If Pete Buttigieg wins the nomination: His inexperience and embrace of many extreme positions (which he doesn’t seem to realize are, from the viewpoints of a great many Americans, truly extreme, especially his abortion absolutism), means Trump wins.
If Bernie Sanders wins the nomination: The exposure of his years lionizing communist dictatorships, which his fellow Democrats have given him a pass on (hoping to pick up his supporters), and the far-left economic-redistributionist policies he still holds mean Trump wins in a landslide.
If Joe Biden wins the nomination: He increasingly seems old and befuddled and Trump wins.
If Mike Bloomberg wins the nomination: Trump is the “blue-collar billionaire”; Bloomberg is just a globalist capitalist who champions policies that hollowed out industrial America. Trump wins.
If Elizabeth Warren wins the nomination: She won’t.
If Amy Klobuchar wins the nomination: At this point, she’s a wild card who, if she hews toward moderate, centrist positions, has a shot. But she hasn’t really been tested and vetted, so odds are still Trump wins.
Today I asked @amyklobuchar if there is room in her coalition for pro-life people. She said yes of course. I asked if she’d try to find common ground on bringing down the number of abortions.
— Chris Crawford (@CrawfordStuff) February 10, 2020
She said “Yes. Yes.” And told me about her work in the adoption caucus in the Senate. pic.twitter.com/CIvfMSulEE
Versus:
More.
Sanders is clearly the frontrunner at this point. The moderate lane is fractured. If Democrats wish to challenge Sanders internally, Biden and Warren both need to step out now, and Buttigieg and Klobuchar are going to have to determine before Super Tuesday which one is viable.
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) February 12, 2020
8 Comments for “Fearless Political Predictions”
posted by Kosh III on
I’m not sure what makes Mayor Pete “radical?” Maybe to those on here who are to the right of John Birch Society he’s radical but his positions are fairly mainstream for the Democratic party.
posted by JohnInCA on
You could have just said “Trump wins”, ya know.
posted by Tom Scharbach on
The Message: “The Greatest Republican President in the History of our Country wins.”
Bookmark this page and we can revisit it on November 4.
I’m surprised that you didn’t mention Mayor Buttigieg’s sexual orientation.
You are out of step with your conservative comrades. The anti-gay attacks on Mayor Buttigieg started to surface this week, and we can now expect a constant drumbeat as long as Mayor Buttigieg remains in contention.
This “gay supportive” comment is from Rush Limbaugh, the first American to have been awarded the Medal of Freedom during a State of the Union address:
The tone of the “gay supportive” Republican campaign is now set. Enjoy the ride, conservative homosexuals. You earned a front-row seat by failing to stand up and be counted for many, many years, including, notably, the last three.
posted by Tom Scharbach on
Bloomberg is just a globalist capitalist …
Stephen, you are clearly informed enough to know what you are saying when you use this phase.
posted by JoshR on
Tom, I completely dispute your ugly accusation, although I know that the left finds it very useful to label anyone who criticizes unmitigated economic globalism or the dominance of the Davoisie as anti-Semites, especially if the person being criticized happens to be Jewish. It’s akin to charging that anyone who criticized Obama was a racist. It’s the sort of ugly smear that closes down all discussion, as you well know.
As Michael Lind and others point out, unmitigated globalism has enriched big stockholders and kept working class people with stagnant wages. Labor is cheaper in the slave factories of China, so let’s make it easier to move factories from the South and Midwest to China and, yes, hollow out rural America flyover country. Open borders means cheap labor and the big stockholders get richer, but working people see their wages frozen — supply and demand of labor, which the left once understood but now doesn’t care about because identity politics, and importing Democratic voters, is more important.
So yes, many of us will continue to criticize the excesses of globalism and support Trump’s policies of putting American jobs first. And people like you will continue to call us anti-Semites. How sad.
posted by Tom Scharbach on
Sanders is clearly the frontrunner at this point.
I wouldn’t get too excited about it. I’m not even sure that it is accurate to describe Senator Sanders as the “frontrunner” at this point.
Senator Sanders beat Mayor Buttigieg by 1.3% yesterday, true, but that stands in marked contrast to his 22% win over Secretary Clinton in the 2016. Senator Sanders and Mayor Buttigieg each earned 9 delegates from the primary. Mayor Buttigieg leads Senator Sanders in the pledged delegate count to date. So how is Senator Sanders a “clear frontrunner”?
I don’t think that Mayor Buttigieg will win the nomination — he faces too many structural challenges — but I am reasonably certain that Senator Sanders will not.
Senator Sanders has a committed core of voters on the party’s left, but that core has a ceiling and there’s no evidence that Senator Sanders is positioned to break through that ceiling.
In fact, there is no evidence that Senator Sanders is growing his core.
Senator Sanders got less votes in this year’s primary (76,324) than he did in 2016 (151,584). Just about half as many votes this time around, compared to 2016. That’s not a good sign for the future of his candidacy. His performance so far has more in common with a “last hurrah” than it does with a “rout”.
posted by Jorge on
If Pete Buttigieg wins the nomination:
I agree. I believe Buttigieg is trying to cheap-shot his way through the campaign, and that is not enough to win a general election.
If Bernie Sanders wins the nomination:
I hope so.
If Joe Biden wins the nomination: He increasingly seems old and befuddled and Trump wins.
No. He loses because Trump swift boats him with the corruption accusation. This is not in any way meant to imply that the corruption accusation is a false one.
If Mike Bloomberg wins the nomination:
I completely disagree. This becomes a race. Bloomberg is Trump’s strongest opponent because he contrasts Trump on foreign policy, social issues (yes, social issues), signature bread-and-butter accomplishments, integrity, and statesmanship. The reason Bloomberg won’t win against Trump is because Bloomberg is a racist, and Trump is not.
Fortunately for Republicans, Trump knows that already.
If Elizabeth Warren wins the nomination: She won’t.
I agree.
If Amy Klobuchar wins the nomination:
Klobuchar is my favorite to win the nomination, although I believe it will be in a brokered convention. She may fade out. However she is probably the only candidate who can’t be knocked out outright. I mean she has a Harris problem with a questionable prosecution, but she was ready for that question (and it wasn’t Tulsi Gabbard who asked it).
Her weaknesses are the same as Joe Biden’s and Michael Bloomberg’s: she voted to impeach the President (bad move), and she’s (something Donald Trump is, only not as bad, but the Trump campaign can always lie about it).
posted by Jorge on
I’m not sure what makes Mayor Pete “radical?” Maybe to those on here who are to the right of John Birch Society he’s radical but his positions are fairly mainstream for the Democratic party.
Right down to their snobby hatred of everyone who dares to say “No” to them.
The tone of the “gay supportive” Republican campaign is now set. Enjoy the ride, conservative homosexuals. You earned a front-row seat by failing to stand up and be counted for many, many years, including, notably, the last three.
I don’t understand why Rush Limbaugh’s comments mean anything to anybody. He’s simply analyzing Pete Buttigieg’s handicap. This is hardly the first time I have heard this sentiment from someone in the media. By my estimate it’s about the 25th.
So I don’t see why Limbaugh should be in any way faulted, or even acknowledged for watching the news and believing what he hears.
If anything Tom I think you should be pointing the finger at yourself for supporting Buttigieg’s candidacy while even acknowledging that he’s gay, and at those who oppose his candidacy while acknowledging that he’s gay.