Brent Budowsky: Did Christie just spark ‘draft Romney’ move? – TheHill
Fasten your seat belts and stay tuned. The next week will be one of the most dramatic weeks in the modern history of presidential politics. Either Rubio will have a very big day next Tuesday or party leaders could well turn to Romney. In the meantime, Chris Christie’s endorsement of Trump creates indescribable fear and loathing throughout the GOP establishment while virtually all Democrats — myself included — have big smiles on our faces right now, courtesy of the governor of New Jersey.
From: Did Christie just spark ‘draft Romney’ move? | TheHill
Why does the GOP think Romney in 2016 would be different than Romney in 2012? I recall Romney’s attempts at being a regular Anerican with struggles got quite a bitter laugh. Like when his wife talked about needing to sell stock to live while Mitty was a student.
For better or for worse, Trump does not hide his wealth and his fans like this. I find it interesting that the Democrats flocking to Sanders is because of his relative non-wealth but Trump’s showiness earns him support. Both candidates have support from working class voters. What does this say?Report
I think you have an interesting question there at the end, @saul-degraw. One that seems to be perplexing much of the political estabishment.
I think a huge deal in this election comes down to the “elites*” having lost track of what they were supposed to be doing running in this country, and in the process have alienated much of the base, both sides. Trump appeals not because of his weath, but because of how he shows his wealth. He is the rich guy who wears gold chains, and has rims on his Escalade. In other words, he doesn’t show his wealth in ways that appeal to the political class. It shows and appeals to the working class. For certain values of working class. For other values of working class, Bernie seems right. Not ostentatious at all, truely believes in sharing the wealth
As far as Romney goes, he was a stupid candidate then, and a stupid idea now, just as dumb as a Bloomberg run. Both ideas show that the parties really don’t know what ails themselves.
* for certain values of Mandarin, management, ruling, etc. class.Report
@aaron-david
In August of 2015, Jacob Weissberg described Trump as the only guy in his late 60s who gets to live like a rap star. This is not completely true but I do think that Trump’s gaudiness (and yes I find him gaudy) have a huge appeal to many people.
Though I find it interesting that sections of the Democratic Party is largely flocking to a guy who is relatively financially modest compared to the average politician. I don’t think Clinton’s speaking fees hurt her generally but a lot of people like Sanders because he only gave three speeches in the past few years, only earned 1800 dollars, and he gave it all to charity. Even if you don’t agree with his policies, you need to admit that he is the real deal.Report
Trump is popular because he behaves like a wealthy person should behave according to right-leaning members of the working class. He wears expensive clothing, drives fast cars, lives in gaudy real estate, and marries flashy women. Its how many people imagine themselves behaving if were wealthy. Trump is basically an aspirational figure in his life. Other famous wealthy business people do not behave how wealthy people should behave according to the popular imagination. The Koch brothers seem to be really into the high arts more than anything else when it comes to spending their money on pleasure. Steve Jobs always had an air of Bohemianism behind him. Bill Gates dresses and acts more like a member of the educated upper-middle classes with an unlimited amount of money. He married an educated professional woman, dresses conservatively, and doesn’t live what could be called a flashy life style. Same with Zuckerberg of Facebook.Report
Also, compare Trump’s lifestyle to Hugh Hefner’s. Hef outdid Trump at everything – he actually was a notably successful businessman, his mansion is legendary, and he married supermodels five at a time rather than one at a time. And he comes off as a left-coast elitist. You want to party with Hefner, but you can’t imagine actually being him. You can imagine yourself as Trump, though. Trump has bling. Hef has a smoking jacket.Report
Both Hef and Donald are overrated businessmen and both had their daughters come in to run the business and right the ship.Report
Romney would be a great choice. You have to understand that Jeb!’s complete failure showed that what people want is the genuine boring, awkward, old, rich guy, not some cheap knockoff.Report
Slightly off thread …
There’s been some chatter about why Christie endorsed Trump and lots of folks view it as a quid pro quo – cabinet appointment, etc – which isn’t that unusual or surprising. My theory as to what was exchanged is a bit different, tho: I think Christie endorsed Trump in exchange for a promise to effectively exonerate/not indict Christie himself. Basically, in return for saying “Trump is the most qualified man for the job!!” Trump agrees to pull the DOJ back from prosecuting or implicating Christie over the treasure trove of corruption revealed so far in Joisey.Report
That implies fact not in evidence. Christie would need to give Trump good odds of winning for that to matter.
OTOH, getting to be a VEEP nominee would guarantee Christie a place in history books.
Or just sticking it to the GOP Establishment, which also sounds like it fits Christie’s persona.Report
That implies fact not in evidence.
Yes! Obviously!Report