2024 Election
March 21, 2023 — John Hinderaker
In an interview with Piers Morgan that will be broadcast on Thursday, Ron DeSantis finally takes aim at Donald Trump. Until yesterday, he had remained silent in the face of Trump’s usually childish attacks on him. No more: Morgan provides a preview: [I]n a series of jabs at his likely biggest Republican nominee rival, DeSantis slammed Trump over his character failings, chaotic leadership style, and for his handling of the
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March 18, 2023 — John Hinderaker
Ron DeSantis struck a moderate note in his recent comments on the war in Ukraine, drawing criticism from many Republicans. The Wall Street Journal headlines: “Pence and Other Potential GOP 2024 Rivals Pounce on DeSantis Over Ukraine Aid.” Former Vice President Mike Pence, without mentioning Ron DeSantis by name, rebuked the Florida governor Saturday for his isolationist approach to the war in Ukraine. Isolationist approach? Seriously? A sharp divide inside
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March 16, 2023 — John Hinderaker
A dark horse candidate for the 2024 Democratic presidential nomination has been identified: Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. If that sounds far-fetched, consider this Daily Beast puff piece: “Minnesota’s Gov. Tim Walz Is the Anti-DeSantis. Dems Should Take Note.” It is actually true that Walz is the anti-DeSantis. His policies are the negative image of Florida’s governor’s. But you would have to be deeply delusional to think that the comparison is
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March 15, 2023 — Elizabeth Stauffer
Yes, he really said that. Speaking to a group of mass shooting survivors in Monterey Park, California, on Tuesday, President Joe Biden said, “Congressional Republicans should pass my budget instead of calling for cuts in these [mental health] services or defunding the police or abolishing the FBI, as we hear from our MAGA Republican friends.” Biden: "Congressional Republicans should pass my budget instead of calling [for] defunding the police." pic.twitter.com/YpAlG7Kq3d —
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March 14, 2023 — Elizabeth Stauffer
Donald Trump was a great president. Despite the relentless pursuit by members of a deep state determined to remove him from office, he accomplished a great deal in four years. To name just a few of those achievements: His tax cuts and focus on deregulation triggered an economic boom. He reshaped the judiciary, made America energy independent, strengthened our military, secured our border, and stood up to China. I voted
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March 13, 2023 — Steven Hayward
A lot of our loyal readers, who we greatly value, insist on saying we are a nest of Never Trumpers. I deny it. I won’t go through the complete case now, because it would be long and tedious—and wouldn’t convince anyone dug in on the theme. For the record: I have stated recently that Trump might well be the best GOP candidate in 2024. I have doubts he can win
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March 13, 2023 — Steven Hayward
It’s early yet, and polls at this point really aren’t worth very much. At this point in 2007, Rudy Giuliani was the GOP front-runner in the polls; at this point in 2015, Jeb Bush and Scott Walker were the front-runners in the polls. That said, the 2024 contest looks like a two-man race between Trump and DeSantis. Right now Trump has surged back into a strong lead. However, by one
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March 8, 2023 — John Hinderaker
Happier with their government, anyway? I find this Rasmussen poll finding inexplicable: A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 28% of Likely U.S. Voters rate Congress’ performance as good or excellent, up from 25% in December and the highest approval in more than 15 years of polling this question. Thirty-nine percent (39%) think Congress is doing a poor job, down from 45% in December, and the
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February 25, 2023 — Scott Johnson
Dr. Jill Biden wants it to be known that President Biden is running for reelection. The AP’s Darlene Superville reports on her interview view with the doctor in Nairobi: U.S. first lady Jill Biden gave one of the clearest indications yet that President Joe Biden will run for a second term, telling The Associated Press in an exclusive interview on Friday that there’s “pretty much” nothing left to do but
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February 22, 2023 — Steven Hayward
That Republicans have a much deeper bench of top candidates for the White House than Democrats goes without saying, but in fact it already appears that the 2024 GOP nomination contest has already settled into a two-person race. This chart is more than a week out of date, but the comparison with the 2016 cycle, when the Republican field didn’t have clear front-runners before Trump entered the race in the
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February 22, 2023 — Steven Hayward
It seems this week Politico drew the assignment to “report” the “news” that Biden might not run again, and why his delay in deciding is causing problems for Democrats: Joe Biden’s closest advisers have spent months preparing for him to formally announce his reelection campaign. But with the president still not ready to make the plunge, a sense of doubt is creeping into conversations around 2024: What if he decides
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February 20, 2023 — Steven Hayward
This week’s obligatory ventriloquist journalism “news” offering in the coordinated Washington insider media campaign to push Joe Biden off the 2024 Democratic ticket comes to us courtesy of Politico: Senior Democrats’ Private Take on Biden: He’s Too Old High-level Democrats are rallying to President Biden’s reelection, not because they think it’s in the best interest of the country to have an 82-year-old start a second term but because they fear
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February 19, 2023 — Steven Hayward
Larry Hogan was probably the only electable Republican in heavily Democrat Maryland, and did a decent job in a few respects contesting the Democrat-dominated legislature there. But as a prospective presidential candidate (as he is thought to be considering) he’d have been more suited as a running mate for Wendell Willkie or Harold Stassen, because he proves in this short clip from Meet the Press that he’s totally clueless about
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February 14, 2023 — John Hinderaker
Nikki Haley announced her candidacy for the presidency in 2024 earlier today. This is her announcement video: There are a number of things to like about Haley. She was a good, popular governor of an important state, and an excellent United Nations Ambassador. It would be fun to have a non-white Republican as the first woman president. Nevertheless, I don’t rate her near the top of GOP contenders. I think
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February 6, 2023 — Steven Hayward
I like to say that I read the New York Times so that you don’t have to (plus I can claim an online subscription as a tax deduction, which helps), but today is one of those days you wish you had a subscription for the amazing “news” feature on the dismal future prospects of Kamala Harris. Here’s the hed: This “news story” was reported by three Times journalists, but what
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February 6, 2023 — Steven Hayward
The announcement late last week that Nikki Haley is likely to announce soon as a candidate for president in 2024, with several other worthy contenders (Pence, Pompeo, Hulk Hogan) lining up to do the same before long, set off the commentariat handicapping the Republican field. It could well be crowded with good candidates, as was the case in 2016, and right now most people seem to think the leading prospect
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January 6, 2023 — Scott Johnson
President Biden let it be known first thing yesterday morning that he would visit El Paso this coming Sunday. The visit is notable for two reasons. First, it’s a rare weekend when Biden will not be on vacation. He has spent 40 percent of his term in office so far on vacation. At age 80, the guy needs his r & r. Second, for “El Paso” read “the border.” For
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