In Cleveland, the jockeying for 2020 campaign is already underway
Cleveland - Don't let the speechifying at the Republican National Convention fool you. Beneath the surface the race for 2020 is on.
Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker are stopping by the delegations from all three of the early-voting states - Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz is stumping as well, and has already planned a visit to Georgia after the convention is over to boost a Congressional candidate's campaign. And Ohio Gov. John Kasich seems to be everywhere but the Quicken Loans Arena.
Mr. Cruz has created two nonprofits to serve his political ambitions and maintain his donor database. He has also installed a veteran political operative who worked on his campaign as his new chief of staff, a move the senator's associates said was done to make the office less a miniature think tank and more a presidential incubator. And his political allies, including Senator Mike Lee of Utah, staged an insurrection on the convention floor on Monday as part of a failed attempt to change party rules that would have been more advantageous for Mr. Cruz's future political ambitions (one of the changes: mandating that only registered Republicans can participate in presidential caucuses and primaries).
The quiet campaigning only reinforces the fears of Donald Trump supporters that the Republican establishment is rooting for his defeat and hoping to press the reset button in 2020. Ben Carson put those fears to words on Tuesday, telling Trump skeptics that his defeat will result in far more than another Clinton in the White House.
“They’re not using their God-given brain to think about what they’re saying," said Carson. "It won’t just be eight years. She’ll be appointing people who will affect us for generations. And America may never recover.”
Insider's note: This was ripped from the daily Morning Jolt
About the Author
Greg Bluestein is the Atlanta Journal Constitution's chief political reporter. He is also an author, TV analyst and co-host of the Politically Georgia podcast.
