Have you seen the Ron Johnson video that ended up going viral? It’s a hidden camera clip where he explains how Trump managed to lose Wisconsin. In his mind, there were a number of GOP supporters who could not bring themselves to vote for the incumbent president. This caused them to split the ticket when they decided to vote for Biden instead.
These ticket-splitting types now have to reckon with the aftermath of their decisions. They were way too worried about Trump and now they have an even bigger problem to contend with. Trump has been removed from the equation. This means that they have to evaluate Biden on his own terms.
The Afghanistan fiasco ensures that hawks like Bill Kristol are going to be rather annoyed. It should not shock anyone that he and his friends are going to be more down on Biden at this point. This is what happens when you are not sold on Biden and you are only voting for him because he is not Trump.
The “never Trump” types come in two different varieties. Kristol describes the first group as being opposed to the idea of voting for Trump but still wanting to see the GOP seize a Congressional majority. Meanwhile, the second group (which Kristol is a part of) is more than okay with having the GOP majority restored. They still have additional concerns about the party that have to be addressed, though.
Has Biden lived up to his promise of bringing competence back to the White House? @lbarronlopez @mariatcardona @BillKristol @OKnox discuss pic.twitter.com/zcDz4ydT5D
— The Lead CNN (@TheLeadCNN) August 31, 2021
“I’m glad I voted for him, I’m glad it’s not Trump, but I don’t know. I don’t think I can vote for him again. And also, maybe at the congressional level we need to check some of this stuff,” goes the summary that Kristol has provided when it comes to the thought process of his friends these days. If the GOP was a healthy political party, they would be looking at Governor DeSantis as a viable candidate for 2024.
It’s a decent chance that he would be able to lure back the Republicans who were not willing to vote for Trump the last time around. However, there are others who are worried that the GOP has become a complete and total personality cult. Will the Trump voters even be willing to turn away from their idol and accept someone new? It’s a real question that is being asked in GOP circles at the moment.
We are not too optimistic on this front. On the other hand, we would not be surprised if four years of horrific Biden leadership causes people to go sprinting back to Trump. No one who voted for him was all that excited about it. We were in a moment where people were convinced that Biden would be the lesser of two evils. It’s not like he ever did anything to convince people that he was the best man for the job.
His whole campaign came down to one thing: vote for me because I’m not Trump. It may have been enough in 2020 but that is not going to fly in 2024, especially when people have had four years to get a strong idea of what Biden’s governance is like. These are not great signs for the Democrats. Biden’s approval rating has dwindled as a result of the Afghanistan debacle.
.@CawthornforNC YOU are leading us toward "bloodshed" pic.twitter.com/hwTvvr55zJ
— The Republican Accountability Project (@AccountableGOP) September 1, 2021
There’s a good chance that people are still going to be holding grudges about what has happened. He’ll never lose the progressives but those people are going to vote Democrat anyway. These are not the voters he’s concerned. The “never Trump” Republicans served as a springboard last time and they are not going to be present this time around.
Biden can still win back Kristol and his buddies. He’ll need a little luck when it comes to the virus and economy but the pathway is there. The “never Trump” voters also have to be permanently converted into “never Republican voters”. The next three years or so will show us if he is up to that task.
