Here’s some fun news.
Joe Walsh, a pugnacious former congressman, is preparing a Republican primary challenge to President Trump that he previewed as a daily “bar fight” with the incumbent over his morality and competency.
Mark Sanford, a former South Carolina governor and congressman, said he is inching closer to a bid of his own by sounding out activists in New Hampshire and other early-voting states about an insurgency focused on the ballooning deficit.
Jeff Flake, a former Arizona senator and Trump antagonist, said he has taken a flurry of recruitment calls in recent days from GOP donors rattled by signs of an economic slowdown and hungry for an alternative to Trump.
And former Ohio governor John Kasich will head to New Hampshire next month to “take a look at things” after experiencing “an increase” in overtures this summer, an adviser said.
The anti-Trump movement inside the Republican Party — long a political wasteland — is feeling new urgency to mount a credible opposition to Trump before it’s too late.
Sanford, I think, hits the nail on the head when he calls these challenges—including his own—”preposterous,” but there’s still value in challenging Trump. As the reporters Bob Costa and Phil Rucker note, “anti-Trump organizers are courting wealthy independents or even liberals to contribute in the GOP primary, if only to bruise the president and help the eventual Democratic nominee in the general election.”
So my message to Republican candidates who are disgusted by Trump is pretty simple: if you can’t bring yourself to follow Tom Nichols’ advice to vote for the Democrats in 2020, feel free to jump into the race and siphon off a few protest votes. It can’t hurt!
