Where have I seen this before....
Oh you mean!
Unironic no. Kamala was the only choice in 2024 by the time they punted Biden due to already raised campaign funds. I know we enjoy teh memes, but in this case the meme is in fact incorrect. Kamala was already "known" by that point. I call out 2008 in particular for a reason since Barack was a bit of a left field pick for the Dems insofar as he didn't really have a national presence yet. Kamala being VP is pretty much an automatic DQ for this in 2024 or any other year past 2020.
To me, Newsom's Trump imitation would make a lot more sense in context of a general against Trump. He could set himself up as Diet Trump as a challenge to another nominee to prove they can beat the Trump approach before they take him on in the general. Or, if nobody can, then maybe that's just the approach voters from both parties want.
I'd find it more compelling of a theory (Speaking from Newsom's POV, not necessarily yours Triple H.) if it wasn't really obvious just how quickly he's put on airs and how Newsom just doesn't have the chops for that.
Instead, Trump is going to be off the table and no other nominee is really going to be like Trump going forward. They can ape the policies, but aping the speaking style too much just looks phony and unnatural and a lot of these guys just don't want to behave that way. They like their decorum.
Yeah. When I mentioned Newsom trying to do a dollar-store Trump, I meant in mannerisms, not policy. Trump's blowhard nature only works because the man himself has built himself into this icon of that for decades. One does not merely put on some spray tan and grab pretense by the pussy.
If Vance is the nominee, he's not going to pretend to be Donald Trump. He has his own style which is rooted in identifying with a working class hillbilly upbringing and values associated with military service such as discipline and patriotism, rather than luxurious gold buildings and supermodels and reality tv shows.
And this is genius on the Republican end of things. I think he'll yuck it up some, but he gets a pass because he was a VP that got along with Trump. He can play it off as learning from the masters. No one else can unless they're directly tied to T-Money somehow.
Here is how I see the Dem primary going down: Newsom will come in with his Diet Anti-Woke talking points. They won't be anti-woke enough to appeal to the anti-woke and the woke will declare him a Nazi war criminal. He will lose that primary, and Democrats will run a generic democrat willing to pander to the woke like Biden. This will be bad for them in the general because woke policies are unpopular and insane, as are generic democrats, but it probably won't decide the winner.
I can see a different outcome actually. Newsom gets basically barred from running because he's too much of a (fire) hazard for the party. Ditto for Kamala, she's already practically iced out of most national public functions at this point and lowkey, I think everyone hates her. Which means I kind of don't think there's any Democrat candidate with natural recognition, who's the standard kind of Biden neo-lib, and who doesn't already have an entire cargo plane of baggage with them that would sink a campaign before it even begins. So that really leaves one of two kinds of candidate IMO, if they don't run a placeholder as a concession candidate in 2028.
1. Dark Horse Candidate out of nowhere, and whom none of us can predict by virtue of being a Dark Horse. Amy Klobuchar was actually a favorite of mine for this, but she dropped the ball on a speech trying to tackle Trump, and if they're trying to farm out a dark horse, these little things will matter to the string pullers.
2. The lunatics are running the asylum, there are no more string pullers, and they nominate a far lefty. Bad news, socialism gets a platform. Great news eclipsing the bad news several magnitudes over, this will go over like a lead balloon and basically signal the Democratic Party is dead and will never return to whatever the blue collar Dem voters thought it was. The aisle-flipped version is if the Republicans run some Evangelo-con who openly states they're gonna try and unite Christianity and the law together. That'll sell well in the backwaters of the Deep South, but you will piss off every swing state and they will either stay home or vote the other way out of spite. In short, they go woke, and go so broke they achieve TDD, Total Democrat Death.
I would fear Vance if I was a Democrat. He can talk about working class issues in a universal and genuine way that someone like Newsom can't fake, and isn't even trying to because he's too busy being Trump deranged.
Almost like he lived it unlike most Democrats.
I have a copy of Hillbilly Elegy. Good book. Would recommend.
Especially if he pairs with Rubio, that alone will secure the neocon vote.The run for 2028 will be interesting for sure.
I'm hoping for Vance/Gabbard in 2028 personally. Stuffing idpol as a talking point would be great, and I could see one or the other pull off some, "... and she's the first COMPETENT black vice presidential candidate, since we like competency over in the Republican Party," kind of linguistic killshot. Rubio's redeemed himself, but I do think Little Marco's absolutely in his own in the cabinet. How about we don't promote someone past their competence?
