Nope. I think a President Kasich or a President Rubio would have though.
Rubio is basically the Republican Party’s Barack Obama. I guess he probably would have beaten both Clinton in 2016 and Biden in 2020 but he would have ended his two term presidency the way Obama did. Relatively popular but being succeeded by a democratic president.
Rubio is a paper tiger. Great on paper, horrible in the real world.
As long as Rubio was able to win in 2016, he definitely would get two terms imo. First with the economy doing as well as it did and no foreign policy crises from 17-19 , governing as an establishment president would work pretty well and its very possible that Republicans don't even lose the house in 2018.
While I think we still lose 20-21 seats, keep in mind the 2010s Republican Maps were made for an establishment Republican coalition so I think it barely holds in 2018 or Democrats just barely take the house. In 2020, I believe that Rubio is viewed as more or less a steady hand during COVID and that would give him a boost and due to that would beat Biden in 2020 and be reelected.
Now the question is does Obamacare get repealed under President Rubio and my answer is no as well given that Kander and McGinty probably lose in 2016 if Rubio is the nominee while Heck and maybe Ayotte wins. So it would come down to whether John McCain voted against repealing Obamacare had more to do out of principle or just out of opposition to Trump cause btw if Obamacare is repealed, 2018 is still a disaster no matter what and democrats probably run on healthcare during the COVID Crises in 2020 and may win it all just like OTL.
