Beltway Fantasies: Primarying Trump Edition

Yes, plenty of people love the idea of primarying Donald Trump in 2020. That probably includes the large majority of Senate Republicans. It certainly includes Jeff Flake, who hints at it here. It’s a total fantasy. I am finding the idea of a legitimate primary challenge to Trump highly dubious. The only way it might happens is that the corruption and embarrassing incidents are so out of control that it threatens to torpedo the whole party. But what could Trump do that would alienate Republican primary voters? Embrace the Ku Klux Klan? Oh wait, that already happened. And that hasn’t done it. If actually embracing white supremacist violence not going to alienate Trump’s base, what will?

The problem people such as Flake face, not to mention the many Beltway types who long for the old era of a Republican Daddy taking care of them, is that Republican primary voters LOVE the open racism and misogyny of Donald Trump. The primary things they care about are a) Make America White Again and b) Fuck Liberals. Some care about abortion as well. That’s about it. Jeff Flake wants to return to the days where he and the media could pretend his interests in serving as a corporate lapdog and destroying the social safety net were what actually motivated Republican voters. But that’s not coming back. Of course Trump is happy with those things too and that’s why even though Trump continues to insult Flake and Bob Corker and John McCain, they largely vote with him on the vast majority of bills. But the only constituency within the Republican universe to primary Trump are the corporate heads. And as Trump proved in the 2016 primary, he doesn’t need the Koch Brothers to win.