennedys.
6
@Charlesbalpha Donald thinks he and his spawn are the new Kennedys, so it could be a fight between Junior and Ivanka. Ivanka allegedly gets irritate with talk of Junior as the heir apparent.
13
@GeorgeAmerica DJ first needs to work on his squeaky voice. And his magic marker beard.
6
Trump Jr.
Don Jr. He's a know-nothing blowhard who never earned an honest dollar in his life and can't tell the truth. He's perfect!
7
THE GOPpers Who support Trump unquestioningly have relegated themselves to the political equivalent of rearranging the chairs on the deck of the Titanic. After it hit the iceberg. The logic of unquestioning support for the most ignorant, unstable, destructive president in US history eludes me. There's a saying, You can mud wrestle a pig and win, but you'll get up looking awful and smelling worse. Hey, who am I do judge the proclivities of politicians who are attracted by the notion of mud wrestling a porcine? OINK!
Please Liz!
Not now.
Virtually, every one in the Republican party shares his shamelessness, dishonesty and cowardice. Most, if not all. So take your pick. All they have to do now is to learn to be brash and that'll get the right-wing hormones all ablaze.
3
We should probably ask who is Vlad Putin’s pick for heir apparent.
9
Rubio, Cruz, Haley, Graham, Cotton, et al.: Profiles in Cowardice. Absolutely no integrity whatsoever. They are fools and quislings.
They humiliate themselves to support the Liar-and-Cheater-in-Chief, a "president" so ignorant, incompetent, deranged, and corrupt that his administration threatens our democracy.
And all this after he has insulted most of them and disrespected so many others, like Sen. McCain. Remember how Rubio's father helped assassinate JFK? Remember "Lyin' Ted"? Yet, here they are, on board and enabling this buffoonish administration.
They should hope to be mercifully forgotten, not to accede to higher office!
2
What about smarmy Matt Gaetz? He sure seems to want to get his mug in front of the cameras at every available opportunity?
3
Trump’s heir apparent? Jerry Falwell, Jr.
He runs the Christian Liberty University in Virginia, yet is not a pastor or a man of God in any way. He only got where he is because of his daddy (who founded Liberty) and his daddy’s money and influence. He invests in real estate but is not good at it. He also has some weird stuff in his personal history that he is trying to hide, including by getting Michael Cohen to deal with it (see recent NYT story). He’s a closeted racist, given his comments about Charlottesville, which were even worse than Trump’s. And he loves power so he plays Trump’s sychophant game well, calling Donnie a “visionary” and comparing him to Winston Churchill.
Jerry’s your man.
3
You forgot the nastiest one of all, a chip off the old block without the draft dodging. Liz Cheney.
3
Only two main choices come to my mind.......Sean Hannity and Ted Nugent.
3
I think Satan is the likely successor. We are already so very close.
4
It’s going to be whomever Faux news or possibly the A.I. that will host Rupert Murdoch’s immortal consciousness tells them it’s going to be. Probably Uday... I mean Don jr.
1
Nikki Haley is the face of the GOP in the 2020's. She's bright, tough, amazingly pro-Israel and empathetic. She is a leader who happens to be a woman. No intersectional woke liberal claptrap. Just a good and honest person. She will be a political force and likely our nation's first female president.
2
Doesn't matter who claims the Trump mantle. I won't be voting for anyone with an "R" after their name for any office at any level of government. Republicans have sold their souls for money and power, and Mitch McConnell is actually a better example of their complete moral bankruptcy than Trump is. Mitch's corruption has been on display since at least 2008, when he vowed to undermine and oppose Obama at every opportunity, governance be damned. And which Republicans denounced Trump's birther slander--anyone? Who's out there beating the drum for hygiene kits and school lunches for the asylum kids we've ripped away from their families? I hope I live to see them disappear.
4
Seriously, because there is just nowhere else to go . . .
Caligula.
Next question.
2
@Sallust: you (and Robert Graves) do Caligula an injustice. Reading Suetonius between the lines, and taking into account his undeniable contempt for the Julio-Claudian dynasty, it's clear that Caligula started reasonably well but then deteriorated after either a serious illness (meningitis?) or head injury. In either case, he clearly suffered from a serious mental health condition. What's Trump's excuse ... other than blind ambition?
Jefferson Davis died in 1889.
2
Any Republican considering a run for the presidency post-Trump has to reconcile him/herself with having to share the stage, figuratively and literally, with the ex-president throughout the campaign season and an ensuing presidency, if elected. Trump will never give up the limelight, taking credit for everything, or bragging. And a future Republican president will be seen as taking his/her marching orders from Trump and/or his offspring.
It seems like a better time to be a Democrat if you have presidential aspirations. Republicans are going to have a tough time washing this man right out of their hair.
1
If Trump loses in 2020, he’ll run again in 2024. He’s enjoying (and feels entitled to) his power way too much to support anybody else, whether it’s a kow-towing Republican politician or one of his own kids.
2
What? No mention of Don, Jr. or Ivanka (or Javanka)? If Trump remains the empty head and black heart of the Republican Party, and it seems that nothing is now capable of knocking him from that perch, he will pick his heir, assuming that he cannot find a way to remain dictator for life. The slavish sucking up of the Senators mentioned in this piece will never bring them into his trusted inner circle. Their only hope is for a Trump implosion. If that happens, I doubt the country will forget the sorry role they played in the Trump era.
Funny how nobody has mentioned Donald Jr. There's nothing like name recognition when dumb people vote.
11
Without a different Republicon running in 2020, we'll likely see the complete demise of the GOP and maybe American democracy. The odds favor the so-called president imposing martial law, suspending the elections or postponing them.
It would be to the GOP's advantage to run someone else - but there's no one with a spine available....just ask the kids in Clint, Texas.....
2
I’m wondering if anyone GOP forward can actually lie as shamelessly and prolifically as DT with no facial tick or instant blowback. It takes a skill set to do this. You have to to have even bigger lies to put out next to distract from the first lie, and on and on. Most people just can’t come up with lies, and the right lies, in as rapid fire as DT. Nobody else can naturally be so both untruthful and petty at the same time, it takes bereft parenting and a long lifetime of grift.
1
Yes, Please. Let's call them Kag Hats. It is a perfectly sounding name. As in Kag People.
1
Who is the Trump Party heir?
That’s easy!
Don Jr — of course — in 2024, with either Hannity (aka Client 3) or Kid Rock as VP. (Don’t worry about next year; Mitch, Marsha, and Putin have got that locked up.)
You’re welcome.
2
Hmm... why leave Duncan Hunter or Jerry Falwell off the table? They represent Republican values perfectly -- crass grifters, cheats, and con-artists.
2
There is no heir. After Trump comes the End of Days.....
4
An amalgam of Ms. Mair's clients could only result in a cyber, comic book villain...
2
I suspect and hope, that Donald Trump and the GOP will get trounced in 2020. If that is the case, the GOP will likely face major soul searching about what their party represents. Will it abandon its not-so-subtle racist appeal to its minority base? Will it continue to promote anti-environmental stances which deny the science of global warming? Will it continue to deceive its supporters by convincing them that a regressive tax structure which penalizes the middle class is good for them? Will it still claim that government health care programs are evil , when in fact its base is highly dependent upon Medicaid ,Medicare and Obamacare? GOP successors to Trump might best try to start over again and purge their ranks of all Trumpian elements if they expect the GOP to survive as a main stream party.
3
The short answer is that there is no heir to Trump, Republican or otherwise.
