Republicans. Whether Trump accepts that he lost the 2020 election to 80-year-old President Joe Biden fair-and-square, he knows that former Obama administration and the FBI persecuted his 2016 campaign and presidency for all four years in office, accusing him of colluding with the Kremlin to win the 2016 campaign.
Trump got very little satisfaction from 71-year-old former Atty. Gen. Bill Barr and his 71-year-old Special Counsel John Durham (R-Conn.). Durham couldn’t capitalize on low-hanging fruit when it came proving that Trump was illegally targeted by the Obama administration, CIA, FBI and National Security Agency [NSA] to prevent him from getting elected in 2016. U.S. law enforcement officials used former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s fake, paid opposition research against Trump AKA “the Steele dossier.” No one at the FBI or CIA questioned the fabricated Steele dossier, all designed by the 2016 Hillary campaign to help her beat Trump. All that backfired on Democrats Nov. 3, 2016 when the Electoral College elected Trump. Whatever Democrats call the “Big Lie,” what do they call the Russian Hoax against Trump built off Hillary’s fake Steele dossier?
So, Trump has plenty of motivation to run again for president, never lost his touch for campaigning, running some of the most well-attended, enthusiastic rallies in U.S. history. What’s different this time around is that Trump’s well-known to voters, including about 75% of the electorate that don’t support him running again. To have any success in 2024, Trump will have to convince voters to forget what they remember about the Trump administration. Ironically, if voters recall the low inflation prosperity and peaceful foreign policy, maybe Trump has a chance to contrast himself with Biden. So far, Capitol Hill Republicans, in the House and Senate, support Biden’s reckless proxy war against the Russian Federation. Trump had good relations with Russia and China, something Democrats and the press said Trump was cozying up to dictators, rather than getting along with U.S. adversaries.
Trump’s best shot of taking a strong stand against Biden is taking on his dangerous proxy war against the Russian Federation. Trump was preeminently the anti-foreign war president, refusing to get the U.S. embroiled in another costly, wasteful foreign war. Whether admitted by Democrats or the press, Biden didn’t take long to trash decades of constructive, practical relations with Russia and China. Today’s U.S. proxy war against the Russian Federation is the most dangerous gambit since WW II. Biden has endangered the European Continent with WW III, possibly nuclear war, battling the Kremlin with the intent to toppling Russian President Vladimir Putin. If Trump can make the case that Biden wrecked U.S. national security by destroying U.S.-Russian and U.S.-Chinese relations he’s got a shot of appealing to a wider audience. Not everyone backs Biden’s reckless proxy war with Russia.
Trump is one candidate that will go up against numerous GOP hopefuls, letting primary voters decide their preference in 2024. Whether or not 44-year-old Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Fl.)—or anyone else—runs in 2024 is anyone’s guess. Democrats and the press would like to get any anti-Trump Republican, like Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wy.), to denounce Trump’s next run for president. Trump was unfairly blamed for Democrats taking the Senate in the Nov. 8 Midterms. What are those same Republicans going to say when the GOP takes over the House in another few days. Will the same Trump-hating Republicans give him credit for pulling off the remarkable feat of winning the House? With the GOP’s shellacked in 2018 and 2020, it’s a miracle that they stormed back to take the House in 2022. Republicans shouldn’t hang their heads in the 2022 Midterms, they should celebrate the 2022 House victory.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
