[ad_1]
Is there anything left of the Republican Party to which Bill Weld belonged? A persistent belief in the rule of law, effective markets, fiscal discipline or the need for honesty and integrity of elected officials?
Bless our former governor for trying to find out. Weld is doing a primary race against President Trump. Until now, he is the only Republican to have the courage to do it, and he says nothing.
"We can not remain passive as our precious democracy slips quietly into the darkness," he said recently in Bedford, N.H.
The problem is that almost all the Washington Republicans sit passively, shrugging their shoulders at Trump's daily desecration of his office, barely hitting the idea that the president may have impeded justice, or could be the advantage of a hostile foreign government. They just lie down and let him walk on them – and trampling our moral standards as a nation.
"I compare that to Stockholm Syndrome," Weld said in an interview Friday, adding to an epic insinuation: "I do not think I'll convert everyone to Washington."
Trump's (alarming) Republican critics who occupy or wish to choose their words more carefully, for fear of alienating the (alarming) voters who maintain a worship devotion to their dear leader. Utah Senator Mitt Romney, another former Massachusetts governor, was extremely inconsistent in his speech. And do not tell me about Senator Susan Collins from Maine, whose vacant Hamlet routine has long since grown old. Ohio's John Kasich and Maryland's Larry Hogan, both considered the main opponents, seem to want to get close to the race only if Trump's Republican support collapses, which will probably not be the case. nothing was said by the president.
Weld is not paying attention, and has never been – a function, perhaps, to be so patrician that it never seemed to need a job.
And Lord, do not we need to be careful now.
His critics say that Weld is too shy to be credible here, and it is fair to say that he has not been politically relevant for 20 years. "Even Benedict Arnold has changed allegiance less often!" Said Trumpkin Jim Lyons, chairman of the Massachusetts GOP, to Michael Levenson.
Weld flip-flopped: he sponsored Democratic President Barack Obama in 2008, came on the Liberal list in 2016, praised Hillary Clinton towards the end of the race and is now back at the GOP. But ideologically – and on Trump – Weld was consistent.
"As I said in 1992, I want the government to get out of your budget and your bedroom," said Weld. "It's old, but it should not be that way."
Does he ever do. Many things that Weld believes to be a heresy in the Trump GOP, which is not so much a big tent nowadays, but a piece of ragged cloth: Weld supports the right to abortion, sees climate change as an emergency, abhor nativism to facilitate the work of immigrants here. Voters excited by these opinions will find much more where they come from.
But Weld seems to think that he can bypass the Red Hat Brigade. It relies on independent voters who can vote in 20 primary polling states. He could make a breakthrough in New Hampshire. A recent UMass Amherst poll found that 40% of Republican voters on site believe that Trump should be challenged at the 2020 primary, with support for a higher competition among younger voters and having studied at the university. university, and women.
But Weld has to convince them that it's very real here, and not just make a statement.
"There is no reason to run except to win," he said. "I hope that will not seem vain, but I could start Monday in this job."
The blow on Weld is that he is vain, this ego drives him here. May be. But the fact remains that, for the moment, only one person is ready to face Trump and to oppose the disaster that the Republican Party has provoked today.
Whether it has a real shot or not, it's the most beautiful time of Weld.
You can reach columnist Yvonne Abraham at [email protected] and on Twitter @ GlobeAbraham
[ad_2]
Source link