He is the result of a unique set of circumstances, including aging Republicans realizing that this is their last, best hope to stack the courts with conservative judges that will use their lifetime appointments to be the activists they always bemoan.
2
Ms. Mair: It's very sad that you, as a Republican, would want anyone to be an "heir" of Trump.
Trump has taken all of the momentum to destroy the rule of law and destroy civility in American society that has driven your party since Gingrich, and unleashed it.
He succeeded beyond anyone's expectations. He has indeed destroyed the soul of our country.
Is that what you want your party to continue to be? If so, shame on you for putting partisan power ahead of the good of our country as a whole.
Any one of these people that you mention, anyone willing to sell out their values and their dignity just to suck up to Trump, is just a slimeball. Anyone willing to do that is just as bad as Trump.
If you really cared about the health of your party (and of our country), you would hope that the next generation of Republicans would disavow everything that Trump has stood for and has done.
Or better yet: Go ahead and root for someone to continue Trump's legacy; that'll only serve to destroy your party from within (perhaps, we could hope, forever)!
6
How can there be an"heir" in a gutless party that has become a sycophantic echo chamber for a clearly unfit president? The GOP is now personified by the likes of Lindsey Graham, a once principled wingman to John McCain, who has become the worst of Trump's most craven toadies.
7
The kowtowing that Lil’ Marky Rubio has done the past year has literally turned stomachs. Difficult to imagine a scenario where someone so blatantly obsequious could possibly become president.
2
Ms Mair clearly shills for the party while ignoring what is clearly obvious to anyone watching Trump’s moves. Right from the get go, he has planted his daughter Ivanka in prominence - sitting her next to him at meetings with world leaders despite zero credentials, accompanying him on banquets with the Queen of England and tour of Westminster Abbey despite her absolute uselessness, sending her to open the new US embassy in Jerusalem with absolutely no credentials in international diplomacy, giving her speaking time at his rallies, and even getting Kelly Anne to promote her company on national TV. All deigned to raise the image and profile of the know nothing, totally unqualified princess who he has plans to install as queen and heir apparent. Then he will become her chief advisor and stay in the White House. Its no coincidence he was so captivated by the Royals and that Ivanka has been trying to make nice with the two Princes. US commentators make fun of all this but this wannabe dictator and Putin admirer is deadly serious.
1
Technologically (using deep fake videos, holograms, etc.), Republicans could create a cyber 'villain/leader'...doubtful their voters would recognize the difference...entertaining & marketing options galore...
So, does anyone recall our Presidential daughter back in china about the time this drama Queen was beginning to fire any staff member suspected of competence? As I recall the interest of Jarad and Ivanka were to obtain various rights of her products in China but all selling citizenship for a lofty price. So if this is so, and live in the USA can be purchased, These homeless refuges children should be able to sue the president for his neglect in the separation of the family unit. This has the lofty potential of placing Donald in a situation that he fears even more than all his other fears. After all it's so poetic in justice, for the person who cheated his way into the presidency with Putin and Fear. Gosh,making this goon really fearfull. I willy accept assistance in this endeavor,
1
If Britain is any guide then we have been watching the heir to Trumpism on Fox news for a few years, be it Hannity or Carlson or another personality only time will tell.
1
I'm pretty sure this is the order that Trump prefers:
1. Ivanka
2. Jared
3. Mike Pence
4. Donald Jr.
5. Tiffany
6. Eric
7. Sean Hannity
5
Given the GOP base's recent track record of frothing support of anyone with a pulse who validates their own fears and prejudices and says what they want to hear regardless of how reckless or stupid or offensive, and GOP establishment's lickspittle win-at-all-costs, "as long as it keeps us in power, it's okay" attitude about the character and behavior of some of the people they run for public office, don't be surprised if odious cretins like Richard Spencer, Joe Arapaio or Rep. Steve King were in the running in the future. Ms. Mair's apparent obtuseness about the GOP's dereliction of responsibility with regard to some of the candidates they support is part of the problem.
1
At least the Republicans used to denounce David Duke.
Will they today?
Do not forget Sen. Rick Scott, former governor of Florida.
1
So-called "Republicans" want a cult leader, not a party leader having core principles, values, and traditional American norms. In fact, these folks are not true Americans, pure and simple.
Given that Rubio, Cotton, Haley, et al are little more than shameless opportunists, our present system of national governance needs a functioning i.e., fact-trusting, truth-telling, rule-following opposition party to the Democrats.
That is a daunting reach for now; almost 90% of Republicans side with an incoherent, incompetent, violent, maladjusted, delusional racist. How will that component reconcile with leaders less racist, incoherent, etc.?
Is there a credible coservative leader out there who could credibly distinguish him/herself from the white supremacist, isolationist, nationalist, authoritarians? Not in this bunch.
1
Let’s be clear and call it what is is: Republican Trumpism. As for heirs, you have Senator Cotton, Sec. Pompeo , Kris Kobach, Rep.Jim Jordan among others....
You see, the problem with Republicans is that "90% approval rating" that they give Trump.
Every R mentioned in this article is dead silent on T.
Not one word of complaint, discussion, argument.
They stand silently and give him the adoring Pence-smile.
KAG? Naw, it makes me GAG.
Not one of these Christians will even speak up in defense of children being held in dog cages and sleeping on the floor, never getting a bath and there are no diapers.
Why are there no diapers?
Did Trump swipe them?
Is he selling them to other countries?
Republicans have HUGE problems.
They are showing exactly who and what they are.
For decades we have pointed out that they are simply anti-abortion - that as soon as the child is born it is treated like worm-spit.
Well, here it is, folks: Exactly who they are.
American children can starve, right beside the legal asylum seekers.
Vote Republican?
Never.
I hope you heard that. If not I'll turn up the volume.
NEVER!
10
2024? Are you joking? If Trump wins 2020, he'll have the senate rubber-stamp an amendment to extend his term to "lifetime", citing some artfully constructed "national emergency". Then he will give himself sole powers of succession and appoint Ivanka or Jared sometime around 2034 or so. If he wins another term, 2024 will be the least of our problems.
2
Who is the Republican Heir to Trump? If Trump could have it his way, it would be another Trump (sorry Jared ... close but no cigar - you married a Trump but you didn't take her name - mistake - huge mistake).
For Trump, the White House isn't necessarily as glorious as one of Trumps luxury properties, but it the address is unique. As any real estate expert will tell you, it's all about location, location, location.
So my prediction is that should Trump win in 2020, he will seek a third and fourth term. If he were to suffer a health issue, he would begin the process of putting Ivanka in charge of the presidential brand.
Should he lose in 2020, first he will use his lame-duck time to do everything in his power to overturn the election results. Should he fail in that effort, he will begin to promote Ivanka as a return to Trump in 2024.
Fact is, anyone not named Trump has no chance of being heir to Trump.
2
I'm hoping both John Kasich and Larry Hogan step up to primary Trump, but on the other hand why would they bother? Guess it would be a total waste of their time and money. Weld, Huntsman, Kasich and Hogan seem to be among the few common sense Republicans out there. Murkowski maybe.
1
They are all feckless and place party over country, even when the head of their party is corrupt and a traitor. There will be no heir. Trump will either kill the Republican party politically, or he will cement his hold on power and never leave office. I never thought I'd think this, but I also never thought I'd witness the behavior exhibited by Republicans - ALL of them - in responding to this president over the last two years.
1
Although all of names floated in this article have certain Trumpian qualities - a lack of ethics, morals, scruples, and a fraught relationship with "truth and veracity," NONE of them has a TV show, none of them has that "P.T. Barnum - Side Show Bob" persona, and even the worst of them are not as gleefully stupid, greedy, and narcissistic as Trump. Do you want to know where the next true heir to Trump will come from? Then do not look at conventional politicians, look at Fox News.
