by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist
Donald Trump is becoming the gift that just keeps on giving - for Democrats, that is.
Trump, who has already announced as a Republican candidate for President in 2024 - and is the only announced candidate in either of the major parties at this point, has threatened in the past to run as a third party candidate for the office. In 2000 he made noises about resurrecting Ross Perot's old "Reform" Party and running as their candidate, and not too long ago he reportedly told Ronna Romney McDaniel, the national chair of the Republican Party, that he was considering a run as an independent. Ronna replied that if he did that, Republicans would "lose forever," to which Trump responded, in typical narcissist fashion, that he did not care.
But Trump ignored his instinct and declared as a Republican. So far his campaign is receiving a tepid response from at least a certain element of the GOP hierarchy, and some polls suggest that the party faithful are more enamored of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis than they are of Trump, a clear indication that Trump's brand may be going stale.
This past Wednesday a column appeared in the right-wing journal, American Greatness, which suggested that if Trump does not get the GOP nomination in 2024, he should take a page from Theodore Roosevelt's playbook, an ex-president who ran as an independent progressive "Bull Moose" candidate in 1912 and not only cost incumbent GOP President Taft the election, but actually came in ahead of Taft and placed second in the general election - which was won by Democrat Woodrow Wilson.
If Trump were to enter the race as a third-party independent, many suspect that the results would be similar to those of 1912: the GOP candidate would place third, Trump would come in second, and the Democratic nominee would win the race. And, in a rare moment of truth, Trump is already on record with his remark to Ronna Romney McDaniel saying that he does not care if the GOP loses or not.
When the article in American Greatness came out on Wednesday, Donald Trump liked it so much that he posted a link to it on his Truth Social account, a move that was certain to have at least tweaked most of the GOP bosses - and undoubtedly enraged several.
Trump considers the Republican Party to be his personal plaything, and if it does not operate exactly as he thinks it should, he will smash it and play with something else. That seems to be similar to the logic that he used when he was President of the United States and was obfuscating the content of his private meetings with Putin.
Donald Trump is a creature from the Republican swamp, and they are going to have to figure out how to deal with him - or put him down. Things will get ugly.
A third party headed by Trump? Do it, Donnie, do it!
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