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DEMOCRATS ARE GETTING WHAT THEY WANT
Powerline ^ | AUGUST 3, 2023 | BY JOHN HINDERAKER

Posted on 08/04/2023 6:55:16 AM PDT by Red Badger

So a Democratic Party operative has once again indicted Donald Trump on transparently foolish grounds. The result of the Democrats’ seeming obsession with Trump is that he continues to dominate headlines and suck up oxygen nearly three years after he lost the presidential race in 2020. This is truly extraordinary.

Did Jimmy Carter dominate headlines in 1983, years after he was thrashed by Ronald Reagan? Was Walter Mondale a fixture in the press in 1987, after being clobbered by Reagan in 1984? Were the papers full of commentary on Michael Dukakis in 1991, three years after he was obliterated by George H.W. Bush? How about John McCain and Mitt Romney? Did the conventional (liberal) press obsess over their every move years after they lost their presidential bids?

No. We are seeing something unprecedented. A presidential loser has been elevated to the front rank by a combination of Democratic Party apparatchiks like Alvin Bragg and Jack Smith and Democratic Party newspapers like the New York Times and the Washington Post–and, to be fair, pretty much all the others, along with the Associated Press. These outlets delight in putting Trump on their front pages, in tall headlines, whenever he is indicted or otherwise makes “news.”

Why? Why is Trump being treated so differently from all other losing presidential nominees? Is it because the Democrats are afraid of him, as some Republicans like to say? It doesn’t seem so. The Democrats are not so stupid that they don’t understand that the more they attack Trump, the more Republicans rally around him. Indeed, that seems to be the point: the Democrats are keeping Trump in the forefront, and they use him as an excuse not to cover the serious Republican candidates: Ron DeSantis, Vivek Ramaswamy, Nikki Haley and the others.

Unless you think the Democrats are too dumb to foresee the obvious consequences of their actions, their strategy is evident: keep Trump in the limelight, freeze the other Republican candidates out of news coverage, do everything they can to make Trump the Republican nominee, and then crush him in the general election.

When is the last time a presidential nominee lost his race, then was re-nominated and came back to win? I believe the only such instance is Grover Cleveland. Others–William Jennings Bryan, Adlai Stevenson–have failed. I think the Democrats are happy to take their chances on a Cleveland-like resurrection and run against Donald Trump.

The chief advantage of running against Trump is that the failures of the Biden administration, which are both legion and catastrophic, will be almost irrelevant, because Biden will not be the Democrats’ nominee. They will run a fresh face, most likely Gavin Newsom but perhaps someone else, against the retread Trump. The election, on that scenario, will be a referendum on Trump, and Trump will not come close. It will be a Democratic sweep, a remarkable achievement following one of the most pitiful administrations in American history.

That, I think, is the Democrats’ plan. Keep Trump in the headlines of friendly newspapers, indict him, attack him. Make him the central issue in the 2024 campaign. And then reap a victory that is entirely foreordained, since Trump lost in 2020 and can’t possibly win in 2024.

In my opinion, many leading Democrats are evil. But let’s be fair: they didn’t take control over virtually every American institution by being stupid. When it comes to politics, they know what they are doing. And what they are doing is trying to make Donald Trump the Republicans’ sacrificial lamb in 2024. That said, I can’t explain why Republicans would want to go along with the Democrats’ plan.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Government; History; Military/Veterans
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1 posted on 08/04/2023 6:55:16 AM PDT by Red Badger
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To: Red Badger
their strategy is evident: keep Trump in the limelight, freeze the other Republican candidates out of news coverage, do everything they can to make Trump the Republican nominee, and then crush him in the general election.

I still feel that Trump may be providing cover for the other GOP candidates to strengthen and emerge. While the media attacks him, they're not (seriously) attacking the others.

Let's face it, whoever emerges as the Republican candidate, the media will pounce on them. The shorter the time they have to do this, the better.

2 posted on 08/04/2023 6:58:56 AM PDT by Lou L (Health "insurance" is NOT the same as health "care")
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To: Red Badger

The reason is that Trump didn’t lose.


3 posted on 08/04/2023 7:00:59 AM PDT by JoSixChip (2020: The year of unreported truths; 2021: My main take away from this year? Trust no one.)
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To: Red Badger

Never Trumper junk article.


4 posted on 08/04/2023 7:01:51 AM PDT by far sider
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To: Red Badger

Where’s that Fox News chyron?.....🤣🤣🤣😜


5 posted on 08/04/2023 7:02:04 AM PDT by SaveFerris (Luke 17:28 ... as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold ......)
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To: Red Badger
The election, on that scenario, will be a referendum on Trump, and Trump will not come close. It will be a Democratic sweep, a remarkable achievement following one of the most pitiful administrations in American history.

Until Trump secures the nomination, then it's Trump v. Biden and a referendum on Biden's old age and inability to function.

6 posted on 08/04/2023 7:02:25 AM PDT by 1Old Pro
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To: far sider

I think you’re correct


7 posted on 08/04/2023 7:03:12 AM PDT by SaveFerris (Luke 17:28 ... as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold ......)
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To: far sider

Yep, the real reason for the indictments is that Trump actually won 2020 and will win 2024 Sans fraud, they’re indicting him because they are afraid of his popularity. That is very obvious. This is not some 4D chess to make him the candidate because he is the easiest one to beat, that is just silly.


8 posted on 08/04/2023 7:04:46 AM PDT by HerrBlucher
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To: Red Badger

Drugs, money and sex with a 70 year old?


9 posted on 08/04/2023 7:06:54 AM PDT by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer” )
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To: Red Badger

Yeah, this is mostly nonsense.

