By Robert Romano

“Neither of us will be the nominee for our party in 2024.”

That was California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom in a Fox News televised debate with Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis on Nov. 30, throwing cold water on calls from within his party for him to replace incumbent President Joe Biden atop the Democratic ticket in 2024.

While not very surprising — one has to go back to 1952 and 1968 the last times a sitting, unpopular president opted not to run for reelection, and Biden has not so abdicated the office yet — and seeing past the jab at DeSantis, the very idea that Newsom (and by extension the Democratic Party) saw a calculated need for this to be addressed in the debate with DeSantis is quite telling of the incredibly weak position Biden finds himself in headed into 2024.

With an average disapproval rating of 55.5 percent — only 40.6 percent approve — in the latest compilation of national polls by RealClearPolitics.com, and amid calls for Biden to sit out 2024, it is clear Democrats are more or less on the brink of a full-fledged panic over losing the White House and perhaps the Senate next year, and failing to pick up the House.

And so, Newsom’s throwaway barb at DeSantis stands out as an attempt to steady the ship’s crew amid calls for a political mutiny, in a debate that appears to have been concocted as a sort of exhibition match to showcase the candidates who might be running in 2028, or who might have been the nominees if Biden and former President Donald Trump were not running.

Top among the reasons has got to be the record of sitting presidents who stood aside. In 1952, Harry Truman opted not to run after losing the New Hampshire primary, and his party lost an historic landslide to Dwight Eisenhower as Republicans picked up the White House and majorities in the House and Senate all in the same year.

Similarly, in 1968, when Lyndon Johnson stood aside after a lackluster write-in campaign in New Hampshire, Republicans led by Richard Nixon won back the White House for the GOP relatively easily, and the party picked up five seats apiece in the House and Senate. 

On the other hand, in 1980, when unpopular incumbent President Jimmy Carter did stand for reelection, he lost in a landslide, too, with Ronald Reagan picking up 44 states plus 34 seats in the House and 12 seats in the Senate to get the majority there.

But so did Donald Trump stand for reelection in 2020, which despite the Covid pandemic and a massive albeit short recession with tens of millions of jobs lost amid the economic lockdowns, barely lost to Joe Biden by a scant 43,000 votes in Georgia (10,000), Arizona (10,000) and Wisconsin (23,000) and picking up 13 seats in the House, although losing 3 seats in the Senate.

Whereas, if Trump had hypothetically stood aside (he’d never do that but again hypothetically), it might not have been so close.

The other part is that incumbent presidents tend to get reelected when they do stand for reelection about two-thirds of the time, and so even if Biden is upside down right now, a lot can change as the campaign to re-elect Biden gets fully underway. Whereas, again, the last two times the incumbent president stood aside in modern history, his party lost. At this time, Democrats appear to be settling on taking their chances with Biden. As usual, stay tuned.

Robert Romano is the Vice President of Public Policy at Americans for Limited Government Foundation.

To view online: https://dailytorch.com/2023/12/newsom-discounts-2024-run-in-debate-with-desantis-neither-of-us-will-be-the-nominee-for-our-party-in-2024/

 

Donald Trump: I Will Make America Great Again for Young People

By Donald Trump

With less than one year to go until Election Day, the polls show that we are beating Joe Biden by wide margins both nationally and in the battleground states—and young people are a major part of the reason why. A recent NBC News poll found that we are leading Biden 46 percent to 42 percent nationally among voters ages 18 to 34—a clear sign that young Americans are rejecting Joe Biden's reign of failure, incompetence, and corruption.

During the first Trump administration, we created the strongest and most prosperous economy in the history of the world. Under my leadership, annual incomes went up by more than $6,000, inflation was under 2 percent, and we had gasoline down to $1.87 per gallon. Household net worth reached an all-time high, with the bottom 50 percent of American households seeing a 40 percent increase in their net worth.

The U.S. economy had never been better for young Americans, but for the past three years, young people have borne the heavy costs of the failed Biden agenda: crippling inflation, soaring prices, skyrocketing interest rates, unaffordable housing, and escalating crime. Over the course of the Biden administration, real incomes have gone down by $7,400 per family. Gas prices reached as high as $7 a gallon in some places. Cumulative inflation is 18 percent. And mortgage rates are pushing a brutal seven percent—making home ownership out of reach for countless young Americans.

When I was in office, the 30-year mortgage rate reached a record low of 2.65 percent—and the median-income American family could afford a mortgage. Yet thanks to Biden's disastrous economy, interest rates have skyrocketed, making home-ownership out of reach for too many Americans, especially young Americans who in previous generations would be looking to start a family. As a result, historically high numbers of young people are delaying marriage and children. According to a recent study, three quarters of Gen Z and Millennial couples believe it's too expensive to get married today. A 2022 study found that financial concerns are the number one reason why Americans are dropping out of school.

Sadly, many younger Americans are putting their lives on hold because they think the Biden economy leaves them no choice.

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And on top of it all, Biden's war on American energy is making everything more expensive. Thanks to his Green New Deal agenda, new car prices have surged by nearly 30 percent since I left office. The average new car now costs an astonishing $50,000. You practically have to be a rich person to afford a new car. Because of higher interest rates and soaring prices under Biden, the typical car payment is now almost $750 a month.

Instead of helping our young people confidently begin their lives, careers, and families, Joe Biden is crushing their dreams with debt, taxes, and inflation, and paving the way for a future of anger and despair.

Under Joe Biden, we are a nation in decline and rapidly losing the American Dream.

But Biden's destruction of the American economy is just the beginning of his war on young people. The Radical Left has also unleashed shocking waves of violent crime and bloodshed, making our nation's once-great cities almost unlivable for young Americans entering the workforce. Joe Biden's unimaginable weakness on the world stage is threatening to drag the United States into World War III, which would devastate an entire generation of young Americans. And the Democrats' radical promotion of Critical Race Theory, transgenderism, and other inappropriate racial, sexual, and political content in our schools has divided our communities and frayed the bonds of national unity.

When I take the oath of office as the 47th President of the United States, I will rapidly rebuild the greatest economy in the history of the world so that young people can thrive and prosper. I will stop Joe Biden's inflation nightmare, increase energy production, massively reduce government spending, and bring down interest rates, so that young people can once again afford to start a family, buy a home, and plan for a great future—the basic building blocks of the American Dream. I did it before, and we will do it once again.

I will also restore law and order in our nation's cities, empower our men and women in law enforcement, and stop the Radical Marxist prosecutors surrendering our cities to violent criminals. I will quickly secure our southern border to end the influx of deadly drugs into our communities. I will work to eradicate the scourge of drug addiction once and for all. And to further protect our young people, I will sign a new executive order to cut federal funding for any school pushing far-left content on our children.

American voters have it within their power to quickly return our country to peace, prosperity, and strength—and no one will benefit from bringing that change to our nation's capital more than young people. That's why next November, tens of millions of young Americans will be casting their vote to end Joe Biden's failed presidency, and to finish the job of making America great again.

To view online: https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-i-will-make-america-great-again-young-people-opinion-1847738