1
None of these people have any scruples. It's absurd that after the things this guy has done, the things this guy has said (sometimes about their loved-ones!), that any of them could smile alongside him.
Despicable, opportunistic, hypocritical and cynical.
1
The media is forever putting out this breathless statistic that 90% of republicans support Donald Trump. The statement is technically accurate but what they don't tell you is that republicans now only make up 28% of the voting electorate in the country. The far more relevant statistic is who will the 40 plus percent of independents support. The media need to ween themselves from this knee-jerk puffing up of Trump's republican support. At some point, the softness in the republican base is bound to reflect itself in elections.
Interesting, but more than likely, when Trump is done, everything he will have touched will die. Every politician he embraced or embraced him will die, such will be the toxicity given off by the man.
Trump is a transactional creature. There is nothing more to him that what he can get out of you to advance himself. And when he has gotten all that he can get, then he discards you. If you have nothing to give to him, then he does not even see you.
When such a creature leaves the political stage, there is nothing left. The "Trump base" will evaporate with him. Oh, the people who think with the KAG mindset or the MAGA mindset will always be there, but the catalyst that turned that thinking into a "base" of political support was Trump. Without that focal point, there is no base to inherit.
2
Never GOP. Most have shown their true colors. And their policies are abhorrent. I cannot fathom how any thinking person could support them today.
2
N. Haley may be the most viable choice for the future repub nomination. She is perhaps the only person in the Trump administration who escaped unscathed. She walked a fine line at the U.N. and was smart enough to know when to get out. She has experience as a governor and if not distinguished had no scandals. Could the Republicans ever support a non-white woman candidate? 2024 is a long time from now. Who knows?
If Trump loses in 2020 (and avoids indictment after he leaves office) he will run again in 2024.
If we want to make sure that Trump and his ilk never govern our country, we must fix our electoral college. it is the tyranny of the minority that is causing the slow death of our democracy. Donald Trump is a product of this fatal flaw in our democracy and if we don't fix it, it will continue to spawn people like Trump and George W Bush. Rubio, Haley and others know that.
Every one of these people sounds awful. Why don’t Republicans want nice things, like balanced budgets, freedom of expression, clean air, world peace?
1
The day will come that Trump leaves the WH. He will leave kicking, screaming and will, until his last breath, continue to cause problems.
He has loosed upon America a different way to win in politics. Ramp up the fear, anger, racism and suspicion and appeal to the dark side of our natures.
Not one person who opposed Trump when running for candidate dares to question or thwart him because he will, with one breath talk of how great a person is, and the next cut them to ribbons with false accusations and innuendos and nasty nicknames. Andhis voters and supporters will cheer.
This country has been changed by Trump irrevocably and will never be free of the taint which he has smeared the country with.
There is no saving of the Republican party and its members until and unless the party totally collapses and reborn. This level of contempt of morals and disregard of ethics will be hard to cleanse unless they are totally discharged and the party started from the ground up once more, with their morals and ethics intact.
“Mr. Rubio is far more of a political chameleon“
Not quite. Chameleons have backbones.
5
Any relative.The man restored monarchy.
1
Ms. Mair's great article and the 134 Comments, so far, seem to miss the obvious ... a Trump Dynasty.
Expect DJ Jr. or Ivana to seek DJ Sr.'s third and fourth terms.
Scary and possible.
1
The heir apparent is Don Jr. Go to a rally and it is obvious. Once Sr. is done with his 3rd or 4th term, Jr. takes over and keeps it in the family.
@Confused
agreed.
Will this nightmare of continuous campaigning never end? Make it stop, please!
5
@TFL. I think that for the nightmare to end we will need to put term limits on all elected representatives. This decision should be put on the ballot to allow the people to make the decision, we know our politicians never will.
"For Mr. Rubio, it’s worth remembering a few key points. First, he is the son of immigrants from Cuba. He has a strong instinct for survival, even if it entails taking extreme measures."
I'm not a fan of Rubio but this argument feels misguided at best. I struggle to see the connection between Mr. Rubio having parents who fled Cuba and his instincts for political "survival." The idea of "survival" here is not one in the same, and to suggest otherwise is wrong.
3
An interesting analysis by Ms. Mair that reminds us that as awful as Trump is and will be, someone will be nominated to run for president after Trump. Will they be able to chart a new course or be satisfied to be orange shadows to maintain the astounding loyalty that Trump has sustained?
At the same time, looking at the list of candidates for whom she has served as a campaign strategist, Scott Walker, Roy Blunt, Rand Paul, Carly Fiorina and Rick Perry, (I'd call them the "You're kiddin' me, right?" group) suggests that her writing skills far exceed her political acumen.
4
I was struck by the idea of Trump losing in 2020 and Republicans seeking his endorsement in 2023.
Under those circumstances, I fully expect that by 2023 Mr. Trump will either be on trial, in prison, or enjoying asylum in Turkey or Russia. I've read the Mueller Report, and it's obvious that Trump committed a number of crimes during and after the campaign. In addition, there are a number of other criminal investigations of Trump going on about which I know nothing.
As soon as Trump leaves office, I believe he is going down, most likely very hard.
13
@Vesuviano..going down before then.
Until schools start educating kids properly with civics and history classes, how to vet the truth from lies, acceptance and respect for others, how to discern brainwashing propaganda such as FOX news and revile hate mongering on social media, then we will be stuck with the Trump's of this country and vile GOP leadership for a very long time.
298
@Phil M And until schools are no longer hamstrung by the beast called standardized testing, that will not change. All energy and time are forced into math, reading, and science. The heaving lifting of what it means to be a citizen is going to have to be taken up by parents until then.
7
@Swingapo
"All energy and time are forced into math, reading, and science." And? Last time I looked, people who are knowledgeable about science know facts from fiction. Yelling "standardized testing!" is not useful unless you have some ideas about why you don't like it. But if your ideas are "I don't like it because all energy and time, etc." then what in the world DO you like?
11
@Phil M
I remember liberals used to ridicule civics classes, on the grounds that they whitewashed the sordidness of real-world politics. Now we don't have civics classes, and the result is that people don't even realize when somebody like Trump is out of line.
1
We live an era of political extremes -- Trump did not create that ground game, but certainly benefited from it. I think we are entering an era when it is difficult to predict who will be our next leader(for either party). The constituencies are too fractured -- the old order has past, and no one knows what awaits us.
50
@John Jabo The old order has passed? I hope the Dem establishment eventually gets that clue, because they haven't yet. 2020 could shape up to be a complete repeat of 2016.
2
@TommyTuna more likely a repeat of 2018. The old order is dying, literally. The new order, millennials and younger, are far more liberal than the rest of the population. tRump will lose in 2020, and the Republican Party will be branded as trumpian for the foreseeable future. The future belongs to Millennial Democrats.
10
@Mags with avocado toast and student debt.
2
Let's face it the Republican Party has gone 100% tribal. Above all else they put winning and the retention of power as critical to their existence. Morality has been traded in for allegiance. No matter what Trump says or does, McConnell & Co, stay silent...the public is numbed to this. Shame on the country for accepting it.
Are there enough moral people left in the country to save our democracy? I am not sure... 2020 can become 1984 (or not?)
