The “Who is running in 2024?” tea leaves thread

[NewYorkExpress]

If the GOP goes back to a Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan, John McCain or GWB Candidate I will activly try to destroy the Republican Party and encouraging Republicans not to vote in 2024.

I'm pretty certain if Trump doesn't run Pence will beat a divided opposition in the primary (Much like Biden did this year, in fact).

[NewYorkExpress]

The Hill has a piece out discussing Pence's chances in 2024.

[NewYorkExpress]

There's no way Pompeo gets the nomination. He doesn't have the gravitas to win over Trumpists, but he's to Trump-y to win over moderates. He doesn't have a lane. He should have run for Senate last year.

If I were Pompeo, I'd run for Governor of Kansas in 2022. He'd probably be the strongest realistic candidate to take on Laura Kelly.

[NewYorkExpress]

Mike Pence is starting a podcast.

Mike Pence is returning to his radio roots after a 22-year hiatus from the airwaves.

The former vice president will launch a podcast in the coming months hosted by the Young America’s Foundation, a conservative youth organization dating back to the1960s. Pence will join YAF as the group’s first Ronald Reagan presidential scholar, and is expected to become a regular member of its campus lecture circuit once it is safe to resume such events, which have been halted by the Covid-19 pandemic.


“Vice President Pence has been a stalwart defender of individual freedom, traditional values, free markets, and limited government throughout his career of distinguished service to our country,” said former Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin, who took the reins of the Virginia-based organization earlier this year. “Now, by partnering with YAF, the Vice President will continue to attract new hearts and minds to the conservative cause.”

[NewYorkExpress]

Mike Pence is joining the Heritage Foundation as a distinguished fellow.

https://twitter.com/Mike_Pence/status/1357374029489913863

[NewYorkExpress]

Apparently Mike Pence still hasn't patched up his relationship with Trump yet...

Advisers to former President Donald Trump say he still has not expressed remorse for the siege at the US Capitol, which could end up being important for Senate jurors to consider after House impeachment managers on Wednesday released new video of the violent mob's assault on January 6.

One of the new clips show then-Vice President Mike Pence and his family being hustled away by Secret Service as the siege was under way. That affirms what Pence aides told CNN in the days following the deadly insurrection. Some of those aides were outraged with Trump and believed he had put his own vice president in danger.

Pence, who plans to keep laying low during the impeachment trial, has not quite patched up his relationship with Trump after what happened, according to a source familiar with the situation.

The source said Pence and Trump "discussed everything" that happened on January 6. But at the time, the source said, both men were more focused on just getting to January 20 -- Inauguration Day.

[NewYorkExpress]

Miscalculation by Haley, anyone perceived as being an outright anti-Trumper won't win the nomination. And no, this isn't her just speaking her conscience, she's a calculating politician like the rest. She wouldn't say this is she thought it wouldn't help her candidacy.

Haley's well aware that being a woman and a minority is already disqualifying in a Republican primary and probably keeps her off of the ticket for most potential nominees. She isn't running.

[NewYorkExpress]

Will Hurd says Trump should have little to no role in the Republican Party going forward.

Former Rep. Will Hurd (R-Texas) said Sunday that the GOP should have little if anything to do with former President Trump following the violent riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.

Speaking with NBC's "Meet the Press," Hurd argued that the Republican Party had lost both houses of Congress and the White House over the past four years as a direct result of the former president.

"I think very little, if not none at all," Hurd said when asked about what role Trump should play in the GOP's future. "This is a president that lost the House, the Senate, the White House in four years. I think the last person to do that was Herbert Hoover, and that was during the Great Depression."

"We should be talking to disaffected Democrats" who do not support ideas such as reducing funding to law enforcement or expanding immigration, Hurd added, pointing to the failure of House Democrats to pick up any seats from Republicans during the November election.

https://twitter.com/MeetThePress/status/1363500373403656197

Asa Hutchinson says he won't won't support a Trump 2024 campaign

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson said Sunday that he would not support a run by former President Donald Trump for reelection in 2024.

