About 20 years ago, I received my weekly subscription copy of Entertainment Weekly and Michael Jackson was on the cover with his rhinestone white glove and the similar dance pose he did. In 2002, Jackson was already losing a lot of his popularity. He wasn’t reading the environment that it had been a while and the 1990s weren’t kind to him with all the child abuse allegations as well as that odd marriage to Lisa Marie Presley. The magazine got a lot of criticism for it. Jackson still thought it was the 1980s.
Celebrities never know when they are over and done. It’s like the Sunset Boulevard where Gloria Swanson plays aging movie star Norma Desmond who still believes she’s as popular in her old age as she ever was because someone is telling her she’s popular. If you wonder where I’m going with this, I’m talking about Donald J. Trump, who on Tuesday, Nov. 15 announced his intention to run for President for the third time. Even though he still claims he won the 2020 Election which would nullify his chances of seeking a third term, he still thinks he’s popular with the people.
He isn’t.
The 2022 General Elections were a disaster for the Republican Party. Most of the people Trump endorsed ended up losing. All secretary of state candidates who believed the Big Lie lost. Kari Lake, who was the Republican candidate for governor for Arizona, has lost as Katie Hobbs will stay as governor. And with Mark Kelly winning as senator in Arizona and Catherine Cortez Masto winning as senator in Nevada, the Republican Party has lost the Senate. They may have won the House of Representatives. But it doesn’t mean anything if they didn’t get the Senate. Imagine getting a dinette table but not the matching chairs.
And this puts them at a crossroads, do they keep Trump as their leader or do they dump him? More importantly, what does the Republican National Committee and the Republican Party do about the Georgia Senate run-off in December? Do they increase support for Herschel Walker, endorsed by Trump, even though it might backfire for them? Even if Walker does win, it might backfire for them in 2024. And considering that he’s rambling on about the differences between vampires and werewolves and God knows what else, do they really want him in the Senate making more problems.
Let’s face it, Walker isn’t exactly the Senator type unless he’s playing for a football team called the Senators. It’s no secret the GOP got him to move from the Dallas area where he has claimed was his home for a decade to move to Georgia to run against Sen. Raphael Warnock. Both candidates are black and some see this as the same issue between Barack Obama and Alan Keyes in 2004. Black people won’t just vote for black people because they’re black. This was really to get some of the black vote away from Warnock and I think people saw that.
I’ve heard some people say that the RNC and GOP will abandon Walker and if they’re smart, they should. Everyone else is abandoning Trump. The Republicans are looking for Gov. Ron DeSantis as their bright shining star. DeSantis is my age. The son of a bitch even has the same birthday as I do, Sept. 14. Even if DeSantis loses in 2024, he can still run in 2028 at which time he’ll be 50 and again in 2032 when he’ll be 54. DeSantis can be the face of the Republican Party for the next 30-40 years. Trump is 76 and by 2024, he will be 78, even if he’s still alive.
Trump’s behavior in an interview where he said if everyone he endorsed wins, he should get all the credit and if they lose, it’s not his fault, shows Republicans what they’re dealing with. And many are getting sick and tired of it. Fox News, which originally hoisted him up in the early days of 2015-2016, now are seeing what happens when they’re associated with him. And so are other people. The battle between Trump and DeSantis will drive the Republican Party apart and will give Democrats the White House and possibly the House and the Senate in 2024
At 80, this is Mitch McConnell’s last attempt to be Senate Majority Leader. By 2024, he may not be alive either. More importantly, a lot of people who have supported Trump and McConnell may not be alive by 2024. The one thing people underestimated in this year’s elections was younger voters. Gen Z, especially, decided it was time for a change, that dreaded C-word that politicians don’t like hearing. And if the Republicans do take the House, everyone knows they got it by gerrymandering from the 2020 Census.
And how much longer can we allow gerrymandering to ruin politics as well as this country, considering that most of the population isn’t Republican nor conservative? What we have is a political party with no agenda other than staying in power by any means necessary. Now, it’s going to be harder for them to using state secretaries to change up the votes. Even McConnell is pushing for a change to the Electoral County Act of 1887 because it can always work against the Republicans favor.
Republicans may be celebrating now but it’s not really a big win. It was Nov. 21, 2015 when my alma matter, Georgia Southern University, nearly defeated the University of Georgia in football. It was a loss that would’ve hurt UGA for years, if not decades, to come. Tied at the end of regulation at 17-17, UGA scored a touchdown in overtime and won 23-17. The fans rushed the field like they had won the BCS Championship. A lot of people noted this. And it proved one thing – head coach Mark Richt had to go.
And Richt was out of there as UGA rebuilt its football program going all the way to actually winning the championship last season. And this season, they look like they will repeat that championship. This is how you do it. If someone is holding you back, you have to let them go like UGA did with Richt. But in fairness, UGA fans are crazy like that, which is why they probably support Walker as a candidate for Senate.
The Republican Party is dying because most conservatives under the age of 50 and half a sense of decency have jumped to the Libertarian Party. It’s very likely by 2028 if not 2032, we may have a Libertarian President as well as more Libertarians in the House and Senate. This will create friction with both the Democrats and Republicans, but I see the Democrats surviving. The issue will be will Republicans nationwide support DeSantis the way they did Trump. And I don’t think they will. Trump spoke to people who were never involved in politics which is both good and bad and the prime reason he was elected.
It’s likely the Republicans will abandon him between now and the Iowa Caucus and New Hampshire Primary and if he decides to run as an Independent, it will definitely hand the Democrats a win. Inflation, or more appropriately price gouging, might be gone by 2024 and the economy may be recovered as well as Covid under control. (Some speculate Republicans refusal to get the vaccine or booster has led to their deaths and some close races in 2020 and 2022.)
We don’t know what will happen between now and 2024. As the Jan. 6 committee focuses on the events, it’s likely Attorney General Merrick Garland will be handing down some indictments soon. Just because someone is running for President doesn’t exactly exclude them from criminal charges. Technically, Trump is a private citizen now. Also, it’s likely Walker will go down in December giving Democrats a bigger edge. And with the House likely a narrow margine between Democrats and Republicans, some Republicans will vote along with Democrats. This is what Republicans feared, which makes their win of the House much ado about nothing.
And if Kevin McCarthy is the House Speaker, he seems to follow in the vein of Newt Gingrich, which might again hurt Republicans. People are tired of the fighting and gridlock. And McCarthy’s association with Trump may and probably will hurt him if he keeps on the same path.
What do you think? Please comment.
Zane Says 