417
@Mgk
The article highlights the fact that these men are just worthless , how can they stand themselves? there is no character in the GOP party and Niki Hadley who is plotting her comeback told black people in so many words to get over the shooting in her state after nine people were shot. We have to heal to be able to deal with the next shooting. She voted and approved everything Trump mouths during her tenure, she has no creditability at all. nothing but a female con artist who hates democracy. One con man is enough in one lifetime.
If a GOP runs for any office the democrats need to run an outstanding candidate against them. 2016 Bernie the leader of the progressive party stated that in 2016 and what did people do, organize, run and et elected. Now we need to take the Senate back, and the local governments back. The GOP have their own pathetic states to be in charge of and some of these states have a four day school week because of financial mismanagement . The GOP if reelected to anything will destroy America as we see how bad it is under there leadership, children in cages, no health care nothing but old men yelling at people who actually think.a. Right now we need to get rid of Susan Collins, approved a rapist to the Supreme Court children in cages. ? Doesn't care about Tariffs and believes in Trumps hateful view of the country.
The one redeeming fact about 24 hour coverage is we know the positions of every GOP individual and its not a pretty sight.
14
@Mgk
What you have observed has been the mission statement of The Heritage Foundation, and its even more evil twin, The Federalist Society: to create a one-party government in perpetuity with an emphasis on ultra-conservative "principles". This was actually articulated by the current CEO of The Heritage Foundation during an NPR interview earlier this year as the group celebrated its 50th anniversary.
If America is courageous, rather than fearful, we can rid ourselves of this Madness of King Donald.
12
@Mgk
This started with Karl Rove and his desire for a permanent Republican majority.
8
Even the defeat of Donald Trump in 2020 will not defeat Trumpism.
He capitalized on conditions of fear, anger, and hate, that still exist, in part because he feeds them with the daily chum of his vitriol.
Trumpism will still be here for awhile.
Sadly.
Looking to take up his mantle brings no credit at all upon these potential candidates. Hopefully someone will eventual emerge in the GOP that will run AGAINST his legacy, his very name.
We live by hope.
332
@Paul McGlasson Maybe we can't get rid of Trumpism, but it will be better once the inmates no longer run the asylum.
32
@lieberma clearly you haven't read the mueller report.Turn on your tube 7/17 and feel fearful about another minute of trump.
15
With the help of Fox News fanning the resentments.
4
Larry Hogan 2024! He's only the second Republican governor to win a second term in office in Maryland if I remember correctly. Not to mention a pretty decent human being as well.
1
Wow ! There are decent human beings in the Republican Party ?
It's not entirely clear that any of the folks you described in this article can be an heir apparent. Today's Republican Party is not the same Republican Party that existed even as of 2012. Today's Republican Party is the Trump party, and it's possible it could all fall apart if Trump isn't at the top of the ticket.
What Trump's presidency has exposed is the cleavage between the Party's social conservative wing and it's business conservative wing. The latter used to call all of the shots in Republican politics while giving lip service to the social conservatives. In 2016, part of what happened was that the social conservatives wised up and drove the business conservatives from power.
Just how popular do you think the business conservatives' policy portfolio is with the social conservatives? The answer is "Not at all." Without Trump's bombast against liberals and immigrants, I just don't see anything compelling a Marco Rubio, Nikki Haley, or Tom Cotton--business conservatives all--can offer the social conservatives.
3
My god. I hope there isn't one. What a horrid thought.
12
@mj
Indeed.
I thought this article was going to be about Ivanka.
Roy Moore
Who else
10
Mz. Mair, don't you find yourself holding your nose, or choking and gagging, as you try to explain the naked ambition, the toadying and repulsive grasping, of this highly cynical group of power seeking right wingers?
I'd have to take a shower after writing.
14
It's the mirror image of the current race on the Democratic side, with 22 ambition-hungry individuals trying to outdo one another in their efforts to appease all the interest groups that vote in the primaries.
If they had any sense, they would draw straws now, pick one candidate to get behind and then donate all of their amassed contributions to a campaign to win the Senate from the Republicans. There's a good chance the nominee will lose to Trump, and we need a backup plan if that happens -- impeachment with a D controlled Senate.
1
Benjamin Netanyahu? Vladimir Putin? Xi Jinping? Kim Jong Un? Emanuel Macron? Justin Trudeau? Jared Kushner? Ivanka Trump? Mohammed Bin Salman? Eric Trump? Tiffany Trump? Don Trump, Jr.? Sean Hannity? Tucker Carlson? Laura Ingraham? Ann Coulter?
14
Why, Ivanka, of course.
5
It is my devout wish that, after Trump (and may that day come soon), the Republican Party will wither away and die.
45
Trump Jr., if our ailing democracy is obliterated in 2020.
2
If you had run the same type of story in 2012 asking about Obama’s likely successor, who in their right mind would have said, Joe Biden? These are desperate times, it seems.
3
It is also very important to publicize that Rubio also accepts money from the NRA. When the Parkland massacre happened Rubio was MIA about gun control.
As far as I’m concerned the NRA should be classified as a terrorist organization and any politician who takes money from them should be called out for taking dirty blood soaked money.
Rubio is an NRA poster boy.
41
@KJS
In good news today, NRATV is off the air and the whole organization is in disarray.
I’m guessing that, by 2024, trumps endorsement won’t be worth the hot air that delivers it.
11
Ivanka 2024! We can go lower.
7
"...President Trump has a close to 90 percent approval rating with Republican voters."
Wow; and they have the audacity to call US sheep.
8
Senator Rubio has a strong instinct for survival. First,h he lied about when his parents came to America from Cuba. He said they escaped from the Castro regime barely with their lives. However, he later admitted that they flew over on Eastern Airlines nearly three years BEFORE Castro took power. He may have a survival instinct, but, in reality, he's just a grifter looking for an opening
71
@stan
Marco Rubio -- the original empty suit. I have written to him numerous times over the years. The response is the same...a canned message "appreciating" my missive...and never actually dealing with the issue/question I raised.
2
Rafael "Ted" Cruz or Trump Jr. are natural fits to take over the GOP once Trump Sr. is out of the picture. The party has developed a strong desire for someone who can "pwn the libs", and both Cruz and Junior can deliver on that.
@James - Cruz is unlikeable and so is Jr.
Rather an oversight to omit the most ambitious (and most dangerous) individual with designs on the WH - Liz Cheney.
8
@Bernie Latham..never happen .her father is a war criminal.
Who ? Ivanka, of course. The Muck Dynasty.
9
If Democrats run on reparations and paying off everyone else's student debt, there will be an heir to Trump. Save that for when we are not already 22 trillion in debt.
2
Rubio is greedy and self serving and that has nothing to do with being the son of immigrants.
11
Thanks, Ms. Mair. That's quite a rogue's gallery of Republican prospects you've provided. I just hope I'll be able to sleep tonight.
8
Haley. Wouldn’t the liberals love it if the Republican Party elected the first woman president?!
1
@Shay - Won't happen. Haley is just as slick and slimy as the men in the Republican party, Democrats won't vote for her and neither will many Republicans. There's too much sexism and bigotry among them to vote for a brown woman.
Cotton strikes me as a guy who is so angry all the time. He is a shake the baby, punch you in the mouth politician. Trump is a guy who would pour arsenic into your soup and deny he was ever even near the table. Cotton is a guy who would pick up the steaming hot bowl of soup and throw it in your face. Liz Cheney, sort of the same. We've seen her show already. Iraq and Afghanistan 2. Don't see how politicians who would go to the county fair in hopes of garnering votes and spend their entire time in the House of Horrors while they are there can endear themselves to the 60% of Americans, some of whom wpould need to convert. Two faced Mario has a much better shot at that.
