Dem
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GOP
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While all the news now is about the House or Donald Trump's trial, there is still a presidential election going on. The big Republican donors are getting more frantic by the day. They do not want Donald Trump to be the Republican nominee and are plotting and conspiring to try to do something to stop him. One line of attack is to reduce the primary field to just Trump, Nikki Haley, and Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL). Good luck with getting the others out of the race. Candidates normally drop out only when the money dries up. That holds double for delusional candidates like Mike Pence. Chris Christie isn't in to win, just to annoy Trump. If Christie loses New Hampshire, he will probably drop out the next day.
The billionaires are very frustrated because they are used to the business scenario of billionaires getting whatever they want by financially overpowering everyone else. That doesn't work in politics all the time. We had an item Monday about a well-funded group tied to the Club for Growth that ran carefully designed experiments and learned that policy ads against Trump don't work. Only playing dirty works, and the billionaires tend to think more in terms of policy (taxes, regulation, etc.).
Still, in order to have any chance to get rid of Trump, they need to focus on a single candidate. In mid-October, the American Opportunity Alliance will talk to Haley and DeSantis in an attempt to pick the winner, whose PAC will then have more money than Scrooge McDuck. The meeting will be hosted by billionaires Harlan Crow (yeah, that one), Paul Singer, and Ken Griffin. Smoke-filled rooms full of machine politicians picking candidates have gone out of style. Now it is smokeless rooms of billionaires picking candidates. If the billionaires pick Haley, does anyone seriously think DeSantis will drop out just because the billionaires are carpet-bombing him in Iowa?
A few days later, on Oct. 17, megadonors from all over the country will have a two-day meeting in Virginia Beach for the "Red Vest Retreat" with Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R-VA). The purpose of the meeting will be for the billionaires to lobby Youngkin to jump in and be the red team's white knight. Which, according to our math, would make him a pinko. A lot depends on the Virginia elections this year. Youngkin has spent most of the summer and fall campaigning for Republican candidates for the state legislature. If Republicans capture the trifecta, Youngkin will be seen as a giant-killer and the billionaires will offer him the sun, the moon, and the stars to enter. However, if the Democrats win both chambers, Youngkin will be damaged goods. It is said that Youngkin fears what Trump would do if he (Youngkin) entered the race. Trump and his supporters would tear him to bits, maybe literally. It would be safer to wait until 2026 to run against Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) and then in 2028 to go for the big chair. Also important is that by the 2023 election, the filing deadline for New Hampshire, Nevada, and possibly other states will have passed. (V & Z)