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GOP
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Speaking of the Trump town hall, this weekend saw potential challengers to the former president coming out of the woodwork. Is that just a coincidence? Seems unlikely, but we don't know for sure.
To start, former Texas governor Rick Perry was determined to run for president three times, in 2012, 2016, and in, uh, er...., well, he can't remember the third year. But maybe it was 2024. Perry appeared on CNN this weekend, and said that he wasn't sure he could support Donald Trump again, and also that he was considering mounting a bid himself. Perry's decision is not imminent, apparently; he pointed out that he did not launch his first presidential campaign until August of 2011. And since that worked out so well...
Meanwhile, there are some people who think that Miami Mayor Francis Suarez (R) is a rising star. And by "some," we really mean "one." And that one is... Miami Mayor Francis Suarez. He agreed to a lengthy interview with Politico that was published over the weekend, and he explained why he was giving so generously of his time: "I'm here, because I'm a Hispanic mayor, a Republican, who is considering running for president."
And finally, there is former representative Will Hurd, who is Black and moderate. Well, moderate by current GOP standards; he'd be pretty righty if you put him in the DeLorean and sent him back to 1990. Anyhow, when he gave up his House seat, knowing full well he wouldn't be reelected by the Trumpublican Party, Hurd said he wasn't retiring from public life and would run for office again. This weekend, he chatted with NBC's Chuck Todd and said he might just run for president this year, and that he will make a decision before Memorial Day.
Two of these three men are delusional. Nobody is interested in Rick Perry, which is why he barely registered in polls the two times he already ran, while winning a grand total of zero delegates. It's true that Joe Biden had two useless runs for president before striking gold the third time, but there was the small matter of serving as Barack Obama's VP in between run two and three. As to Suarez, only three former mayors have become president (Andrew Johnson, Grover Cleveland, and Calvin Coolidge), and all three served as governors between their mayoralty and their presidency. Meanwhile, the notion that "Hispanic" voters are just aching to vote for a fellow "Hispanic"? Well, ask Cuban presidential candidates Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz how well they did with non-Cuban Latinos.
As to Hurd, he's a little more interesting. We continue to believe there's a scenario where Donald Trump gets taken down a few pegs (say, by several criminal convictions), the Trumpy vote gets split in the primaries, and a non-Trumpy Republican ekes out some wins. Former Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson is the person currently in that lane, but Gov. Chris Sununu (R-NH) would be a stronger option, and we think Hurd would be, too. It's still a longshot, and would require things to break just right, but it's still vastly more plausible than President Perry or President Suarez. (Z)