photo credit: Andrew Harnik/AP
On June 17th I published a post with a list of potential Democratic presidential candidates for 2020. (Read it here.) Now Axios says some Republicans are beginning to think about running too, which is striking given that a Republican incumbent will presumably be running for reelection in 2020:
Some of Trump's fellow Republican politicians are already eyeing a potential 2020 presidential bid, even though Trump has only been in office for nearly 200 days, NYT reports.
From Governor John Kasich's planned visit to New Hampshire
to Sens. Ben Sasse and Tom Cotton spending time in Iowa, GOP lawmakers have
been quietly exploring what looks like the beginning of a presidential
campaign. These trips allow the (likely) Republican presidential hopefuls to
court various donors in those states and to build their brand years ahead of
the next election.
More than 75 Republicans "at every level of the
party" expressed to NYT widespread uncertainty that Trump would even be on
the 2020 ballot — though Trump hasn't declined seeking re-election.
Bottom line: The so-called "shadow
candidates" maintain they're only preparing in case Trump does not run
again in 2020, but it also suggests a growing uncertainty about whether Trump
is a lasting president.
As implied above, it's beginning to look at least possible that the Republican incumbent running in 2020 will be named Pence, not Trump. Three of the five men in the photo above, Reince Priebus, Sean Spicer and Michael Flynn, are already gone. Will Donald Trump also leave the presidency at some point before the 2020 election, willingly or otherwise? Based on my read of the current political landscape, it's not out of the question.
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