A loose coalition of Never Trump Republicans is uninspired by Bill Weld and hunting for a more formidable challenger willing to take on President Trump in 2020.
Weld, a former Massachusetts governor, is the only Republican to declare for the GOP presidential primary. But the mercurial 73-year-old endorsed Democrat Barack Obama in 2008 and left the GOP in 2016 to run as the Libertarian Party vice presidential nominee.
“There are some people that are going to have problems with Bill Weld,” Liz Mair, a Republican strategist who opposes Trump and endorsed Weld this month in a New York Times op-ed, conceded in an interview with the Washington Examiner.
A few dozen Republican insiders dissatisfied with Trump gather about every two weeks, in person and via telephone, operating under the moniker the “Meeting of the Concerned” to discuss a path forward. Niskanen Center and its president, Jerry Taylor, host the meetings. Niskanen is a center-right think tank laboring to develop alternatives to Trump populism.
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For many, the preferred strategy would be to run a strong challenger against the president in the Republican primary. Their goal is to steer the party back on a path that they believe is closer to the vision of President Ronald Reagan, not just to derail Trump. Also, Republican National Committee nominating rules that offer ways to challenge Trump on the floor of the national convention in Charlotte make the strategy attractive.
Self-identified Republicans give Trump sky-high job approval ratings. But Never Trump Republicans believe that could change in the months ahead as scandals swirling around the president, and the eventual release of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report, take their toll.
Mueller could soon conclude his federal probe into possible collusion with Russia in 2016 by Trump and his associates. They’re unconvinced Weld could capitalize on such an opportunity, however.
[Also read: Inside the secret Republican plot to take down Trump in 2020]
“As far as what I’m looking for? I’m looking for someone who can draw blood in the primaries. Whether [Weld] can draw blood in the primaries remains to be seen,” Taylor said.
Trump’s Republican antagonists are realistic about their prospects. Some of them are prepared to settle for wounding the president in the primary. No president in the modern era has won re-election after incurring a serious primary challenge.
Yet even this fallback plan requires a challenger with some political juice. Relying on a weak choice who fails to galvanize disaffected Republicans, at least, might discredit their cause altogether — a risk not lost on the Never Trump crowd.
That is among the key reasons why they’re pinning their hopes on Gov. Larry Hogan of Maryland, former Ohio Gov. John Kasich, Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska, and others — and why Weld isn’t likely to emerge as the consensus anti-Trump candidate. But Hogan and Kasich have both signaled they have no interest in challenging Trump just as sacrificial lambs.
Opponents that are a strong challenge to Trump would “show Republicans and Republican-leaning independents that there’s a meaningful amount of opposition to him, and that we don’t need him to have good polices,” said an anti-Trump GOP insider active in efforts to dislodge Trump.
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