It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.
Theodore Roosevelt, Citizenship in a Republic, 1910
Sometimes I have succeeded and sometimes I have failed, but always I have taken heart from what Theodore Roosevelt once said about the man in the arena, “whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood […]”
Richard Nixon, in victory and defeat, 1968 and 1974
Hillary is that woman in the arena.
Barack Obama, DNC 2016
Most Republicans these days just sit in the stands and get yelled at by the opposing side.
In disagreement, they’re racist.
When they’re not racist, they’re homophobic.
No wait — transphobic.
Ableist for wanting mask mandates over.
And you can’t forget evil.
Which is why most Republican politicians do nothing.
If you act or even speak up, you could get criticized, and that’s icky.
Some Republicans have taken a page out of their abuser’s playbooks and started to throw tomatoes at each other, brandishing the symbols of their oppressors.
Forget about playing offense.
Very few Republicans are good at even playing defense once they’re attacked.
Which is what made Chris Christie so attractive.
He was a Governor!
He had a huge ass!
And he didn’t take shit from ANYbody…including the all-powerful teacher’s unions.
But national ambitions were too great, and he lost sight of what it meant to govern a state.
Now he does the rubber chicken circuit for the free meals.
DeSantis is this decade’s Christie, which is why he’s most valuable and effective running a state until he’s termed out.
Unlike anyone else on the right, Trump played offense as well as defense.
But if he doesn’t destroy you with the first hit, he benches himself.
Voters, even Republicans, have a love/hate relationship with “The Tweets”. They’re hysterical, Borscht belt comedian witticisms.
But without results, they grate on people.
He’s a drag queen in every sense of the word – you know he’s doing a bit, but you’re not gonna be fooled into thinking he’s the real deal.
Not to say all hope is lost for 2024.
Trump leads Biden 3% in a recent hypothetical 2024 matchup (which if recollection serves correct, is relatively unprecedented at this stage in an opposite-party following administration), bests in every CPAC straw poll, and still maintains vast support within his party.
He’s a force to be reckoned with, but he could face a reckoning.
If Trump wants to win, he has to do one thing.
Trump needs to clear house of all his previous advisors.
All the simps and RNC sycophants need to go.
Jared and Ivanka, the Schlapps, administration leftovers, memoir-writers, and other assorted red, white, and bullshit artists should be gently banished to advising some Middle Eastern potentate on how to waste their oil money.
Trump needs a combination of the people who helped him win in 2016 and some new, up and coming thinkers.
As of now, the three major thought leaders in the party – Trump, DeSantis, and Tucker Carlson – are all based in Florida.
No one has to cross state lines to kiss ass!
This should be a unique opportunity to activate a Sun Belt / Rust Belt coalition of winning states.
Biden(‘s team) knew that. In his rhetoric and promises, he picked off those Rust Belt voters to the point where any 2020 electoral shenanigans could be waved away as margin of error. He spent more time in Scranton than the people who starred in The Office.
If Trump speaks to those voters whose kids are masked, going to failing schools. dying of opioids and crime, can’t get a job due to wholesale importation of a labor force, can’t afford a house, or college or even gas at this point, he’s got a chance.
2024 doesn’t have to mean shooting for the moon either (but announcing a manned moon launch can’t hurt at this point).
All that nonsense about flipping CA and NY should’ve been spent in former factory states like Ohio.
California and New York could be 2 election cycles away from being flipped, if at all, and by then Texas may flip back. After all, California voted to recall (though not replace) Newsom, and NYC got a former cop in as Mayor.
Electorally, Republicans need to abandon Oregon, Washington, Minnesota – those can’t be saved (for god’s sake Reagan lost Minnesota).
Unfortunately despite the vast majority of Oregon, Washington, and Minnesota’s square acreage being as conservative as anywhere, they can’t electorally overcome Multnomah, King, and Hennepin County ultrawoke politics.
Republicans can only take the fight where they’re willing to fight (with the other side) – and right now, the battleground is school boards and critical race theory.
It’s good to see Republicans play offense.
If Trump wants to win, he has to be the man in the arena.
He’s done it before.
And he can do it again.