"He's got a good family ... and they love America," the Republican told host Dana Bash on CNN's "State of the Union." "But I would not support him for reelection in 2024."


"He's going to have a voice, as former presidents do, but there's many voices in our party," he went on. Trump "should not define our future."


Hutchinson said in January that he wanted the Trump administration to end, but stopped short of calling for the former president's resignation. He also called a second set of impeachment proceedings "unworkable."

The governor's nephew, an Arkansas state senator, has since announced he is leaving the Republican Party due to the direction the GOP has taken.

Hutchinson called on the GOP to pivot away from Trump's perspective and toward "a different voice for the future of our party."

"He will only define our party if we let him define our party," Hutchinson said Sunday. "I think it's fine for CPAC to invite former President Trump to speak, but how about the other voices? Senator [Bill] Cassidy from Louisiana, those that have different points of view."

"That's what we've got to embrace," he went on. Trump "has a loud megaphone, but we have to have many different voices, and in my view, we can't let him define us for the future because that would just further divide our country and it would hurt our Republican Party."

[NewYorkExpress]

Trump will tell CPAC he is the "presumptive nominee" in 2024.

Donald Trump will reportedly tell the Conservative Political Action Conference in Florida this week he is Republicans’ “presumptive 2024 nominee” for president.


Trump will address CPAC on Sunday, his subject the future of the party he took over in the 2016 primary then led from the White House through four tumultuous years. On Monday, citing anonymous sources, the news site Axios reported his plan to assume the mantle of challenger to Joe Biden – or another Democrat, should the 78-year-old president decide not to run for a second term.

An unnamed “longtime adviser” was quoted as saying Trump’s speech to the rightwing event will be a “show of force” with the message: “I may not have Twitter or the Oval Office, but I’m still in charge.”

A named source, close adviser Jason Miller, said: “Trump effectively is the Republican party. The only chasm is between Beltway insiders and grass-roots Republicans around the country. When you attack President Trump, you’re attacking the Republican grass roots.”

[NewYorkExpress]

Mitt Romney predicts that Trump would easily win the nomination if he runs in 2024.

Sen. Mitt Romney predicted Tuesday that former President Donald Trump would easily win the Republican presidential nomination if he seeks the White House again in 2024.

In a New York Times-DealBook virtual interview, the Utah Republican said he was “sure” the former president would play a role in the GOP in the coming years — assessing that Trump has “by far the largest voice and a big impact in my party.”


“I expect he will continue playing a role. I don’t know if he’ll run in 2024 or not. But if he does, I’m pretty sure he will win the nomination,” Romney said.


Although the senator cautioned that “a lot can happen between now and 2024,” he pointed to public opinion surveys that show Republican voters still overwhelmingly favor the former president.

“I look at the polls,” Romney said. “And the polls show that among the names being floated as potential contenders in 2024, if you put President Trump in there among Republicans, he wins in a landslide.”

[NewYorkExpress]

Rick Scott says Joe Biden "absolutely" was the winner in 2020, tells Chris Wallace that the GOP isn't Trump's Party, but the voter's party.

Sen. Rick Scott on Sunday declined to call the GOP the party of former President Donald Trump and acknowledged President Joe Biden was “absolutely” the legitimate winner of the 2020 White House race.

In an interview on “Fox News Sunday,” Scott (R-Fla.) — the chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee — reiterated his message that “the Republican civil war is canceled.”


But Scott’s remarks to host Chris Wallace also underscored the tense intraparty disputes he is navigating as he leads the GOP effort to retake the Senate in the 2022 midterm elections.


Asked by Wallace whether the Republican Party is “still Donald Trump’s party,” Scott replied that the GOP is “the voters’ party” and “always has been.”

Kirsti Noem got a standing ovation for her CPAC speech, which focused on South Dakota's response to COVID.

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) in her address at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on Saturday touted her state's response to the coronavirus pandemic, while criticizing other state leaders for resorting to restrictive measures to combat the virus.

Noem, an ally of former President Trump, began her address in Orlando, Fla., Saturday stating that America needs conservatives for one reason — the year 2020. 

