Posted on 03/21/2016 9:08:12 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
The best line from any Trump stump speech this year is “Everyone wants Washington to change, and that means changing everyone in Washington.” No, wait — I’m mixed up. Trump didn’t say that. It was Tom Coburn, announcing his retirement from the Senate, who did. Coburn was raging against a corrupt establishment in D.C. back when Trump was still firing people on “The Apprentice.” Such was his despair at what he encountered in the capital that he spent the last few years calling for a convention of the states to fix Washington. He’s a perfect choice in many ways for #NeverTrumpers — conservative yet anti-establishment, experienced yet uncorrupted by his time in the Senate. I’ve never had an opportunity to vote for him, but I’d welcome it.
Would Coburn maximize the anti-Trump vote on the right as a third-party candidate, though? I’m not sure.
But should that effort falter, leading conservatives are prepared to field an independent candidate in the general election, to defend Republican principles and offer traditional conservatives an alternative to Mr. Trump’s hard-edged populism. They described their plans in interviews after Mr. Trump’s victories last Tuesday in Florida and three other states…
Among the recruits under discussion are Tom Coburn, a former Oklahoma senator who has told associates that he would be open to running, and Rick Perry, the former Texas governor who was suggested as a possible third-party candidate at a meeting of conservative activists on Thursday in Washington.
Mr. Coburn, who left the Senate early last year to receive treatment for cancer, said in an interview that Mr. Trump “needs to be stopped” and that he expected to back an independent candidate against him. He said he had little appetite for a campaign of his own, but did not flatly rule one out.
“I’m going to support that person,” Mr. Coburn said, “and I don’t expect that person to be me.”
The best thing about Coburn as the head of the Anti-Trump Party is that it’d be harder to demagogue him as an establishment pawn than it would most other independent challengers. If Romney jumped in, Trump would attack him as a last gasp by the mega-rich country-club set to blow up the GOP after We the People took it over. That doesn’t work with a soft-spoken Oklahoman like Coburn; he’d run as a populist himself, but one who thinks reform requires reducing federal power instead of putting Classier People in charge of it. He could and would critique the system with the jaundiced eye of someone who understands its failings from the inside. He’d do well enough at the presidential debates as a contrast with Trump, making the case against Washington yet sounding like he actually knows what he’s talking about, that he might move some conservative votes from Trump’s column to his. And he’d have a fair shot at winning his home state, which is worth seven electoral votes. (Oklahoma, remember, went for Cruz this year, not Trump.) That’s not much, but which states would Romney flip realistically? Utah? That’s worth just six.
Coburn’s problem is that he might not have enough of a soapbox to muscle in on the debate between Trump and Hillary. Conservative activists know and love him, but that’s a tiny niche. Coburn could jump in, enjoy a week of fanfare, and then slip off the radar for 98 percent of the country. That’s Romney’s key advantage: He has phenomenal name recognition from his 2012 run and he has a network of donors who could bankroll a semi-serious independent effort. He wouldn’t win, needless to say, but casual anti-Trump voters looking to park their votes somewhere are way more likely to hear about it if Romney jumps in than if Coburn does. Arguably Coburn’s also an inferior choice to Rick Perry, who enjoys a bit more name recognition thanks to two failed presidential runs. Perry’s problem is that casual voters may know him mainly as the guy who couldn’t remember the three agencies he wanted to get rid of during his 2012 campaign. He’d start out being viewed skeptically by casual anti-Trumpers, but a few strong media appearances early on could weaken that skepticism. Having backed Ted Cruz in the primaries, Perry might be rewarded by donations from Cruz’s Texas base of wealthy conservatives for his third-party bid. And Perry, probably more than any other independent challenger, could put Texas itself in play in the general election. Even if he didn’t win the state outright, which would be a tall order with Democrats unified behind Hillary and Republicans split between him and Trump, pulling just 20 percent of the vote there would likely turn the state blue, all but ending Trump’s chances. If the #NeverTrump challenge to Trump is a pure spoiler effort than Perry’s probably the best choice for that reason alone.
