Posted on 03/21/2016 9:08:12 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
The best line from any Trump stump speech this year is “Everyone wants Washington to change, and that means changing everyone in Washington.” No, wait — I’m mixed up. Trump didn’t say that. It was Tom Coburn, announcing his retirement from the Senate, who did. Coburn was raging against a corrupt establishment in D.C. back when Trump was still firing people on “The Apprentice.” Such was his despair at what he encountered in the capital that he spent the last few years calling for a convention of the states to fix Washington. He’s a perfect choice in many ways for #NeverTrumpers — conservative yet anti-establishment, experienced yet uncorrupted by his time in the Senate. I’ve never had an opportunity to vote for him, but I’d welcome it.
Would Coburn maximize the anti-Trump vote on the right as a third-party candidate, though? I’m not sure.
But should that effort falter, leading conservatives are prepared to field an independent candidate in the general election, to defend Republican principles and offer traditional conservatives an alternative to Mr. Trump’s hard-edged populism. They described their plans in interviews after Mr. Trump’s victories last Tuesday in Florida and three other states…
Among the recruits under discussion are Tom Coburn, a former Oklahoma senator who has told associates that he would be open to running, and Rick Perry, the former Texas governor who was suggested as a possible third-party candidate at a meeting of conservative activists on Thursday in Washington.
Mr. Coburn, who left the Senate early last year to receive treatment for cancer, said in an interview that Mr. Trump “needs to be stopped” and that he expected to back an independent candidate against him. He said he had little appetite for a campaign of his own, but did not flatly rule one out.
“I’m going to support that person,” Mr. Coburn said, “and I don’t expect that person to be me.”
The best thing about Coburn as the head of the Anti-Trump Party is that it’d be harder to demagogue him as an establishment pawn than it would most other independent challengers. If Romney jumped in, Trump would attack him as a last gasp by the mega-rich country-club set to blow up the GOP after We the People took it over. That doesn’t work with a soft-spoken Oklahoman like Coburn; he’d run as a populist himself, but one who thinks reform requires reducing federal power instead of putting Classier People in charge of it. He could and would critique the system with the jaundiced eye of someone who understands its failings from the inside. He’d do well enough at the presidential debates as a contrast with Trump, making the case against Washington yet sounding like he actually knows what he’s talking about, that he might move some conservative votes from Trump’s column to his. And he’d have a fair shot at winning his home state, which is worth seven electoral votes. (Oklahoma, remember, went for Cruz this year, not Trump.) That’s not much, but which states would Romney flip realistically? Utah? That’s worth just six.
Coburn’s problem is that he might not have enough of a soapbox to muscle in on the debate between Trump and Hillary. Conservative activists know and love him, but that’s a tiny niche. Coburn could jump in, enjoy a week of fanfare, and then slip off the radar for 98 percent of the country. That’s Romney’s key advantage: He has phenomenal name recognition from his 2012 run and he has a network of donors who could bankroll a semi-serious independent effort. He wouldn’t win, needless to say, but casual anti-Trump voters looking to park their votes somewhere are way more likely to hear about it if Romney jumps in than if Coburn does. Arguably Coburn’s also an inferior choice to Rick Perry, who enjoys a bit more name recognition thanks to two failed presidential runs. Perry’s problem is that casual voters may know him mainly as the guy who couldn’t remember the three agencies he wanted to get rid of during his 2012 campaign. He’d start out being viewed skeptically by casual anti-Trumpers, but a few strong media appearances early on could weaken that skepticism. Having backed Ted Cruz in the primaries, Perry might be rewarded by donations from Cruz’s Texas base of wealthy conservatives for his third-party bid. And Perry, probably more than any other independent challenger, could put Texas itself in play in the general election. Even if he didn’t win the state outright, which would be a tall order with Democrats unified behind Hillary and Republicans split between him and Trump, pulling just 20 percent of the vote there would likely turn the state blue, all but ending Trump’s chances. If the #NeverTrump challenge to Trump is a pure spoiler effort than Perry’s probably the best choice for that reason alone.