3
Something here I don't quite understand.
An heir to Mr. Trump's ideas? His vision for the future? His policies?
He HAS no ideas, Ms. Mair. Or vision for the future. Or policies.
Mr. Donald J. Trump is HIMSELF the message. HE is what he is so zealously, so indefatigably hawking and promoting round the land. The campaign--both in 2016 and now--is all about Mr. Donald J. Trump. The medium is the message.
I have long entertained a pipe dream--sorry for what I'm about to say!
The pipe dream consists of Mr. Trump being impeached and convicted and removed from office. Or resigning. Or something. Moving out of the oval office. Moving out of the White House.
So that Mr. Pence would have to take over.
I know--I know. Many find Mr. Pence's ideas even more redolent of a distant stone age than Mr. Trump's. That's not the point.
The point is: can you imagine--even for a MOMENT--Mr. Pence riling up a crowd like Mr. Trump? Can you imagine him decorously clearing his throat--
"--Well, ladies and gentlemen, I do THINK--if you'll pardon a slight indiscretion here--I do think the American public would be well served if we. . .um. . .just. . . .
" . . .LOCKED HER UP!"
Any of these guys you mention--some of whom were trampled underfoot by Mr. Donald J. Trump in his mad rush to the White House--
--no, Ms. Mair. They're not DEMAGOGUES. Not like he is.
I pray God they not TURN into demagogues.
One was enough.
4
@Susan Fitzwater. Susan I would only like to add one more step to your pipe dream. After moving out of the White House deportation to Russia with all his former wives, children, grandchildren and revocation of their citizenship. Let them have a taste of living in the country that Trump so warmly embraces. Deny them due process and let them taste live without rule of law. If you are going to dream dream big.
Here’s hoping there isn’t one!
2
Little Marco is chameleon-like? Sure enough, but he is just a simpleton con man at his core.
11
"Heart-felt": really. Ramoras on the shark.
3
Why did you leave out Pompeo? He is nakedly ambitious. If you think the racist and sexist Trump “base” would accept a woman of color, you aren’t paying attention. Nikki Haley might run as an Independent a la Bernie Sanders, but she could never win with #MAGA.
2
Who is the Republican heir to American right-wing fascism-authoritarianism-Caucasianism-xenophobia-lawlessness-deficit-spending-voter-suppression-and-climate-collapse-acceleration ?
Only a Republican campaign strategist without any interest in country, planet or basic human decency would pose such a question.
Trumpistan will be rightfully wiped off the map by the overwhelming majority of American voters in 2020 who can't stand this sorry excuse for a President and this disgrace of a Republican Party.
America was asleep at the wheel in 2016 and this tiny man still lost by 2.9 million votes.
He and his Russian-Republican party will be swept away by Democratic, independent and ex-Republican voters in 2020 who can't stand the daily destruction to America, the world and the Constitution that Trump and the craven Republicans have committed.
Time for the Mad Hatters to be spectacularly outvoted.
152
One disgusting hypocrite after the other lining up to sell what’s left of this poor country to the highest bidder. I’m sorry I’ve lived this long to see it. R.I.P. America!!!
12
Rubio is a sock puppet. The only thing heartfelt about him is self interest.
7
@DR
Which makes him sound exactly like Donald Trump, right?
1
Lindsey (no true values) Graham is Trump’s moral doppelgänger.
7
Why have you overlooked Mike Pompeo, a fiercely ambitious political infighter in the Dick Cheney mold, whose compelling bona fides as a warrior, spy, diplomat and Christian defender of the faith position him as a dark horse at the least?
6
I like Ike. For the Republican Party, it’s been all downhill ever since the 1950s. A Confederacy of Dunces.
3
Let’s hope nobody is ever an heir to the worst president in the history of our once great country. And further hope and pray that no republicans are voted into office.
3
Please get real.
You overlook the fact that it is Trump's strategy to subvert our constitution and by whatever means necessary keep himself in the presidency until his death.
If by some miracle, civilization has not ceased to exist by that time (nuclear holocaust, a total breakdown of social order, global famine or some other climate-related disaster, etc.), it is obvious that Trump will have created the conditions for one of his family members to take over the dictatorship he has established.
5
And don't forget that Sen. Rubio insisted 10.000 times that he would not run for re-election to the Senate.
6
Interesting. But truthfully I'm weary of the perpetual campaigning and the coverage it evokes. It stokes the tribal wars. Keeps the networks in ready cash. And most significantly distracts us from a totally dysfunctional government. I'd like to hear more, not about Rubio's WH hopes, but his Latin American policy. I feel like I have to dig for the news since there's so much noise about never-ending campaigns.
8
Succession in an autocratic State provides the frame of analysis. Trump’s power over the Republican Party has echoes of the cult of personality combined with a faked ideology, cronyism and existential battles with enemies, real and imagined, foreign and domestic. To succeed Rubio should be studying Venezuela and Cuba as he fights them.
1
While well written and cogent, this article proves once again how politics stinks. Many people are sick of politics as usual and AOC is a symptom of that malaise. Machiavelli may be an interesting read, but would you want to be in a relationship with him? As for Marco Rubio, can you trust that opportunist an inch? The question really is which of Trumps' former Republican critics will prove to be his political Brutus.
"First, President Trump has a close to 90 percent approval rating with Republican voters."
I would have to say a Progressive. We cannot allow ANYONE who is to the right of Center Left to become President, not even if (s)he is a Democrat. Tearing away children from their mothers with no thought to ever reuniting them is bad enough, Keeping them in conditions that would rate a dog owner some prison time is even worse. Throw in the march to another war and the war on our environment and our women and children and I have had enough.
1
We might be surprised Rubio has no policy conviction? Hasn’t the last 2 years proved the entire GOP has no conviction other than amassing and retaining raw power? Deficits, trade policy, monetary policy, the list goes on. If any of these so-called heir apparents were truly patriots, they’d primary trump in 2020. But alas, they’re all just political opportunists trying to ride the coat tails of the (former?) “con artist”. In the end none of them will succeed unless they fully embrace the alternate reality, incessant lying, and bullying/name calling that is the trump playbook. The base wants that and will never go back to a mainstream approach. So the question is, how far are Rubio, cotton, graham, Haley, etc, willing to go in the service of blind ambition?
10
it depends on who the Democratic Nominee is. If Warren or Sanders wins, then he likely will not have an heir in the classical sense of the word, because the Republicans will not win for awhile. Both Ivanka and Trump Jr. will likely run for president on this path, but neither will have a chance of winning.
However, if the Democrats pick someone besides those 2 or Yang--for instance Biden, Trump's heir will likely come out of the support of either Warren or Sanders, and there will be a huge shift that takes place that cements the Republican Party as the party of economic populism and anti-inequality. On this path, the Democrats will fully become the party of the Billionaires, and the Republicans will become the party of anti-elites and economic equality.
Hopefully, the FBI and NSA will lock up Tom Steyer well before then. He is clearly a Chinese asset and has been working against this country for 20+ years. He even tries to taunt you by hiding in plain sight with his Volvo-touting economics. How he has not been caught yet is beyond me. Clearly, people just did not feel like looking. He punches down at people who punch up. Why he decided to make it his personal vendetta to attack me is beyond me. He took his Chinese-backed resources as evidence that he could pick on people who he had no business fighting. This is what happens to bullies when they pick the wrong fight... and why it is never smart to punch down.
