If at any point in life you thought the prospect of Donald Trump as president was surreal, wait until you process the possibility of Don Jr. now throwing his hat into the mix in the “Who’s got next?” MAGA sweepstakes. To be sure, Don Jr. possesses even fewer redeemable skills than his dad – who at least used to be president (Or something like that) and Junior hasn’t had anywhere close to the business success his dad had. Still, caution is warranted. Junior does speak MAGA, and he speaks it better than even his dad. Donald Trump tolerates his voters, Don Jr. luxuriates in them. So hold your breath for a moment.
Before you throw away the possibility as all too crazed, realize that even after “Trump the O.G. Administration,” and an attempted coup on the Capitol, voters did elect Trump again. Assume nothing. But while doing so, it’s also best to consider that even as Junior ingratiates himself with much of MAGA-world, not all of it wants to see him even enter the race. Ben Shapiro is out already with a vicious “No” to consider.
According to Joe My God, Shapiro is quoted as saying:
“Apparently, Donald Trump Jr. is now hinting that he wants to run for president at some point in the future. I’m just gonna put it out there right now. No. No! Dynasties are un-American. They are not good. George W after George H W was not great for the country. The idea of Michelle Obama for Barack Obama, not great for the country. The idea of Hillary Clinton for Bill Clinton, not great for the country. No.
Well, except that Michelle Obama is a Harvard Law grad and former First Lady – which at least puts her in the ballpark as “qualified,” to say nothing of Hillary, as former First Lady, Yale Law Grad, senator from the State of New York, and Secretary of State (FFS!) – she was about as qualified as anyone who has ever held the Democratic nomination (Other than Joe Biden, obviously). Other than that, sure – Ben, they’re the exact same thing.
“We elected Donald Trump for a reason, but connection with President Trump’s name does not mean that you should be president of the United States.
No shit. So why are we even discussing this? Oh, right – because Junior does think that he’s presidential timber and MAGA is just crazy enough to put that gun to their head.
“Why the American obsession with political dynasties? And that’s not a critique of Donald Trump Jr. as a person or as a future politician — that’s just a reality that dynasties in American politics are typically bad. Kennedy dynasties, Bush dynasties, none of this is good.
Well, that and the fact that Junior is an addled and spoiled brat who has done nothing to really set himself apart from the next guy. So there’s that. At least Jeb Bush was also a big-time governor from Florida. It is something, more than Junior – at least. Damn, in a race between Junior and DeSantis… Never mind.
“And when you combine that with the fact that many of the organizations that Donald Trump Jr. is connected to are making an enormous amount of money during this period of time when his father is president, which raises awkward questions, certainly, about Trump administration policy ranging from Trump memecoin to World Liberty Financial to gigantic real estate deals in Qatar, none of this is an amazingly good look.”
BANG. It is the money, honey, that is the problem. Trump has raised $600 million, all of it banked and ready for the midterms. But if you think that Trump is planning on spending a bunch of money on a bunch of worthless red congresscritters who are going to lose the House anyway, under all circumstances, well – you haven’t been paying attention. The GOP will be lucky if it gets one-third of that sum for the mid-terms, very, very lucky. The rest will be tucked under the mattress, and that’s where Junior comes in – ideally anyway. Junior is the one who would be most likely to inherit the type of cash it would take to really run an effective campaign. And remember, he speaks MAGA better than Dad. Plus, all of MAGA is insane anyway…
Or, worse. Donald Trump is the next Donald Trump, and Senior decides to do all he can to run for a third term, hoping that the SCOTUS somehow bails him out on the whole “third term” Constitutional prohibition thing. In such a case, Don Jr. almost looks good as an alternative.
Now this column has spun full circle, and that can only mean one thing… Pete Buttigieg must be the next president of the United States. That’s what it means.
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