“The question of why America needs conservatives can be answered by just mentioning one single year, and that year is 2020,” she said.  “Everybody knows that almost overnight we went from a roaring economy to a tragic, nationwide shutdown,” she continued, before attributing a record low unemployment rate at the beginning of 2020 to Trump.


The South Dakota governor went on to say that once the pandemic hit, many states chose to implement widespread shutdowns, which Noem said resulted in significant job losses, school closures and an economic downturn.

“Now let me be clear: COVID didn’t crush the economy, government crushed the economy,” she said.

Noem added that South Dakota was the only state that never ordered “a single business or church to close,” and also did not issue a shelter-in-place order or a mask mandate, prompting applause and a standing ovation from many in the crowd.

Noem also took aim at Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, claiming that President Biden’s chief medical adviser is “wrong a lot,” a comment that also received a standing ovation from conference attendees.

"We never focused on the case numbers,” Noem explained. “Instead, we kept our eye on hospital capacity. Now Dr. Fauci, he told me that on my worst day I’d have 10,000 patients in the hospital. On our worst day, we had a little over 600.”

[NewYorkExpress]

Tupac IN:

https://twitter.com/catargetbot/status/1366186574673702917?s=21

Well, it wouldn't be the first time voters in this country elected a dead man to public office (see Mel Carnahan.).

[NewYorkExpress]

Mike Pompeo refuses to rule out a Presidential bid on Hannity.

Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo declined Wednesday to rule out a run for the White House if former President Donald Trump does not seek the office in 2024, telling Fox News' "Hannity" he was "always up for a fight."

"I care deeply about America," Pompeo told host Sean Hannity. "You and I have been part of the conservative movement for an awfully long time now. I aim to keep at it."

Hannity said he would take Pompeo’s answer as "a strong maybe," to which Pompeo responded, "That’s perfect."

[NewYorkExpress]

Trump and The Wall Street Journal are going to war with each other.

Former President Trump on Thursday lashed out at the Wall Street Journal editorial board for calling on Republicans to abandon him and blamed his GOP critics for the party’s Georgia Senate losses.

In a statement released Thursday, Trump accused the paper’s opinion section, which has a traditionally conservative bent, of supporting “globalist policies such as bad trade deals, open borders, and endless wars.”

“They fight for RINOS that have so badly hurt the Republican Party,” Trump said. “That's where they are and that's where they will always be. Fortunately, nobody cares much about The Wall Street Journal editorial anymore. They have lost great credibility."


The statement came in response to an editorial detailing the GOP’s many electoral losses since Trump came into office.

The paper wrote that despite Trump’s claims about his dominance, he lost to President Biden by 7 million votes and fumbled away two traditionally red states — Arizona and Georgia.

During Trump’s tenure, Republicans lost the House, Senate and White House. The former president’s approval rating never reached above 50 percent in most polls, the editorial says.

“As long as Republicans focus on the grievances of the Trump past, they won’t be a governing majority,” the editorial board concluded.

The Wall Street Journal also blamed Trump for the GOP’s runoff losses in two Georgia Senate races.

......


“He cost the GOP two Georgia Senate races on Jan. 5 as he made his claims of election fraud the main issue rather than checking Mr. Biden and Nancy Pelosi," the editorial board wrote. "Mr. Trump essentially told his Georgia supporters their votes didn’t matter, and many stayed home. The GOP lost the Senate.”

Trump blasted back, blaming Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) and other GOP officials in the state for not doing enough to root out fraud, which he continues to blame for his election loss.

Trump also blamed the Senate losses on then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-Ky.) refusal to push through a COVID-19 relief package that included $2,000 individual payments to most Americans.

"This latter point was used against our Senators and the $2,000 will be approved anyway by the Democrats who bought the Georgia election—and McConnell let them do it!" Trump said. "Even more stupidly, the National Republican Senatorial Committee spent millions of dollars on ineffective TV ads starring Mitch McConnell, the most unpopular politician in the country, who only won in Kentucky because President Trump endorsed him. He would have lost badly without this endorsement."