Confirms what we already knew about Marco Rubio: He has a firm commitment to whatever will get him elected. Meanwhile, his tinkering in Latin America may carry weight in Florida but most of the country really doesn't care. South and Central America only matter in so far as our southern neighbors effect domestic economics and immigration. Your average American can't identify Nicaragua on map much less name the neighboring countries. You're lucky if the average American can even spell Nicaragua.
Tom Cotton doesn't fare much better. He's spent the past two years demonstrating how the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence is neither intelligent nor select. Not surprisingly, he shares company with both Rubio and Sasse. Meanwhile, proudly identifying as a neo-conservative in the present day and age is a self-disqualifying remark.
That really only leaves Nikki Haley. As you might have noticed though, Republicans have a bit of a gender problem. Somehow a female candidate carrying the torch for Trump seems like an unlikely pivot. We're talking about a Party who celebrates a known misogynist and self-proclaimed sexual predator with 90 percent approval ratings. Nothing screams "First Female President" to me.
Needless to say, someone will fill the void left by Trump. However, I'm doubtful anyone openly complicit with Trump is going to be cleaning up the wreckage. Trump's bright star has a long way to fall. I wouldn't hitch my wagon there.
3
"But for now, like all of them, Mr. Rubio will have to tolerate nonstop mocking on Twittter for making nice with the man who called him 'Little Marco' ...."
Actually, what Mr. Rubio will come to realize is that the mocking will be deservedly unceasing. The stench of Trump is permanent. There is no ridding yourself of it, nor should there be.
3
Considering that Trump is more obnoxious and dangerous than George W. Bush, and that W. was worse than Reagan, and that Reagan was worse than Nixon, where does that put Trump’s Republican successor on the continuum between awful and god-awful?
Can you imagine how truly grotesque our next Republican President will be?
5
@Scott F
I'd really rather not because if anything, Trump's election has upped the ante for Republican odiousness.
2
The Clintons took over the Democratic Party from Obama and smothered all opposition. When the lid came off, look at how many were ready to step up and participate. However, it meant none of the younger ones had an opportunity to be groomed and promoted for office and many of the state parties languished.
Trump has dominated the Republican Party even more than the Clintons did the Democratic Party. Anyone who tries to present an alternative to Trump, his family or his lackeys will be pounded into the ground. And they know it.
5
Don’t overlook the loyalty test, the next Republican nominee will have to select one of Trump’s children as a running mate to get the nod.
1
I don’t think Trump will give up the presidency unless he loses the 2020 election by a landslide.
And I don’t think Trump will give up the presidency in 2024, unless he’s died.
He not only admires the world’s dictators, he aspires to join their ranks.
3
The last thing this country needs is an heir to Trump. Lincoln's attributed statement about "fooling some of the people some of the time, but not all the people all of the time" went out the window in 2016. America was suckered by marketing and the country lost its' ethical soul.
2
The heir to Trump is going to be one of his sons or possibly Ivanka. He has no intentions of leaving office peacefully.
2
I'm a lifelong R who refuses to accept that 90% of my fellow Rs support Trump. On every level Trump has been a massive disappointment. The tax cut went too far, the tariffs have no beginning, end, or logic, his Iran and N Korea policies are ludicrous, the ruthless disregard for the rule of law is completely unacceptable and therefore, any of the sycophants who support the felon hiding in the White House are just as unacceptable as he is.
Rs often lean conservatives, but we're not stupid. Plus, 20 years as a science teacher says that Climate Change is real and we're going in the wrong direction.
3
@science teacher - Sorry but Republicans voted for G.W. and then for Trump, they are indeed stupid and I say this as someone who was once stupid enough to call myself a Republican.
Silly people. There won't BE a 2024 election. It's already been demonstrated that no one will stop Trump from doing anything he wants to do. There's no reason to believe that won't include declaring himself president-for-life, to be succeeded by his daughter Ivanka. The Democrats won't do anything. God knows the GOP won't. So what's to stop him?
1
None to bridge the growing divide. More appeals to individualism and all homage paid to those individuals with the most wealth and power while tipping their red hats to the poor who have sacrificed most for "their" country. Orwellian Darwinism and every-man-for- himself, socialism for the wealthy. No limits to growth and continuing devolution of power from the feds to the states (where the real "experts" on regulation reside). The dark money empire.
2
You can’t be serious ?
President Fearless Leader will announce his replacement once the appropriate bribes are paid to specific offshore accounts.
4
Mr. Trump got control of the GOP via an explicit appeal to racists, sexists, misogynists, and xenophobes. No Republican will ever again be able to win the nomination without doing the same. There is no going back to the days of nudge-nudge wink-wink compassionate conservatism or a thousand points of light. It's out in the open now and their base will not support a candidate who tries to elide an overt appeal to it.
2
Your piece somewhat assumes that DT will “reward” any of these fake-trump fans convenient embrace of him and his politics with a potential endorsement, he won’t.
He will tossed them the same way he has done with cabinet members, campaign managers, lawyers that have worked and provided a degree of loyalty to him. He’ll push Ivanka and Don Jr first, in that order. Pence and the other angry potential ones, should not be surprised and neither should us.
3
Permit me to suggest our esteemed governor, Georgia's head Republican, Brian Kemp, as highly qualified to follow our guy in the Oval Office. He walks in lock-step with Mr. Trump, looks good in one of those red baseball camps, supports the total outlawing of abortion, i.e., Roe v. Wade repeal and has a track record of unrelenting voter suppression.
Look at his ad that catapulted him to Georgia's top office. How can Senators Cotton and Rubio hope to compete with a man pointing a shotgun at a young man while questioning him about his GOP bona fides?
2
I will never vote for any Republican who has supported Trump.
6
An heir to what, though? A trade war, a possible real war, and annoyed allies? A GOP which simply follows orders? Whoever it is will be another media product.
2
Honestly - how do you succeed a towering intellect like trump?
A man of singular vision (which don't include his shoes anymore) who mined his perfectly ghastly personality with mendacity, childishness, unlimited lying and an impressive talent for alienating all who come into contact with him.
Yes, a hard act to follow - I'm sure the GOP will come through.
3
Kinda demonstrates that you guys don't really have a set of core principals and will just yell "yeah team" on cue whenever called to do so. Trump has succeeded in wiping out the Republican Party as we knew it. Ordinarily I would say "no big loss" except it has replaced itself with a meaner, more desperate, more racist, more fearful of the "other" and of social progress, version of it's former "self" So much winning!
3
Rubio is a modern day Mitch McConnell. He stands for...himself...and himself only.
One line is key here; "But it’s also focused on mainstream Republican concerns like taxes."
The entire focus of Conservative thinking is keeping taxes on the wealthy low and deregulating big industry. This is an anti-middle class concept and they know it. They also know it doesn't keep debt and deficits down and in facts raises them.
So they will continue to twist, distort and seek out scapegoats, from Reagan's 'welfare queen' to LGBTQ to African Americans and today's favorite scapegoat, Hispanic Immigrants.
All to convince working class white voters to vote against their own long term economic interests.
2
Who in this country doesn't know that Rubio is an opportunistic chameleon whose colors change easily and readily in any given situation? He quite literally has no agenda or innate substance. He is, simply, a power seeker as an end unto itself. That makes him dangerous.
1
My Father used to quip that he voted for Eisenhower because Lincoln 'won the war.' Ergo, as a bona fide RINO, I wonder aloud what the Republican Party is 'conserving?' It's not the treasury. It's not the environment. It's not morality, ethics, or righteousness. Somebody please help me.
3
My money is on Haley 2024. She has the cred: popular Governor from SC (1st southern primary), UN Ambassador, Republican female of color (she has Indian heritage) and has morphed from the anti-Trump into the pro-Trump camp.
