On the Weekly Standard blog, Bill Kristol posits the Democrats as an unhappy groom being frog-marched down the aisle towards an unpleasantly grinning Hillary Clinton, in a wedding planned — can we say 16 years earlier? — a long, long time ago. In the interim, the bride has been caught playing fast and loose with an illegitimate server, while her dubious charms have diminished considerably. The groom can go through with it, leading to hell plus a possible loss in November. Or he can ditch the bride, leading to more hell plus a possible loss in November, as in this race a candidate is required, and the substitute brides are still less alluring.
But wait! A solution is near, inspired by the classic film “The Philadelphia Story,” in which Katharine Hepburn is left by her beau at the altar, at which point Cary Grant, her ex-husband, steps in. Flip the sexes (not hard for a Democrat), change the Democrats to the bride, and have her saved by her old flame, ardent backer and fellow liberal-Democrat, who would be — ta da! — Donald Trump.
Comparing Trump to Cary Grant may not seem likely, but the rest of the story, in terms of events in both parties this season, does make a strange sort of sense. Clearly, Trump’s fling with the GOP can’t go on much longer, as he is now at war not only with 16 other candidates but with every extant wing and/or arm of the party, and in every conceivable way: With the Club for Growth and with the Establishment; with John McCain and movement conservatives; with National Review, the Bible and soul of the conservative movement; with Fox News, and now with Hugh Hewitt, the unofficial referee of Republican primary politics, who, like Megyn Kelly before him, exposed Trump as the gas-filled balloon that he is.
“Let’s check the scorecard of his targets,” writes blogger Ed Morrissey, noting that they include Charles Krauthammer, George Will, Kelly, and Hewitt, who, Morrissey noted, have been conservative stalwarts for years. “What was Trump doing during those years for conservatism?” he asks us. “Putting money into Hillary Clinton’s campaigns, arguing for single-payer healthcare, opposing abortion restrictions and identifying as a liberal Democrat. Why are conservative media figures the only targets of Trump’s attacks?”
Why are they, indeed? With Ben Carson and Carly Fiorina rising as alternative (i.e., as civilized) outsider choices, it’s only a matter of time before Trump says “You’re fired!” to the entire Republican Party, begins to express his profound disappointment and moves his circus elsewhere. He may have “pledged” to not run as a third party candidate, but said nothing about not running in one of the other two parties, and one in a great need of help.
If the Republicans have too many candidates and too much excitement (even without him), the Democrats have too little of either, and no way to find themselves more. They have as of now one badly dinged empress with political and legal problems which may at any moment turn lethal and a bench of achievement-free hacks too far-left or unknown to pass muster with voters. They also have a clutch of statesmen who define the word “elder” and include previous losers, such as Al Gore and John Kerry and even Joe Biden, who lost twice in his two previous primary outings, and is understandably crippled by grief over the recent loss of his son.
To replace Hillary Clinton, a candidate would need immense sums of cash and name recognition, which Trump has in excess. Is this his moment to swing for the fences? Will he seize greatness? Run, Donald! Run!
Noemie Emery, a Washington Examiner columnist, is a contributing editor to The Weekly Standard and author of “Great Expectations: The Troubled Lives of Political Families.”
