BILL KRISTOL considering primarying Trump in 2020

[Progressive Pessimist]

Kristol supported McCain and is a libertarian, he wont become a Democrat, but just like George Will, Pat Buchanan and Late Charles Krauthammer, they want Democrats to succeed over Trump😁

Pat Buchanan is a Trump opponent?!

[Mr. Morden]

FWIW he's said publicly that he'll recruit/help organise a primary, but would have his name on the ballot as an absolute last resort.

That's correct.  He's said repeatedly that he'd rather help someone else challenge Trump than run himself.  Maybe he's just playing coy, but my hunch is no, he'd only run if, say, Kasich, Flake, Corker, Sasse, etc. all decide not to run, and the only folks willing to challenge Trump are people like Brad Thor.  In that circumstance, I think Kristol might run.

EDIT: I guess it's also possible that Kristol would run if someone like Amash was the only other challenger, since I'd imagine that Kristol wouldn't be able to stomach Amash's foreign policy.

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

FWIW he's said publicly that he'll recruit/help organise a primary, but would have his name on the ballot as an absolute last resort.

That's correct.  He's said repeatedly that he'd rather help someone else challenge Trump than run himself.  Maybe he's just playing coy, but my hunch is no, he'd only run if, say, Kasich, Flake, Corker, Sasse, etc. all decide not to run, and the only folks willing to challenge Trump are people like Brad Thor.  In that circumstance, I think Kristol might run.

EDIT: I guess it's also possible that Kristol would run if someone like Amash was the only other challenger, since I'd imagine that Kristol wouldn't be able to stomach Amash's foreign policy.

irc when Thor announced he was considering running, Kristol was pretty enthusiastic.

[junior chįmp]

Kristol is a clown who still claims Iraq had WMDs

[Fuzzy Bear]

I like Kristol at one level.  At another level, this makes me laugh.

Guys like Kristol kind of stayed on the sidelines, whining about Trump, but never really doing anything.  While they did this, Trump took over the GOP.

I can't emphasize this enough, the idea that Trump took overt the GOP.  I didn't think Trump would do this as effectively as he did.  I thought he'd just try to suck up to the Reince Priebuses of the GOP and hope they'd leave him alone.  Instead, he's getting involved in GOP primaries, and voters appear to be responding.

In my Florida, Adam Putnam, Commissioner of Agriculture and long considered the next GOP Gubenatorial nominee, was cruising to the nomination UNTIL Trump got behind Rep. Ron DeSantis, endorsing him, appearing in ads with him, going to the mat for him in rallies, leaving Putnam kind of flat-footed.  Putnam has some support, but Trump supporting DeSantis is the overwhelming reality for FL GOP voters.  (I'm voting for Putnam for parochial reasons, but I'm not a big fan, to be honest.)  And Trump's doing this other places.  You'll note, too, that the talk of Trump governing as something other than a Republican has faded away also; that's because Trump has altered the public  positions of the GOP as a whole, particularly on Trade. 

At one time, I thought Trump would draw a significant primary opponent who'd push him to about 40% of the vote.  Now, I think that's nonsense; the donors won't be there, and the candidates that would do well won't jump in.  The only guys who are taking Trump on to a serious degree are Kasich and Flake, and they have the appearance of guys that are being drummed out of the Show to avoid outright pushing them out.  They look like Low Energy Losers.  I'm serious here; beating Trump requires a high-energy optimist who'll be as devoted to winning as Trump is, and a lot of guys that might have filled the bill just don't have the heart.