But it sounds like he’s not interested:
@GovernorPerry has no interest in running as a 3rd party candidate. For the good of the country, he wants the GOP to unite around @tedcruz
— Jeff Miller (@JeffMillerCA2TX) March 20, 2016
Jeff Miller was Perry’s presidential campaign manager last year. Is that a sincere Sherman statement or just a provisional one, to be revisited if/when Cruz loses Wisconsin in a few weeks and suddenly it really does look like Trump’s on his way to the nomination? No third-party aspirant wants to start making noise about running now when Cruz still has a shot to stop Trump in the primary, but if he underperforms in the next few primaries it might be time for righties to start thinking outside the box.
No.
Not now.
And certainly not you, Coburn.
What an asshole. It is amazing how many “conservatives” I used to respect who have shown their true, dark colors this election season.
False attribution of a quote, but Coburn did accuse Cruz of alienating his peers in the Senate.
I have been busily processing that possible future for a few weeks now. It always seems to lead to a civil war revolving around the second amendment. This is why I am all about the NRA remaining non-partisan.
Cool, Tom, and just so you know, I’m okay with voting against every Republican down ticket in this election and every election to come.
Local, state and federal.
Yeah, that would be stating the obvious.
I think that Trump is a mistake. At best, he is like most wealthy Northeastern liberal Republicans, falling somewhere in a narrow political spectrum between Bloomberg on the left and Giuliani on the right. He is also a talented salesman who knows how to tell his audience whatever they want to hear.
Regardless, if he gets the nomination, I will vote for him over Hillary and hope that he falls closer to Giuliani than Bloomberg.
A third party candidate cannot get elected and can only guarantee that Hillary does. I don’t care who the third party candidate is, it will be a repeat of Ross Perot in 1992.
Pyles! They told us for years how we had to back the nominee. F them.
This is getting more absurd, by the day.
Trump has completely exposed ALL of the LYING RINOs as agents/accomplices for the globalist, PAC/Special Interest owned vermin that they ALL are.
They made Trump sign a pledge...and now they’re pulling this crap?
They are at their wits end....that their sinister gravy train, and globalist plans, will be exposed and stopped.
slight difference = Trump is winning; other 3rd party suggestions are not. Trump would not be taking something earned from someone who earned it.
Nah, it’s not a slight difference; it is night and day.
Besides, Trump has said he would not even think 3rd party unless the Repubs treat him unfairly (such as snatching the nomination and giving it to someone who did not earn it).
Hope that helps.
That's because the RNC will use dirty tricks to stop Trump from getting the nomination. When was the last time a party's own front-runner was targeted for defeat? If you're the front-runner and expected to win, and your own party is stopping you, wouldn't you go 3rd party?
Trump supporters when someone else threatens to go 3rd Party
No skin off my back if anyone else runs 3rd party. Trump supporters aren't going anywhere, that's the thing the GOPe just doesn't realize. And it'll actually eat into Hillary's support.
Tom Coburn: Rubio ‘Trustworthy’ and Electable,
Never heard of the guy - - me and 99% of my fellow Americans...this is an Establishment wet dream.
I kind of remember that, Coburn was emphatic. As always Trump supporters think everyone feels like they do. If Trump is the nominee I think it would be a great start to a new party, cause the GOP WILL HAVE LEFT ME.
Off topic, saw last night the Donald has tweeted over 100 times about Megyn Kelly and her awfulness. That is what happens if you don’t kiss his ring.
Thought Coburn was to ill to stay a senator: now he can run for President. No thanks, Dr. Tom, you time has passed.
I have to wonder why if the GOPe has screwed over voters for years now as we all know, they are so opposed to Trump. Cruz supporter think Trump is another elite. If that were the case they would welcome him. Instead they will do literally anything to stop Trump. This whole election is stop Trump at any cost.
Cruz supporters seem to miss that the people that hate Trump the most and fear his stopping their activities are the same people who have lied and cheated and used voters for year.
Go Trump!
It’s so clear why the GOP loses. They constantly shot themselves in the foot with horrible strategies and decisions.
When D.C. establishment “conservatives” say they prefer Hillary to Trump, they expose themselves as brazen liars. That what they really value is to protect their Ivory Tower turf as opposed to defending the Constitution they claim to love... and show their dishonesty as having equal disdain for the “will of the people” as any liberal. For bottom line the ARE liberals... for NO conservative wants Hillary under any circumstances!
A new Trump killer is being floated. It must mean that the GOPe has given up on Cruz.
Agreed.
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