[NewYorkExpress]

Cheney:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/melissaholzberg/2021/04/26/liz-cheney-isnt-ruling-out-a-2024-presidential-bid/?sh=30374b406fa6

You didn’t quote what she said, so I’ll do so here (and here’s the NY Post story that this story quoted from: https://nypost.com/2021/04/26/rep-liz-cheney-not-ruling-out-2024-presidential-bid/ ):

“I’m not ruling anything in or out — ever is a long time,” [Cheney] told The Post when asked if she would ever consider running [for president] in the future.
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“I think we have a huge number of interesting candidates [in 2024], but I think that we’re going to be in a good position to be able to take the White House. I do think that some of our candidates who led the charge, particularly the senators who led the unconstitutional charge, not to certify the election, you know, in my view  that’s disqualifying,” she said.  

“I think that adherence to the Constitution, adherence to your oath has got to be at the top of the list. So, I think, you know that certainly will be a factor that I’m looking at and I think a number of voters will be looking at as they decide about ’24.”

Oh, come on. Remember the last Cheney on a national ticket?

[NewYorkExpress]

Paul Ryan wades into Republican Civil War, will criticize Trump's hold on Republican Party at speech at Reagan Presidential library tonight.

Former House Speaker Paul Ryan is set to criticize former President Donald Trump and his hold on the Republican Party during a speech Thursday night, according to excerpts obtained by CNN.

Ryan, a critic of the former President in the past, is expected to say at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, that Republicans must move away from the "populist appeal of one personality" because "then we're not going anywhere."

"Once again, we conservatives find ourselves at a crossroads. And here's one reality we have to face: If the conservative cause depends on the populist appeal of one personality, or on second-rate imitations, then we're not going anywhere. Voters looking for Republican leaders want to see independence and mettle," Ryan is expected to say.


.....


The excerpts indicate that Ryan plans to outline a path forward for the Republican Party in the Biden era. According to the excerpts, the only time Ryan will reference Trump by name is to praise him for how, at the start of 2020, the US "saw such incredibly powerful and inclusive economic growth," though he suggests more credit is due to Reagan-inspired policy rather than Trumpism.

"It was the populism of President Trump in action, tethered to conservative principles," he is expected to say.

In his speech, he also plans to warn his fellow conservatives at being drawn into cultural battles with Democrats.

"As the left gets more 'woke,' the rest of America is getting weary. It's exhausting. And we conservatives have to be careful not to get caught up in every little cultural battle," he will say. "Sometimes these skirmishes are just creations of outrage peddlers, detached from reality and not worth anybody's time. They draw attention away from the far more important case we must make to the American people."

Ryan will also criticize President Joe Biden, claiming he is "pursuing an agenda more leftist than any president in my lifetime."

"In 2020, the country wanted a nice guy who would move to the center and depolarize our politics. Instead, we got a nice guy pursuing an agenda more leftist than any president in my lifetime. These policies might have the full approval of his progressive supporters, but they break faith with the middle-of-the-road folks who made the difference for him on Election Day," he is expected to say.

Matt Gaetz tells the New York Post he will run if Trump doesn't.

He may be facing allegations of sex trafficking of a minor, but Rep. Matt Gaetz still has his eye on a 2024 presidential bid — as long as former President Donald Trump does not decide to run.

“I support Donald Trump for president. I’ve directly encouraged him to run and he gives me every indication he will,” the Florida Republican texted The Post Wednesday. “If Trump doesn’t run, I’m sure I could defeat whatever remains of Joe Biden by 2024.”

[NewYorkExpress]

Republican Presidential hopefuls are engaging in 2022 House and Senate races, hoping that this will allow for them to avoid Trump's wrath should he decide to run again.

Republican Sen. Tom Cotton is heading to Iowa this summer, but he won’t be campaigning for himself — at least not officially.

The potential 2024 contender is plotting a swing through the state — home of the first-in-the-nation presidential caucuses — to stump for three freshmen House Republicans as part of a broader, two-year effort to bolster congressional candidates. Cotton, a former congressman who’s been in touch with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy about the midterm elections, has spoken with fellow veterans looking at waging campaigns and raised money for others. The Arkansas senator is even sketching out plans to air a barrage of TV ads for his endorsed candidates through a political action committee.


