This weekend is the annual CPAC confab and the right wing has gathered in Orlando rather like a huge flock of squawking seagulls hovering above a loaded garbage scow. It is a joyously outraged group there to rail against the democrats, preach the gospel of far right conservatism, and this year in particular praise all things Trumpian.
It is also an audition of sorts for 2024 republican presidential hopefuls.
Indeed, Senators Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz, along with people like former Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo have been on the oddly rune shaped stage whipping the audience into frenzies. It's no secret they and others covet the Oval Office now occupied by Joseph R. Biden.
These wannabes have a problem though and it is named Donald Trump. Indeed, despite the disasters of the Trump presidency the republican base remains steadfastly loyal to The Big Orange Guy. This, slavish, yea creepy, devotion is probably as unexplainable to the prospective nominees as it is to sane people. Let's face it a person in charge of a political party who first lost the house, utterly bungled the national response to a health care crisis, was impeached twice, then handed over the senate to the opposition and finally got routed in his re-election bid shouldn't retain a following as fervent as Big Don has.
Yes, Hawley and Cruz may have urged the mob on during the nightmare of January 6th, but those deadly lunatics were there for Donald John Trump--ready and willing to literally kill for him.
The cult of personality is so strong there is a grotesquely surreal golden statue of the former president welcoming attendees to the Orlando Hyatt. It holds a magic wand in one hand, as if to explain his hypnotic hold on the former party of Lincoln.
As these words are being typed El Donald is supposed to be speaking to his adoring fans. However, Trump, being Trump, is late. Fox News is reporting it will be an hour and a half before he begins his address which is expected to last up to two hours. That means his appearance will stretch into the traditional news times in both the Eastern and Central Time Zones. Odds are it is a calculated delay meant to provide maximum TV coverage.'
Speculation is The Great Loser won't declare his 2024 candidacy today. No, today will be just another opportunity to scream the election was stolen, to rage about the actions of Joe Biden, and probably condemn the few republicans who voted to impeach and condemn him to the political wilderness.
If we've learned anything about him though it is he's unpredictable. Once those Trumpists begin to applaud and shower him with rabid adulation all the noise goes straight to his brain where it percolates like some vile intoxicant. If the spirit fills him he is liable to do sooner what is inevitably to come later,
That's right, Brother Trump, if physically able, is going to run again, much to the chagrin of the Josh Hawleys of the world. Trump's ego demands it--besides he needs more disposable cash which another campaign will furnish him with.
And in the end, those two things, ego and money, are what drive that terrible force of nature known as Don Trump. Of that there can be no doubt.
2-28-21
Remember the old anti-war saying, "Suppose they threw a war and nobody came? How about, "Suppose a former president announced his candidacy and nobody cared?"
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