But it sounds like he’s not interested:
@GovernorPerry has no interest in running as a 3rd party candidate. For the good of the country, he wants the GOP to unite around @tedcruz
— Jeff Miller (@JeffMillerCA2TX) March 20, 2016
Jeff Miller was Perry’s presidential campaign manager last year. Is that a sincere Sherman statement or just a provisional one, to be revisited if/when Cruz loses Wisconsin in a few weeks and suddenly it really does look like Trump’s on his way to the nomination? No third-party aspirant wants to start making noise about running now when Cruz still has a shot to stop Trump in the primary, but if he underperforms in the next few primaries it might be time for righties to start thinking outside the box.
Please do. We’ll have NO leverage against the GOPe after they deny Trump the nomination so they need to know ahead of time, along with every Republican running for office that Trump supporters will retaliate against them if they play dirty.
Oh, no...Trump would treat this like a hanging curve ball.
Wrong, troll. I say bring it on.
bwahahahahaha!!!
Such ignorance.
So are Trump supporters if Trump is screwed out of the nomination.
That's because we would refuse to be disenfranchised.
I’ve met Sen. Coburn in his OKC office to discuss individual industry issues of national importance. He struck me as very smart and well informed on these specific issues.
I think it would be extremely stupid and short-sighted on his part should he decide to run as an independent.
Trump is 9999999999X better than Hitlery could ever hope to be and if he is the eventual Republican nominee, he needs to be supported by all Republicans. He will also gain the support of a number of Democrats and Independents.
He must be yet another fag in government.
Yep, that sentiment is everywhere on the ‘Net. Yours is more eloquent and profane-free than most. ;-)
I’m not sure if i could bring myself to vote dem, but i sure as heck wouldn’t vote for ANY Republican who sided with the GOPe.
You hear that, Republicans on the fence? If you’re a known RINO, you’re already on our blacklist. We’re talking to those of you who are sitting on the fence with one index finger in the wind and the other one up your ***, trying to decide which way to jump. We’re all watching and taking notes!
RINO/GOPe side of the fence or Trump side of the fence? Make your choice.
You act like you some how know that Trump is not a liberal Republican. How do you know that? All his stated policies before he started campaigning for President were liberal. Most of his campaign policies except for immigration are still liberal. When he talks about 9-11 he sounds like a far left wing liberal.
Trump is a salesman who knows what to say to close a deal who believes that everything is negotiable.
If Trump gets the nomination I will vote for him because I have at least some hope that he will be better than the alternative. I held my nose and voted for McCain and Romney for the same reason.
However, since approximately 40% of Republicans polled are as adamant that they will never vote for Trump as you are that you will never vote for anyone else we have clearly already lost. Get ready for President Hillary.
Something else to ponder. Under the Constitution, the new President will not take office until January 20 but the new Congress will take office on January 3. That means that regardless of who the next President is, if the Democrats retake the Senate then Senate Majority Leader Chuckie Schumer will have almost 3 weeks to easily confirm all of Obama’s nominees from the Supreme Court down to the district courts.
Yeh Tom you have a chance. Not! :-)
Then you’re once again doing nothing about the GOP forcing another candidate on us that we didn’t select.
Like him or not, Trump has gotten more votes than anyone else thus far and if he doesn’t reach the magic 1237 because of party obstructionism I don’t intend to take it lying down.
If those 40% that are claimed decide to stay home it won’t make any difference how many Republicans are left in congress anyway.
The people who remember America when it was a free country are getting old and dying every day. Every day we’re being replaced by Bernie bots.
If ever there was a time where we decided “we’ve gone as far as we can go this way”, it’s now.
Like I said, this is what I’ve decided and I’m doing what I can to let people know we can pressure the Establishment with the threat at this point. Once they’ve made their move we’ll have nothing left but to acquiesce or vote Democrat so we can get things to the next level, and you know what that is.
You are not paying attention. Read up on Trump’s policies. They are all conservative.
So glad I wasn't sipping on a beverage when I read that.
I doubt a third party would hurt Trump.
The more I think about it, the more I think that the establishment is acting like a cheating husband who was caught in the act and is trying desperately to win back his wife who is going to divorce him and take everything he owns with her.
“I’ll give you this Tom Coburn if you take me back!”
“Remember all the good times we had after I gave you that Mitt Romney?”
“You’ll be sorry if you break up with me for that bastard Trump.”
These antiTrump at any cost fools are tiresome.
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