Have the Democrats Outsmarted Themselves?

The buyer’s remorse is setting in. After seeing first-hand what a dumpster-fire a brainless puppet doing the bidding of leftist radicals is capable of, voters are discovering that they were lied to in 2020. The promised “return to normalcy”, turned out to be a return to Carteresc weakness and malaise – with economic doldrums and emerging global conflicts. Voters who cast their lot with Joey from Scranton in 2020, are suddenly looking at the Donald a bit more affectionately. Perhaps their dwindling bank balances have something to do with it. In a recent article, Ruy Teixeira noted that the Democrats are losing ground among their key demographics. It seems a Trump/Biden rematch may turn out very differently than it did the last time.

But there’s still one giant question leading up to next year’s election. How will Trump’s legal battles play out? Given the hostile and biased venues he’ll be tried in, it seems unlikely that he’ll be acquitted of all 91 felony counts. That isn’t because he’s actually guilty of anything. It’s because leftists have managed to destroy any semblance of due process or equal justice under the law. Further, Trump’s base recognizes that fact, creating a huge problem for the Democrats.

I doubt that Trump will do any actual jail time due to a conviction. I don’t think even Merrick Garland would care to face the consequences of a Trump incarceration turning out like Jeffery Epstein’s or Derek Chauvin’s. Besides, there’s this little thing called the Former Presidential Protection Act, which entitles former presidents to lifetime secret service protection, personal staff, personal office expenses, medical care, and a pension. There is no felony conviction exception. If Trump were to be sentenced to jail time, the federal penal system would be legally required to accommodate his staff, office, care givers, and protective detail. I’m not seeing it. It’s more likely that he’d be sentenced to house arrest. As Joe demonstrated, that’s little hinderance to a campaign. After inauguration, I’m sure the Donald could govern better from lockup than Joe does from the beach.

But could some group of Obama judges – yes Justice Roberts, there really is such a thing – find a legal rationale to keep Trump off the ballot? As we learned this week, that is a real possibility — which will go up if Trump is convicted. The Constitution defines the qualifications for President, and having a clean record isn’t one of them. But, might the Supreme Court choose to tuck tail and stay on the sideline – again? That’s also a very real possibility.

The question is: How would such an eventuality affect Trump’s supporters? Is there any chance that such obvious abuse of our justice system, to affect an election, might really tick them off? Given how Trump’s polling improves each time he’s indicted, I suspect that denying his base their electoral choice would absolutely enrage them. Will an angered Republican base vote Democrat, stay home on election day, vote third party, or rally behind whomever the Republican nominee is?

If the Democrats think any of Trump’s supporters would vote for the party that just kicked them in the electoral teeth, they’re even more delusional than the guy that thinks Bidenomics is working. The Democrat party lost any shot at attracting any of Trump’s supporters the moment he was charged for possessing classified documents and Joe Biden wasn’t. That’s 74 million voters who are no longer in play for the Democrats – that’s a floor not a ceiling estimate.

Here’s a little insight I’ll share with the left. Angry voters don’t stay home. Every election outcome depends on voter enthusiasm. People who are content with the status quo, tend to get lazy on election day and stay home. The angrier they are, the more likely they are to skip television reruns and show up at their local polling place to express their dissatisfaction. Do you think the Democrats considered that when they indicted the Donald?

The Democrats used to understand that principle. They used the Dobbs decision to anger and motivate their base in both the midterm and off-year elections.

But now the Democrats have managed to neutralize that enthusiasm advantage with their lawfare against Trump. The 2024 election won’t be their mob of screaming gender studies baristas out voting a bunch of complacent republicans at home basking in the glory of the Dobbs decision. It will be their mob, angry at being denied the right to kill their babies, versus a nationwide conservative horde, enraged at being denied self-governance. Thank you, Jack Smith, for getting Republican voters to the polls next year.

Maybe the Dems don’t care about voter enthusiasm because they think pulling the rug out from under Trump will cast the Republican party into disarray. Dream on.

Let’s look at the math. Donald Trump currently has an almost insurmountable lead for the Republican nomination – he’s polling at 60 percent. Ron DeSantis is supported by 12.6 percent of Republicans. If he’s removed from the ballot, would Trump’s supporters switch to a third party? Is there some Trump-like third party candidate that I’m not aware of? Does the Green party have a candidate promising to seal the border? Does the Socialist party have somebody raging at an out-of-control federal government? Is there any chance that Liz Cheney will attract Trump supporters, after she voted to impeach Trump … twice?

It’s far more likely that DeSantis’ support would jump to 72.6 percent – overnight. Banning Trump from the ballot would likely unify the party in a way not seen since Ronald Reagan, and the Dems will be entering the election with a candidate much less politically astute than either Jimmy Carter or Walter Mondale – neither one of which were prone to child fondling or hair sniffing.

Given the corner the Democrats have painted themselves into, they face a choice between three very unpleasant options. They can have Joe Biden face Donald Trump in a straight up rematch – and get their clock cleaned. They can play some legal shenanigans to boot Trump from the ballot – unifying their opposition and ceding any enthusiasm advantage. Or they can replace demented Joe on the ballot with either Kamala Harris or Gavin Newsom.

Kamala represents the same failed policies as her boss, and polls even worse than he does. But if they deny her the nomination, the intersectional mob the left created, will go full-on Viking berserker. Newsom can string a coherent sentence together better than Kamala – and he knows a lot more about hair care products – but if he’s their nominee, we’re going to see a lot more San Francisco poop maps and Gender Queer graphics in the presidential debates. Neither one of their substitutes is ready for prime time.

The reality is that the Democrats have maneuvered themselves into a trap. Joe Biden was the most electable candidate in 2020, and he still is – as laughable as that is. Now key demographics are abandoning him (blacks, Hispanics, liberals, and Arab-Americans). I think the Dems have outsmarted themselves in their lust to “get Trump.” They’re stuck with a weak candidate – whom they built a façade competence around – facing an opposition motivated to show up at the polls, regardless of who their standard bearer turns out to be.

Author Bio: John Green is a political refugee from Minnesota, now residing in Idaho. He has written for American Thinker, and American Free News Network. He can be followed on Facebook or reached at greenjeg@gmail.com.

If you enjoyed this article, then please REPOST or SHARE with others; encourage them to follow AFNN. If you’d like to become a citizen contributor for AFNN, contact us at managingeditor@afnn.us Help keep us ad-free by donating here.

  Truth Social: @AFNN_USA
  Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/afnnusa
  Telegram: https://t.me/joinchat/2_-GAzcXmIRjODNh
  Twitter: https://twitter.com/AfnnUsa
  GETTR: https://gettr.com/user/AFNN_USA
  Parler: https://parler.com/AFNNUSA
  CloutHub: @AFNN_USA