I was talking to some old friends today.\u00a0 Mostly we were discussing a get-together at the end of April.\u00a0 But one of us mentioned watching a clip of Kamala Harris at a press conference in Poland.\u00a0 I replied that I had seen it and my reaction was that she\u2019s a blithering idiot.\u00a0 He disagreed.\u00a0 He was sure that some kind of tragic neurological accident must have recently rendered her unable to speak coherent English.\u00a0 I countered that the event wasn\u2019t recent, it was her birth.\u00a0 I speculated that she might be one of those rare cases where the attending obstetrician drops the newborn on her head.\u00a0 That seemed the least unlikely explanation.\u00a0 After all, if the event happened right at the beginning of her tenure on Earth, then no one would notice any decrease in intelligence.<\/p>\n
We left that speculation and talked about the prospects for reform of our present disastrous status quo.\u00a0 We all agreed that the Republicans would regain control of both houses of Congress.\u00a0 But I asked what good would that change do for us?\u00a0 The Idiot in Chief would still be in office for two more years and the damage already done to the economy and every other facet of life in these United States would continue to afflict us.<\/p>\n
My friends were of the opinion that the push back that we\u2019re seeing in places like Florida and Texas over puberty blockers for young children and CRT in the classroom and men competing in women\u2019s sports showed that the pendulum was swinging in our direction decisively.\u00a0 And further they were excited by the news that Latino voters were trending Republican and that Hispanic women were running for office as Republicans in Texas.\u00a0 To my friends all of these things were undeniable proof that we were \u201cwinning.\u201d<\/p>\n
I told them that I had seen this script play out before.\u00a0 I reminded them that Ronald Reagan was followed by George Bush and Bill Clinton.\u00a0 I reminded them that some of the worst cultural damage was done under Republican presidencies.\u00a0 And some of the worst Supreme Court decisions were made by Republican appointees.\u00a0 My point was that I did not doubt that America would respond to the awful policies and actions of federal and local Democratic leaders by voting for Republicans to replace them.\u00a0 My doubt was that the Republicans would use the opportunity to change things for the better.\u00a0 This was answered with rueful agreement.<\/p>\n
Then we talked about who should be the 2024 Republican presidential candidate.\u00a0 Both of these guys were convinced that Donald Trump should not be the candidate.\u00a0 They wanted Ron DeSantis and added that a Latina should be the Veep candidate.\u00a0 I said I liked DeSantis but that unless Trump declined to run DeSantis would not be able to claim the mantle.\u00a0 This was greeted with silence.<\/p>\n
These friends of mine are a good stand-in for the mainstream of the party.\u00a0 They are conservatives but they worry that Trump is too divisive.\u00a0 They want someone who attracts groups like suburban women.\u00a0 I think they\u2019re wrong.\u00a0 Trump attracts the right people.\u00a0 He received more votes in 2020 than any Republican candidate before him.\u00a0 He will get enough votes as long as the count is honest.\u00a0 I think the ticket should be Trump\/DeSantis.\u00a0 I think DeSantis will bring the political managerial savvy and Trump will bring his instincts.<\/p>\n
The conversation I had today reinforced in me what I imagined mainstream conservative opinions run to.\u00a0 There is optimism that a rejection at the ballot box is coming in November.\u00a0 This optimism seems overblown and doesn\u2019t question whether the Republicans will blow the opportunity to roll back some of the damage to the culture and laws.\u00a0 Also, I see the white-collar Republicans continue to misunderstand Donald Trump\u2019s appeal to the non-elitist components of the United States population.\u00a0 What this tells me is that a lot more education will still have to happen before we\u2019re past believing in the GOP establishment.\u00a0 But it was, on the whole, a reasonably lucid discussion.\u00a0 No one mentioned Marco Rubio or Nikki Haley.\u00a0 No one freaked out about the Supreme Court ruling in favor of abortion restrictions.\u00a0 People are waking up.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I was talking to some old friends today.\u00a0 Mostly we were discussing a get-together at the end of April.\u00a0 But one of us mentioned watching<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[2056],"class_list":["post-18118","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-events","tag-normies"],"yoast_head":"\n