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.
If all of the Republicans are against us, who is there left to be for us? I mean, how can we find enough clean candidates to contend?
This would require some serious efforts to get candidates on the ballots of the various states for the general election. As far as I know nobody has actually done anything yet. Typical GOPe. They will just talk until it is too late to do anything about it. That is pretty much how the GOPe types handle everything.
You act like you some how know that Trump is a liberal Republican. How do you know that? All his campaign policies are conservative.
If Trump goes into the convention with 1237 delegates, he should get the nomination. If he goes into it with less than that, then he will have to try to get delegates to switch over to him on subsequent ballots. If he can't and someone else can, that is not "shenanigans" - that is the convention process at work.
So tell me - if Trump goes into the convention with less than a majority of delegates, and assuming the RNC does not make any shady rule changes, if Trump cannot get a majority, will you support the eventual nominee, even if they came into the convention with fewer delegates?
Total BS and you know it.
So this is the non-conservative branch of the party. The sold out to lobbyists branch. Its not the anti-Trump branch, because Cruz is there. SO this is the group who is so upset that there is not a sell out running.
I think the GOPe needs to tread VERY carefully at that convention and they had better understand that the voters will not be cut out of any deals this time around.
Ross Perot turned out to be a flake and a quitter. That’s why they all thought the Donald would drop out. Donald isn’t dropping out.
The way the GOPe is expending their opposition candidates against Trump, I suspect they will soon resort to the Manhattan phone book.
hahahaha, Look at them crying. The tears are delicious. I wonder who will head the RNC if Trump is the nominee. Win lose or Draw the GOP becomes his after he is the nominee and the GOP as we know it is DEAD. Whether or not the likes of Cruz, Perry, Coburn, Romney and Lindsey are able to kneecap him in the general. Yaay, the GOP is dying. From its ashes will arise a better party
Who?
There are plenty of Trump supporters on this forum that have said they will stay home or vote for Trump on a 3rd party ticket if the nomination is "stolen" from him - so don't tell me it is BS...
The third party candidate that Bill Kristol, the Establishment creep, has been talking about? Actually it would be more like 4th or 5th party but whatever. If the Establishment is behind this guy, it doesn’t matter, it won’t get off the ground.
Can we stop the globalist express? Even with a sympathetic president? It has gone so far, the purges, the violence, the unreasonable demands. I just don’t know if it can all go away.
“He’s a perfect choice in many ways”
indeed. perfect choice to hand Hillary the Presidency, whether she’s indicted or not; after all, she can simply pardon herself after she’s President or simply beg Obama to do it for her before she’s inaugurated.
Indeed, Coburn would be the perfect choice by Democrats and GOP Uniparty apparatchiks everywhere.
We can’t find enough clean candidates. The only way that can happen is if government becomes more local, and anyone who gets to DC has to prove themselves on the local and state level.
There are plenty of Trump supporters on this forum that have said they will stay home or vote for Trump on a 3rd party ticket if the nomination is "stolen" from him
Hmmm, you went from all supporters to plenty of supporters on this forum...
Like I said, total BS.
That’s my plan as well. If the Cheap Labor Express gets their amnesty candidate from the RNC/GOP or they pull some phony 3rd party crap, I will become a kamakazi voter and vote for every Democrat on my ballot in November and forevermore.
“Apparently, so are Trump supporters if he doesn’t get the nomination. “
Trump supporters won’t have to do anything special to help Hillary win: she’s guaranteed a win if the GOPe picks their own candidate at the convention, you know, some latter day loser cast from the same mold as loser McCain or loser Romney.
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