Cotton is part of a growing list of potential Republican presidential hopefuls diving head-first into the battle for the House majority in 2022. Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo headlined a Tuesday evening fundraiser for the National Republican Congressional Committee. Ex-U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley has endorsed a handful of female candidates and hosted receptions for newly elected GOP women in the House. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz is backing a trio of conservative House candidates, including one for whom he’s cut a direct-to-camera video.


It’s the latest chapter in a slow-building 2024 shadow primary. By throwing themselves into House races, potential candidates are currying goodwill with lawmakers and activists, testing out campaign themes and introducing themselves to voters around the country who will eventually determine the party’s next presidential nominee.


And there is another reason why House races are an attractive playground for those looking to run: It’s a way to put themselves out there without poking the eye of former President Donald Trump, who has made clear that he’s interested in a comeback bid.

“They’re trying to figure out, how do you lay the groundwork without being seen as maybe trying to push the president out of the way?” said former Oregon Rep. Greg Walden, a past NRCC chair, who noted that several of the potential candidates previously served in Trump’s administration. “Until President Trump decides what he’s going to do, I think they can be helpful in House races in their own ways and keep focused on that and not run afoul of the big elephant in the room.”


Likely 2024 candidates are interested in more than just House races. As the midterm election nears, would-be contenders are certain to engage in Senate and gubernatorial contests, too. Glenn Youngkin, the GOP nominee in this year’s race for Virginia governor, has received support from Cruz, Haley and others.

[NewYorkExpress]

Lindsey Graham is in Israel meeting with Netanyahu, and getting quite a bit of praise from him too.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) traded praise Monday during a meeting in Jerusalem to discuss the current violence between Israel and Hamas.

Netanyahu hailed the Republican South Carolina senator, thanking him for his support during a press conference, where the two stood side-by-side.

"No one has done more for Israel than you, Senator Lindsey Graham, stalwart champion of our alliance and we have no better friend," Netanyahu told Graham.


He went on to thank Graham for the work he's done on Israeli defense, security and Iran.

"You've been a tremendous friend and a tremendous ally," Netanyahu added.

[NewYorkExpress]

Trump on whether he’d pick Pence as his running mate again:

https://news.yahoo.com/trump-declines-commit-running-pence-024320232.html

"Mike and I have a good relationship, we continue to have a good but it's too early to be discussing running mates certainly," said the former president in an exclusive televised pre-speech interview.

As for whether Trump will in fact run again:

"I'll make a decision in the not too distant future, maybe sooner than people think. And I think they're going to be very happy," said Trump on Saturday evening.

So, Trump's running. I assume he'll pick Marjorie Taylor Greene as his running mate, as she'd check pretty much every box both Trump and the National GOP would want (woman, fanatically loyal to Trump).

[NewYorkExpress]

Mike Pence delivers speech at Reagan Library, states he's proud of not overturning 2020 election.

Former Vice President Mike Pence reiterated at a speech at the Reagan Library on Thursday he did not have the constitutional authority to stop the count of the electoral votes on Jan. 6.

“Now there are those in our party who believe that in my position as presiding officer over the joint session that I possess the authority to reject or return electoral votes certified by the states,” Pence said. "The Constitution provides the vice president with no such authority before the joint session of Congress."

....

“And the truth is, there is almost no idea more un-American than the notion that any one person could choose the American president,” Pence said. “And I will always be proud that we did our part on that tragic day to reconvene the Congress and fulfilled our duty under the Constitution.”

I think it's probably safe to assume Pence isn't running. I'd expect a formal announcement saying as much around the midterms, if not shortly afterwards.

[NewYorkExpress]

Rob Portman says Trump is still the leader of the Republican Party

GOP Sen. Rob Portman (Ohio) on Sunday said former President Trump is “definitely the leader” of the Republican Party, one day after Trump held his first post-presidential rally in Ohio.

Portman, asked by ABC's "This Week" host Jon Karl about Trump, said the ex-president remains the party leader given his “high popularity among the Republican base.”

“That’s what you saw last night, I think. You saw a big turnout,” Portman said.

