Nightcore Nationalist
Okthisisnotepic.
Jr. Member
Posts: 1,827
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« on: December 09, 2019, 09:25:06 AM » |
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If I knew for certain that DeSantis or Haley would get the nomination in 2024, it wouldn't bother me if Trump lost, particularly to a far leftist who'll have trouble with moderate voters and getting their agenda through. A hawkish, soft on China neoliberal like Biden scares me much more.
I was a libertarian from 2012-2016, I voted for Johnson twice and supported Rand in the primaries (in hindsight, Rand was a weaker GE candidate than I thought, and GJ is a loser).
My political views have evolved since then. I support Trump's policy agenda (to an extent one exists) by and large because it addresses most of the weaknesses of the GOP establishment agenda from 2000-2015:
-Anti interventionist, a direct rebuke to the neocons that infests both parties.
-Tough on China. To assume that China isn't our greatest geopolitical adversary is to be childishly naive.
-Secure the border. The dreamers (who haven't committed a crime) should be allowed to stay.
Obviously, he hasn't been 100% successful, and perhaps not even 50% successful. Some of this is on him, either shooting himself in his foot, bad political instincts or not expanding his coalition. But his administration was kneecapped before it even began (discredited Steele dossier) and by saboteurs within his own party who would rather screw their own constituents if it meant "owning Trump" *Cough McCain*.
The GOP needs to go in a different direction than it was pre-2016 to remain a viable national party, one of economic populism and non-interventionalism (and I would prefer social moderation). I can't count how many times the GOP clutched defeat from the jaws of victory during the Obama admin, and the GOP's failures (among smaller factors) are what allowed Trump's insurgent campaign to succeed in the first place.
Thus, I fear Trump losing means the party going into the hands of people like Bill Kristol and George Conway. The free market absolutists, neocon, bible thumpers have driven the party into the ground, and the last thing they need is to get back into power.
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