There is ONE man in the last 30 years to did ANYTHING to defeat the Democrats, and that’s Donald Trump.

The Bushes did nothing (and they ended up voting for Hillary and Biden).

Mitt Romney is one of their dutiful tools now, now that their previous dutiful tool, John McCain is now dead. Oh, and Bob Dole helped defeat the Contract with America.

All the other pantywaists that are running are of the same ilk: pretend to oppose the Democrats, now, then later join them.

It’s true that DeSantis has actually worked to defeat Democrats at the state level in Florida, but at the Federal level, he is well on his way to being another pantywaist, surrounding himself with the old Bush & Rove crews.

I don’t believe the Democrats are scared of ANY of them. But they ARE scared of the one man who has ACTUALLY drawn blood from them.


10 posted on 08/04/2023 7:07:51 AM PDT by cotton1706
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To: Red Badger

“lost his race”

Wrong

They know he won the vote, they all know they stole the election.

They are afraid they won’t be able to do it again without burning down the whole country.


11 posted on 08/04/2023 7:15:34 AM PDT by Macoozie (Handcuffs and Orange Jumpsuits)
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To: Red Badger

When is the last time a presidential nominee lost his race, then was re-nominated and came back to win?


Nixon lost in 1960 to JFK, then was elected in 1968.


12 posted on 08/04/2023 7:18:11 AM PDT by Dilbert San Diego
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To: Red Badger
The Democrats are not so stupid

Bad assumption. They are stupid and just compensating for it with brute force. And it is not just the democrats, it's the entire government, the entire operating framework of the government of all western nations.

Narrowing this down to a couple of elections is insanely short sighted, especially given how our elections are managed to ensure nothing changes.

Not only that, but so far the democrats have done absolutely nothing to move in the direction of ditching Biden and promoting someone else.

13 posted on 08/04/2023 7:23:00 AM PDT by hopespringseternal
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To: Lou L; All
I’ve had that thought about him providing cover as well.

We don’t know how much of 2020 backlash voting was covid but the 2022 results suggest there’s a strong anti trump sentiment among voters, enough that the more closely he was tied to the candidate the more likely the loss. We lost some high profile races that were very winnable.

He wasn’t on the ballot but Dems ran against Trump in 2022 and succeeded. No one has provided a compelling argument why that wouldn’t work again in 2024.

14 posted on 08/04/2023 7:24:39 AM PDT by newzjunkey (We need a better Trump than Trump in 2024)
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To: Lou L
I think the Democrat/Communist Party knows that if they don't take Trump out of the race, they'll lose ... and lose big.

There is no doubt in my mind that the Democrat/Communist Party is confident they can beat any other Republican presidential candidate in 2024 (and I guaran-damn-tee you it won't be with F-JB). At this point, I think they may be right.

So, it is clear that the Democrat/Communist Party will stop at nothing -- absolutely nothing -- to prevent Trump from running and being elected.

They will continue to do whatever it takes at whatever the cost!

15 posted on 08/04/2023 7:28:23 AM PDT by glennaro (Never give up ... never give in ... never surrender ... and enjoy every minute of doing so.)
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To: JoSixChip

That’s the whole issue- Trump won. This has shown many Americans their votes don’t count. Now the fear of the government is what will people do when voting is no longer a means to address issues? What will people do? Will it be like COVID 19 and the shutdown, where many Conservatives became sheep? How many of you knowing took the jab? How many of you rolled over and took it and stayed home from Church? How many places of worship didn’t stand up and had services? How many Conservatives believed the media and harassed those of us you refused the jab?

Will Conservatives or patriots now vote by no longer doing business with those that hate them? I understand it’s impossible to completely do this, but at least limit it.

It’s easy to complain but doing something is often asking too much of folks. COVID 19 showed the true colors of many Americans.


16 posted on 08/04/2023 7:36:28 AM PDT by RowdyRoo (There only three types of people, those that can count and those that can't.)
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To: Dilbert San Diego

Yeah. The idiot writing this article doesn’t even know about the single most important case of a Presidential nominee coming back to win.

Nixon didn’t contest the ‘60 election because he didn’t want a Constitutional crisis or so he said. He should have, but proving it back then would have been far more difficult. Trump has vastly more evidence.

But one thing is diffirent now: in 1960 no one would have dared to say it was a crime to contest the election. That would have been considered ludicrous.


17 posted on 08/04/2023 7:39:10 AM PDT by Regulator (It's fraud, Jim)
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To: Red Badger

personally I think its gonna go down just like 2020. Nothing has been done to punish the cheating, so it will intensify. It will be trump vs Newsom/M. Obama. And they will barely win, again. And conservatives will complain for the next couple of years.

Rinse and REPEAT


18 posted on 08/04/2023 7:45:29 AM PDT by hillarys cankles
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To: Red Badger
The author apparently overlooks the fact that the Clinton campaign wanted to run against Trump in 2016, too.

I would also suggest that Trump is the only Republican candidate who can win in 2024. Compared to him, the other contenders come across as such feckless losers that they will generate zero enthusiasm among many, many voters.

19 posted on 08/04/2023 7:45:35 AM PDT by Alberta's Child ("I've just pissed in my pants and nobody can do anything about it." -- Major Fambrough)
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To: Alberta's Child

We seem to be so entrenched in “my guy, my team” that we don’t even factor in that the democrats have taken control of the process. It doesn’t matter who the republicans run, they are gonna lose. The cheating has been accepted as just something we have to overcome and maybe I’m missing something, but NOTHING has been done about anything that went on in 2020. So why the hell is 2024 gonna be any different?


20 posted on 08/04/2023 7:51:07 AM PDT by hillarys cankles
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