Jon Reisman

2023 is just getting started, but the 2024 Presidential election is well under way. I would rather pay attention to spring training, but given the likely mediocrity (at best) of the Red Sox, my attention to Florida will be more on Tallahassee than Fort Myers.

First, the Democrats:

Joe Biden is almost certainly running for a second term, much to the delight of the Chinese Communist Party which continues to launch trial balloons and probe just how weak, irresolute and corrupt the demented head of the Biden crime actually is. A majority of Democrats do not want Joe to run again, but that apparently does not matter. I suppose it is possible that Biden and his handlers might have a Lyndon Johnson precedent moment this spring and announce that he will not run, but that seems like a faint hope, especially with the weak bench in waiting.

Cackling Kamala Harris has even lower approval ratings than Biden, but when you live by identity politics, you die by them. The Democrats simply cannot bounce a black woman from the ticket, unless she was replaced by a black woman such as…

Michelle (my belle) Obama, who is, IMO, the likely Democratic nominee if Joe withdraws.

Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, the princeling of systemically racist roads, has been exposed as a grossly incompetent fraud after serial supply chain, airline and railroad disasters that he is unable and unwilling to address. His intersectionality homosexual cred has been swamped by his incredible record of unctuous failures.

Governors Gavin Newsom (California) and Gretchen Whitmer (Michigan) round out the rickety bench.

For the Republicans, two candidates are already announced, and a deep bench suggests several more:.

Donald Trump, soon to be indicted by Biden consigliore Merrick Garland for felony orangeness and obstruction of social justice, has announced his intention to follow the Grover Cleveland precedent and serve nonconsecutive terms. Former South Carolina Governor and UN Ambassador Nikki Haley is in. Florida Governor Ron Desantis has already been attacked by Trump with the nickname “Ron Disanctimonius.” Trump e-mails have been bombarding me for over a year, and no amount of spam referral seems to help.

Other potential entrants include former Vice -President Mike Pence, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, South Carolina Senator Tim Scott and Governors Chris Sununu (New Hampshire), Glenn Youngkin (Virginia) and Kristi Noem (South Dakota).

There is a distinct possibility that the deep Republican bench will result in a multi-candidate scrum like the 2016 precedent, allowing Trump to prevail with a steady sliver of 35% of the GOP electorate while the remaining two thirds is cannibalized amongst the rest. IMO, that would be unfortunate, because as much as I generally approved of Trump’s policies, his baggage and braggadocio were exhausting. His 2020 election loss unleashed an existential progressive threat to freedom, empowered and enriched the Biden crime family, encouraged our enemies and imperiled our future.  Desantis looks to me to be the best bet to counter those threats. The rest of the GOP field offers some excellent Vice-Presidential possibilities, and I would add Senator Tom Cotton (Arkansas) and former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (Hawaii) to that list.

Jon Reisman is an economist and policy analyst who retired from the University of Maine at Machias after 38 years. He resides on Cathance Lake in Cooper, where he is a Selectman and a Statler and Waldorf intern. Mr. Reisman’s views are his own and he welcomes comments as letters to the editor here, or to him directly via email at [email protected].