Donald Trump will end up facing two opponents.
First, the president will face off in a Republican primary. Former Massachusetts Gov. William Weld has already declared his intention to take on the president from the right.
Weld ran alongside former Gov. Gary Johnson in the previous presidential election cycle.
The remaining question is not about Weld, or even his electability — it is who else from within the party will be jumping into the race to challenge Trump.
Should he successfully defeat Trump in the primary, future generations may credit Weld with saving the Republican Party.
I see no issues with Trump squaring off against a Reagan Republican.
I wonder if Weld will be able to appeal to mainstream Republicans considering his stances; for example, climate change, which is something many in the Republican Party do not think holds weight.
Weld, from a Democratic-leaning standpoint, is a suitable candidate for the nation and would shift the Republican Party decades into the future, possibly making it look like a version of the Democratic Party we once saw before the Trump election.
Some other big names within the Republican Party before the rise of Trump come to mind when considering who should mount a long-shot bid against the sitting president, who happens to be the leader of the party.
One of those names is former Trump opponent and governor of Ohio, John Kasich. Kasich, the popular governor known for implementing President Barrack Obama’s landmark Patient Protection Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare), is well-liked enough that should he be able to topple the sitting president, he could deliver the West Wing for the Republicans — especially depending on whom the Democratic Party nominates.
One of the other major players and a dark horse candidate against Trump materialized this week, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan.
Hogan provides a breath of fresh air and can make the argument that he can deliver the White House in such a way that even a Kasich nominee could not.
Hogan is only one of two Republicans to be re-elected governor of the State of Maryland. Hogan offers a clear contrast to Trump in the same fashion that Kasich does. They have gone about this in different ways. Since failing to win the Republican nomination Kasich has decided to take on Trump in a public fashion.
Governor Hogan, whose strategy can only be described as boring, prefers to keep his head down and govern Maryland in a fashion that could be considered almost Democratic.
He took on the Trump administration when it attempted to separate families from their parents.
A Kasich, Hogan or Weld nomination has wide appeal. Trump only appeals to the divided America that is his base.
The question before the Republican Party is this: Do you want a return of the Reagan candidate, or do you prefer the divisions created by President Trump?
As an American, I hope for any of the three, over someone more concerned with a divided America.
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