[NewYorkExpress]

Wisconsin Republicans seem to temporarily be turning away from fealty to Trump

It could have upended the Wisconsin Republican Party’s annual convention, given Donald Trump’s hold on the GOP. Just as the state party gathered this past weekend, Trump issued a statement tearing into the state Assembly speaker, Robin Vos, and two other Republican lawmakers for doing too little to promote his election conspiracies.

But in a rare setback for his post-presidential interventions in the GOP, Trump in Wisconsin appeared to shoot a blank. When Vos and Devin LeMahieu, the state’s Senate majority leader, took the stage on Saturday in front of some of the party’s most fervent pro-Trump activists, it was as though Trump had said nothing at all. There were no boos. Vos drew applause. Convention-goers dismissed an effort to censure him.


In Wisconsin at least, Trump failed to set off the same intra-party chaos that has marked his efforts elsewhere. Worse for him, despite the former president’s harsh personal criticism, there were signs his comments were dismissed with a roll of the eyes.


“I just think it’s been going on for so long that people are kind of tired of it,” said Tony Kurtz, a GOP assemblyman from rural Juneau County, which went for Trump last year by nearly 30 percentage points.

For more than seven months since he lost the election, Trump has engaged in a crusade against Republicans who crossed him, an effort he invigorated with a rally in Ohio on Saturday, where he traveled to campaign against Rep. Anthony Gonzalez, who voted to impeach him earlier this year. In most cases, the Republican base has responded zealously. But here, at a convention center attached to a water park, the lack of interest from the rank-and-file suggested some of the first, tentative signs of weariness of Trump’s smash-mouth political act.

[NewYorkExpress]

More Republicans, now including Trey Grayson and Bill Barr, are calling Trump out for his lies in 2020.

The more we learn about Donald Trump’s baseless, false and discredited claims about the 2020 election, the more baseless, false and discredited those claims have become.

Just consider the revelations over the past week — from Republicans:

In Michigan, a GOP-led investigation by its state Senate concluded that it “found no evidence of widespread or systematic fraud in Michigan’s prosecution of the 2020 election.” (Remember, Biden won Michigan by more than 150,000 votes.)

Regarding Arizona, a report co-authored by former Kentucky Secretary of State Trey Grayson criticized the so-called “audit” of the election results in that state, saying it “does not meet the standards of a proper election recount or audit,” and that it’s being conducted by an “inexperienced, unqualified contractor.”

And over the weekend, ABC’s Jon Karl writing for the Atlantic had former Trump Attorney General Bill Barr debunking Trump’s claims about the 2020 election results. “If there was evidence of fraud, I had no motive to suppress it. But my suspicion all the way along was that there was nothing there,” Barr said. “It was all bullsh!#.”

This is pretty good clue, that should Trump run in 2024, he won't have unanimous hold over the Republican Party after all.

[NewYorkExpress]

Pence is rolling out a new attack line aimed at Black Lives Matter.

https://twitter.com/thehill/status/1416095742205255682

[NewYorkExpress]

Kirsti Noem taking shots at other GOP Governors, like DeSantis.

More than 18 months before the first presidential primary of 2024, most potential Republican candidates are just getting a sense of the political landscape, tiptoeing through early-voting states and trying to make friends in key places. Then there’s Kristi Noem.

The South Dakota governor has come out swinging as she tries to carve a niche among an early crowd of possible GOP rivals for the White House. Her combative style, no surprise to those who follow her, is evidence of how competitive the nomination race will be if Donald Trump stays on the sidelines.

Noem charged into Iowa on Friday singing a battle hymn and armed with barbed comments for her fellow GOP governors. At a conservative gathering in Des Moines, she told the crowd she “really hates this America” under President Joe Biden’s leadership, then led them in singing “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.”



But Noem didn’t just take aim at political foes. She also unleashed sharp-edged comments on those within her own party, accusing fellow GOP governors of “rewriting history” by claiming they kept their states open during the pandemic.

“To pretend that they didn’t take actions that they had no authority to take isn’t standing on truth,” she told reporters Friday.