Colman: Run, Ron, Run

The 2024 Presidential election is stil more than two years away—but from the activity on the Republican side, you would think the first primary was next month.  Even the Democrats are getting ready—with the fun candidates being the openly corrupt Hillary Clinton—who John Durham may shortly indict for her role in the Russia, Russia hoax and scam.  About 2/3 of GOP’ers seem to want Trump to run again.  But following him is the Governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis.  No income taxes, families and businesses fleeing Soviet States and coming to Florida—or Texas.  Science based COVID responses, schools stayed open.  He could be the Trump VP.

There is plenty of talk in America about diversity.  And the Republican Party needs, at least at the presidential level, more diversity. 

So, Ron DeSantis, the current Republican governor of Florida, do your party a favor:  Run for president in 2024.”

The good news is that the GOP has several good choices—the Democrats have Putin light and the corrupt.  2022 should change the dynamic for both Parties. 

RUN, RON, RUN

By Richard Colman, Exclusive to the California Political News and Views,  1/19/22

There is plenty of talk in America about diversity.  And the Republican Party needs, at least at the presidential level, more diversity. 

So, Ron DeSantis, the current Republican governor of Florida, do your party a favor:  Run for president in 2024. 

Former president Donald Trump is too old, too overweight, and too polarizing to be the Republican nominee for president again. 

Gov. DeSantis, age 43, is no RINO (Republican in Name Only).  He is a strict conservative who won’t say whether or not he has been vaccinated against the coronavirus. 

Unlike Trump, DeSantis does not insult people.  Trump, when running for president in 2016, called Latinos “rapists.”  Later, in August 2017, Trump, as president, said, during a protest in Charlottesville, Virginia, that there “were very fine people on both sides.”  Members of one side chanted, “Jews will not replace us.” 

Trump is now 75 years old.  If he ran for president in 2024, he would be 78.

On Jan. 6, 2021, while pro-Trump agitators were attacking the Capitol of the United States, Trump watched, in a room adjacent to the Oval Office, the riot on television.  Pleas by Republican lawmakers to have Trump call off the riot went unheeded. 

For too long, Republicans have ignored the cheerful optimism of President Ronald Reagan, who kept saying that America is a “shining city on a hill.”  Reagan’s optimism as buoyed by a great sense of humor.

Republicans should remember the words of former Congressman, former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, and, in 2012, the Republican candidate for vice president, Jack Kemp, who called on Republicans to have a “big tent” of office-holders.  Kemp died in 2009. 

Republicans should also remember former Republican Senator Howard Baker, once the Senate’s majority leader.  Baker, now deceased, was a cheerful and likeable conservative. 

In addition to DeSantis, there are other Republicans who should consider running for president.  An example is Nikki Haley, elected twice as governor of South Carolina and a former American ambassador to the United Nations.

If Republicans renominate Trump for president, there is a good change that, assuming the President Joseph Biden does not seek a second term, will nominate a centrist Democrat who can win votes in suburban areas, parts of rural America, and the Mountain states.  Do Republicans want to lose the White House in 2024?

A possibly strong Democratic presidential prospect is Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona.  Kelly is a decorated war hero from the 1991 Gulf War and a former astronaut.  He is a pro-business Democrat from a somewhat conservative state.  Kelly is up for re-election in 2022.

DeSantis has the advantage of not being tied to ultra-liberal Democrats who favor diversity, inclusion, and equity in university admissions and in hiring.  Examples of such Democrats are Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (Democrat from New York City) and Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent and socialist lawmaker from Vermont.  In 2016 and 2020, Sanders ran for the Democratic nomination for president.  Sanders, now 80, lost the nomination both times. 

Republicans need a fresh face.  DeSantis may be the spark that Republicans need to reinvigorate their party.