All this and more: even though she did nothing for SC except take down the Confederate flag.
1
@The Jeffersonian - Good luck with that. Democrats won't vote for her and plenty of Republicans will stay home rather than vote for a woman, especially a woman who isn't lily white.
Unless it's someone like Justin Amash, the republican party is on it's death bed. It needs to take a sharp turn from Dolt45 and the Senate republicans if it wants to continue existing. Demographics are not on their side, they are living in the 50s.
@Marie - Amash may have stood up to Trump but in just about every other respect he's as bad as all the rest.
It's fascinating to me how obvious Lightweights like Rubio - he who announced he didn't want to be Senator, quit going to work entirely while he was running for Pres, then re-ran for the job he hated and was re-elected by the good folks from FL - continue to get traction. They're like "Where's Waldo", popping up in the background of all crowd scenes. Eventually, they morph into the political Undead, like the chubby zombie, Newt.
2
"Out of character and unseemly?"
Unseemly yes, out of character no.
1
Interesting that they all hail from a region formerly under review by the voting rights act and now experiencing problems with voter purges, poll closures, and, oh yes, lots of POC. If you like your democracy very far right and want to blur the separation of church and state until it’s no longer visible, I guess you are ok
With this.
3
When Trump leaves office in disgrace his acolytes will forget their cynical embrace of the lying con man. Thanks to video and Twitter, all of their slavish declarations of fealty to Trump is recorded and known.
Most Americans hate Trump and these weasels won’t escape their past. Their political careers won’t flourish (outside of enclaves of the remnants of Trump support, if any).
Good riddance to the lot of them.
1
Ms. Mair is assuming that there will be a Republican Party worth having at the end of the Trump era.
2
Since we have entered a new era in American politics and are now discussing an heir to the throne, I suggest we consult with George R.R. Martin.
1
Any candidate embracing trump doubles down on projecting fear and hate, protecting oligarchs and dictators. Doing so, they should be run out of the US (starting with ejection from the Senate; only Halley mentioned here is not a Senator) before they do more damage. No Republican who supports the craven, bigoted, self-profiting, lying and info-withholding con man should ever get near the White House, even as a gutter cleaner.
1
Pretty revealing exploration of the GOP. None of these people have the mettle to unify and lead America. Opportunists all.
2
Lately, Mr. Rubio's tweets have been bible verses so I would assume he is readying himself to dazzle the evangelical base.
4
It will be the person who respects Trump's supporters, an essential core of the workforce who rightly feel portrayed as the obstacle to some enlightened diverse future imagined by others, the butt end of the humor in All In The Family. More importantly, however, it will be someone who persuasively corrects the muddled obstacles to clear thinking on key issues like immigration and healthcare. Trump supporters seem alone in wanting the rule of law in immigration, but, that is not going to happen without a large amnesty combined with rigorous workplace enforcement necessarily making some nice people illegal. Immigration is not a form of foreign aid. On healthcare subsidized premiums (Obamacare and Romneycare) was the conservative solution to universal affordability, the need for which must be a first principle. Repeal and replace was self-indulgent inanity.
1
I will never vote for a GOP candidate but was glad to see that at least Ivanka and Don Jr. were not pushed forward in this article.
They both have delusions of grandeur off of their dear Daddy.
1
On Sunday’s Meet the Press, I heard him talk to Chuck Todd about second term, the slip in the words third and fourth. Perhaps the Republicans can repeal the twenty second amendment.
2
"90 percent approval rating with Republican voters"? Hmm, and just how large and devoted is that Republican party nowadays? Every Republican I know sure isn't feeling it the way they used to.
1
I thought "many people" were asking Trump to stay on in the presidency. It could be that he'll take them up on that and refuse to leave. In which case, the 2024 election won't take place. Maybe Rubio and the others are counting their chickens. Instead, they better keep their eyes on the Supreme Court, which will be the final arbiter of whether we can ignore the constitutional requirement of two four-year terms for Trump. Since so many justices are in debt to Trump, maybe they'll let him stay.
2
@Ms. Pea Unlike Cabinet heads, who are also in debt to Trump, justices cannot be fired. So there is some hope...
Aside from the possibility that either Jared Kushner or Ivanka Trump (or both!) are the Republican Heirs Apparent to the Trump legacy, it's hard to tell which ambitious politicians could claim that position, since this president is such a stickler for absolute fealty and few can withstand the amount of verbal abuse he would unleash on them for a long-term basis just to prove their allegiance.
In fact, his entire administration is littered with those who tried, and simply couldn't pass his test.
But in all fairness to this article I find it hard to imagine that it might be Marco Rubio, and for obvious reasons.
While he may be the senior Senator from a state that is predisposed to Trump, there is no love between them both something that Trump demands, and there are few who can play fourth fiddle in public for that long.
It also doesn't help that Trump's venal attacks on the Latino population in general hasn't subsided, and probably won't even with a wall.
Still. There's no doubt that Mr. Rubio is a master political chameleon.
At this point if I had to hedge a bet, I'd probably put my money on Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas, who is not only ambitious and frighteningly conservative in his own right, but stealth-like to boot.
Don't underestimate him.
8
Count on a burst of the past decade’s asset bubble to change the playing field by 2024. Modern monetary theory will demand popular acceptance of trillion-plus deficits with or without inevitable inflation. The Republican who can be the “big spender” rather than even faking fiscal conservatism will prevail, chameleon or not.
3
This piece assumes an awful lot about 2024. First, will there even be elections if Trump wins a second term and consolidates power to the point where he assumes full dicatatorial powers?
Or a more probable case: While Trump hasn't grown into the presidency he has definitely grown in his love of power. Perhaps he'll designate one of his family to run in 2024, so he can continue as de facto president.
But the main premise, which Republican comes after Trump isn't too off base, because it indicates how far the GOP has come in assuming one-party rule in these United States.
All it would take is four more years for Trump and the GOP to further rig the system in favor of conservatives, including the all-important courts.
86
How is somebody “designated” to run a the party nominee if a president completes his second term ? The Federal Election Commission permits anyone who properly registers to run in the state primaries.
2
@Suburban Cowboy
Designate as in announcing his support for Ivanka, first as VP after he scuttles the now-useless Pence, and then for president in 2024. Trump's slavish cult will dutifully follow his wishes. End of U.S. experiment in democracy.
9
@ChristineMcM
After trump, will there even be a country known as America?
If trump loses in 2020, will he leave office peacefully?
Maybe he will call on his armed white nationalists to keep him in power?
15
It is very difficult to tell but what is more obvious for the democrats is what they should do.
If they nominate a moderate progressive that is in tune with the middle of America ie not an identity obsessed, social engineering, the white man is the cause of all problems in America east coast liberals never met a war, Wall Street banker, trade agreement candidate like Hillary the democrats can rule Washington for a good period to come and make the republicans a minority party for a long time.
The choice is up to the democrats. If they don't follow the advice of what polls say Americans want, they will be most likely handing Trump another term.
9
@Paul
Amy Klobuchar for President
1
@Rich Pein-Only if she follows what history has taught us above ie what Americans want.
1
Fortunately, in the future, AI will supplant first candidate selection, then voting, and then actual candidates the themselves by looking at our buying habits and social media posts.
As a nation, we will finally reach peak democracy and be freed from the tedium of the process. Republicans, of course, will game this process to maximum effect but at least they won’t have to answer to the Trump era.
1
@T. Rivers
See the short story "Franchise" by the far-seeing Isaac Asimov. Written in 1955.
