Ross Douthat, a conservative columnist for the New York Times, said in a new op-ed that a Hillary Clinton presidency, devoid of excitement and charm, could be good for Republicans.
Douthat wrote that voters, after the Bush and Obama years, are too wrapped up in “the bipartisan cult of the presidency” and that it would only continue should GOP nominee Donald Trump get elected.
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“Such demystification, a return to the old familiar Clintonian seediness, might be a better cure for some of the impulses behind Trumpism than the kind of landslide-cum-apotheosis that a more appealing Democratic nominee might have achieved,” he wrote. “That’s because politics often works in an imitative cycle: Were Trump defeated by someone whose charisma, star wattage and mastery of the celebrity-politics nexus outstripped his, the impulse on the right would be to double down on those qualities next time, to enter an arms race to build a better class of demagogue.”
He said Clinton in the White House might be “a tonic for the right — not one that cures all paranoias (just ask Drudge), but one that discourages the right’s search for a Caesar of its own.”
Polls show that Clinton and Trump are historically unpopular nominees, though Trump has enjoyed intense and seemingly unwavering support from a sizable group of supporters throughout the campaign.
Still, Clinton has maintained her lead in most swing states and is effectively tied with Trump nationally.
