Talk Elections

All I can think of are DeSantis, Haley, Pence. Any others?

Rubio, Baker, Sasse, Cotton, Paul, Amash and Ernst

Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, Donald Trump Jr

Maybe Larry Hogan too.

In addition to all the names mentioned above, Cruz, Tim Scott and Rick Scott.

Cotton, DeSantis, Scott, Rubio, Cruz, Haley, Pompeo

Pence would not run if Trump lost in 2020, if Trump won re-election, Pence would win the nomination in 2024 easily (think Gore v.  Bradley)

Depends on the margin. If it truly is a btfo by atleast obama levels we could see a return to the Bush era but if its a narrow loss the GOP will double down on Trumpism.

Does Blackburn come to mind for anyone?

Tucker Carlson

Tom Cotton is the frontrunner.

Literally no one knows Tom Cotton and I see no reason for him to stand out from the crowd of obscure senators. How is he so special that everyone seems to hype him up.

Jalawest thinks Cotton is horrible, therefore he needs no further reasoning why he will be the GOP nominee.

Marco Rubio (Stands a better chance if Trump resolves border issues)
Mike Pence
Charlie Baker
Ron DeSantis (depending on whether he is re-elected to Florida in 2022)
Nikky Haley
Ted Cruz (though he probably thinks he's still 1st tier)
Larry Hogan
Rick Scott
Ben Sasse
Lindsey Graham
Rand Paul
Joni Ernst

Possible runners who have no chance whether they run or not:

Jeb Bush
Tom Cotton
Dean Heller
John Kasich
Tim Scott
Mike Pompeo
Jeff Flake
Scott Walker
Bobby Jindal
Chris Christie

My top 5 would be Pence, Cotton, Haley, Pompeo, and whomever of DeSantis/Scott/Rubio can emerge as the main Floridian.

Mike Pence
Nikki Haley
Tom Cotton
Baker and/or Hogan to be a moderate option
John Kasich or Jeff Flake as a pre-Trump candidate
Kim Reynolds or Joni Ernst
Another Ted Cruz run
Greg Abbott
Scott, DeSantis, or Rubio for Florida
Marsha Blackburn
Kristi Noem
Brian Kemp
Josh Hawley
Dan Crenshaw
Mike Lee
James Lankford or Kevin Stitt
Mike Pompeo
Matt Bevin

Any chance Trump runs again? He'll be 78, same age as Biden would be on inauguration day 2021. Frankly, I wouldn't be that surprised. Don't expect Trump to go back into his golden tower and shut up if he loses.

Imagine Trump loses to Biden in 2020 and they run a rematch in 2024: A 82 year old prez versus a 78 year old former prez. That would be hard.

Cotton is a popular boogeyman in far-left circles (i.e. "Elect Bernie in 2020 or get Tom Cotton in 2024"), but precisely because he holds such a particularly terrible views, I have a hard time seeing him win a national election, or even the Republican primary: he combines George W. Bush's foreign policy circa 2003 with Trump's stances on racism and immigration and Ted Cruz & Mike Pence's views on gay issues.

Exactly ... say what you want about the GOP, you still need a coalition to win the nomination.  Republican voters are loyally behind Trump now (to a sickening degree), but they did not have this loyalty at first and he had to patch together an awkward coalition to win a fractured field.  He combined more populist, first-time GOP primary voters with more nativist immigration voters with catch-all "sick of the establishment" voters (which ranged from "working class" voters sick of "Country Club Republians" to my very "Country Club Republican" father who was also sick of said establishment because they never made headway on a budget).  Whoever just tries to copy Trump's shtick will fail, IMO; you need to stand out, as he did, and Cotton does in all the wrong ways.  #Realignment2016 aside, a relatively similar group of people nominated Mitt Romney AND Donald Trump.  Tom Cotton is not noteworthy enough in EITHER way that McCain, Romney or Trump were.

Cruz'll probably lose the nomination, but he'll definitely run for POTUS in 2024. He's got nothing to lose, since if he runs for Senate again he'll get BTFO.

If Trump loses, I expect the Republican base will be adrift in the wilderness, waiting for a new charismatic figure to take back the Whitehouse. I have a hard time seeing them rallying behind another career politician: Dan Crenshaw is the only one who jumps out as an obvious possibility. I wouldn't be surprised to see someone like Herman Cain emerge from the political dead to win the nomination. Or someone we haven't even considered as a potential presidential candidate.

Stop searching for an up and coming Republican politician, and start thinking of ambitious celebrities with the right profile to strike a chord with GOP voters.

You don't think Ron DeSantis could fit the profile? Young, popular governor of a huge swing state who served in Iraq and has both congressional and executive experience. What's not to like?

Dang you socialists really do think poorly of us. No we don't support "celebrities" for the presidency. Trump wasn't as much of a celebrity as he was a successful businessman.

AL: Safe R---->Tossup

I think DeSantis would probably finish his second term, and he can run in 2028. They should probably go for someone with a stronger record and more experience. How about nominating a successful businessman who was also governor of a huge swing state, then beat a Democratic incumbent senator in a year that the GOP was losing badly everywhere else.

Oh come on, Trump known for being a reality TV host first and foremost. Yeah he talked a lot about being a businessman, but he broke the primaries exactly because of his media career. He understood fame, he understood cable television, and he used those advantages to clobber the field.

And the turn towards celebrity is not something that is limited to the right. If Donald Trump wins releection, I expect AOC to become the immediate front-runner for the 2024 Democratic nomination. Not because of her politics (though I think those help), but because she is a telegenic and media-savvy woman with a far larger platform than any of her potential competitors.

The desire of some to find a career politician to support for President is anachronistic. By and large, the people who are all in on Biden or Beto or Buttigieg this year are people who, deep down, just want to go back to the Obama years. In most instances, that yearning betrays their class position. Who could want to go back to that decade of post-crisis stagnation and endless war but a comfortable liberal, someone who is horrified more by the impolite standards of contemporary political discourse than the US's role in killing tens of thousands of Yemenis.


If DeSantis strikes a chord with Republican voters, it won't be because of his resume. All that matters is the campaign he runs. He can win if he out-alphas his competitors and meets the psychological needs of Republican primary voters. But the way you describe DeSantis makes him sound like another Jeb Bush.