I hope voters ask Senator Rubio lots of questions about guns. I have found him way to willing to allow the proliferation of the weapons that lead to the tragic shootings to which we all are being made witness.
20
You raise a critical issue. I have long preached that Trump is not the problem, just a symptom of the problems of racism, sexism, homophobia, anti-Muslim sentiment, science denial and religious mania that exist in America. If those ideas are not smashed in the next Presidential election, if the religious right continues to be the major political force in America and if Trump is re-elected there will be dozens of new Trumps- and they will be more intelligent, more devious and more destructive of democracy. The American voter must make certain that there is no heir to Trump.
167
Spot on. Persons in power make problems because they execute bad ideas. To solely focus on megalomaniacs and not the root fears and bias among the factions which give rise to bringing power to Trump sorts of leaders solves little.
27
@Disillusioned
Absolutely. Seeds only sprout and grow when they fall on fertile and well watered ground.
11
@Disillusioned
You are exactly right. All of us who want to keep our country free must stay involved and must vote. All of us must get out and vote on Election Day. None of us can be too busy or too tired or too lazy. Vote!
22
Rubio becoming a successful Republican candidate would be huge for their party.
The Republican party faces decline due to the changing demographics that do not favor them. To offset this, the Republicans have doubled down on voter suppression and stopping immigration. But eventually, they're going to lose this way.
I continue to believe that the right way for the Republicans is to be more racially inclusive, and to unify the right around religious right values and a strong military defense, which cross ethnic lines.
2
@MA
Rubio will get the Cuban - American vote (maybe 10% or less of Latinos), but to call him "inclusive" is to misinterpret his policies and positions. Not to mention what his embrace of Trump after Trump ripped Rubio in the debates says about Rubio's character...
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@JDW113 Just to be clear, I did not call Rubio inclusive; I said that the Republicans should look for ways to be more inclusive.
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The GOP might continue to depend on single-issue voters that focus on religious values or that focus on dog-whistle topics like immigration or the country’s increasing minority population or subsidies to the poor. But the typical Republican national politician generally uses those tactics to get elected. Their real heart is in garnering large contributions from corporations (including defense contractors) and PACs that serve wealthy oligarchs.
This has been the GOP’s political script since Goldwater’s loss to LBJ. It’s unlikely that any of that will change. It’s just how well Republican candidates can pull off their charade that they are the dutiful servant of the average under-employed, jingoistic, white person. Sad.
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“Is their support of Mr. Trump heartfelt or merely strategic?”
I think this question misunderstands Republican philosophy, which is a capitalist interpretation of politics: whatever sells the product is its own justification. The division between politics & policy is the division between marketing & manufacture. The product is the transfer of economic & political power to fewer people. It isn’t a a product that people want, so I think all Republican politicians take for granted that it will have to be sold with ever more outrageous & deceptive advertising campaigns. They probably don’t see this as dishonest, but rather as a kind of honesty about how the world works, or needs to work.
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No one.
There is a generation or two of young voters who equate Trump with Republican and will never vote for that party or anyone who was part of enabling him.
The Republican Party will need to reinvent itself with brand new leaders in order to survive.
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@Jane
I hope you are right.
However, the alternative party needs to be strategic and choreograph policy solutions that appeal to majority of voters and not just its base. We won with Clinton,Obama who were centrists and were able to bring together a coalition of diverse interests.
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@Jane
Exactly. The Republicans are so desperate because they realize they are on the brink of unelectability on the national level. They will do anything to maintain control.
Trump eviscerated the mainstream Republican party in 2016. Those debate clips will doom any of those who ran then. Good luck to the Republican party as they search for a candidate with the charm of Trump - that of a bad lounge comic/singer, think Tony Clifton.
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@Jane
Those of us who nurtured liberal democracy while we were nurtured by it, share your dream.
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As a Florida voter, I would point out the nation that Senator Rubio has a long history of dodging his constituents and avoiding the local and state media editorial boards efforts to discuss the tough issues. Senator Rubio has shown up on way too many milk cartons in his "service" to the citizens of Florida.
I guess the is par for the course with politicians in general, but Senator Rubo is my Senator and I expect better. I don't expect to always agree with him, but he has a responsibility to better engage with the citizens that he has repeatedly asked to represent.
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@Vince Borden As a Florida native and voter, I couldn't agree more. Rubio has been a huge disappointment with his dodging and flip-flops. But my disappointment in him pales in comparison to my outrage about his junior senator, who also harbors presidential delusions. Thank heavens his name wasn't included in this article. The less ink he gets, the better off we'll all be.
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@Vince Borden ... I agree. As another Floridian, I've been disillusioned by Marco Rubio's representation in DC. He changes opinions according to how the wind blows and
avoids his constituents. After being demeaned and insulted by Trump in the 2016 election debates, he then became one of his sycophants. Never would I ever consider voting for Marco Rubio for President or VP.
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@Vince Borden
Hypocrisy has been pushed to new heights by these polticians. There is no integrity left in that party.
Their base does not care and neither do they.
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I didn't think Republicans could do worse than Bush and Cheney, but boy, was I wrong. The Republican trajectory seems to be downward, esp. considering Republican laypeople have a 90% approval rating for Trump, higher than Bush and Cheney, and Republican pols lie completely prostrate before him, I don't see that trajectory changing any time soon. The question is, who in America is actually worse than Donald Trump. Maybe Roy Moore? I don't even think it matters. McConnell is really the head of the GOP, and he'd make sure a used car dealership's Air Dancer won if one ran as a Republican, and the really sad thing is, it seems like 40% of this country would vote for one. In fact, with Trumps flailing and shrieking, total lack of a need for truth and reality, I'm thinking the Air Dancer is preferable; at least it's quiet.
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@Virginia
My parents thought it was the end of the world when Eisenhower defeated Adlai Stevenson
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Clearly Rubio, Haley and Cruz are in the wings and as qualified as any credential wise and seasoned campaigners. The Republican party would benefit highly as they are all southern based where populations are younger and growing fast. All may appeal favorably to certain ethnic voters who's numbers are fast rising. Finally, all three of these candidates put themselves out there on the issues, social media savy and are much younger then the typical field of Presidential candidates
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@Other - Well yes, if by qualified you mean craven liars who will get on their knees for big donors.
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As long as trump is alive, (I think he is mortal, not sure he thinks so) he will be our president.
McConnell will think of some way for him to run for a third and even 4th. And the Supreme Court will agree. It's not in the Constitution.
We all bow down and worship trump. SAD
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@esp:
Actually, it IS in the Constitution.
Amendment XXII limits a president to two terms in office.
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Ms Cheney strikes me as someone who has the political skills and appeal in the current GOP to win the nomination in 2024 against any of these.
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@wjth
And she would be better than trump? Think not. Cheney made a mess of this country and his daughter would do the same.
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For sure she is as awful and heartless as her father. Her lack of support for the LGBTQ community (which includes her own sister) is legendary. If she starts slapping men in the rear she’ll be perfectly representative of the GOP.
My belief is that if Trump were to win again in 2020 we would see the end of democracy in America as we know it and Don Jr. would be his heir...
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@Michael
I came here to say almost the same thing, but for Ivanka. All she'd have to do to get her father's support is tell him how humiliating it would be for Hillary Clinton if the first woman president was Ivanka Trump.
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@Michael
Ivanka. She seems to be the only person (besides himself) that Donald Trump seems to care about.
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@Michael
Ivanka is the one being positioned to take office as
First Woman President.
Bigger headlines for Trump that way...
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