When the 2016 primary season started, there were 17 Republican candidates in the field. In my estimation, Donald Trump ranked somewhere between #15 and #17. (It was hard to take George Pataki, for example, seriously.) I was surprised when he emerged from the pack, and I worried about whether he was conservative enough to be the Republican nominee, but I was never a Never Trumper. And I was one of the few who predicted that he would win the election.
A year into his administration, I am impressed: so far, Trump is obviously, in my view, our best president since Reagan. And based on his first year in office, he might be even better.
We have a long way to go before Donald Trump is ranked with the Gipper. For one thing, he will have to win a second term. I have wondered about that. Does Trump, already 71 years old, even want to serve eight years as president? That question was answered, seemingly, today, as President Trump announced that digital strategist Brad Parscale will be his 2020 campaign manager.
I have no opinion on Mr. Parscale, a social media guru, as a campaign manager. What is significant is that President Trump is laying down a marker. The Left has hoped to drive him from office, through impeachment, an absurd 25th Amendment process, or sheer breath-holding, foot-stamping, red-face-turning toddler dementia.
Trump’s announcement was an answer to the Left’s hysterical demands: Sorry, I’m not going anywhere. You’re going to have beat me at the ballot box, where I won last time. Based on where we sit today, I think that is a very good thing.
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