The Republican presidential primary is officially underway, as former Massachusetts Governor Bill Weld became the first Republican to launch a presidential bid against Donald Trump. In an appearance on CNN Monday announcing the run, the long-shot candidate explained it would be a “political tragedy” to have “six more years of the same stuff we've had out of the White House the last two years,” adding, “I would be ashamed of myself if I didn't raise my hand and run.”
“It is time for patriotic men and women across our great nation to stand and plant a flag,” Weld said in a statement. “It is time to return to the principles of Lincoln—equality, dignity, and opportunity for all. There is no greater cause on earth than to preserve what truly makes America great. I am ready to lead that fight.” Speaking on CNN with host Jake Tapper, Weld blasted Trump as the “grand master” of the country's deep partisan divisions, and said the president has “difficulty conforming his conduct to the requirements of law.” “What we have now is a president who mocks the rule of law," Weld said. “I spent seven years trying to keep the politics out of the Justice Department—he’s trying to put it in.”
Whether Weld can actually be a formidable challenger to Trump, of course, is a different matter. Weld is a Libertarian—he previously served as Gary Johnson's running mate in 2016—who believes in liberal causes like abortion rights, gay marriage and marijuana legalization, which could dissuade Republicans with more conservative views. Trump also remains highly popular with the Republican base: Gallup reports the president has an 89% approval rating with Republicans, and the Trump campaign revealed Sunday it raised $30 million in the first quarter of 2019 alone, giving the president a formidable war chest for his re-election bid. A successful primary coup against an incumbent president would also be a first for the modern era; the last president to lose out on their party's nomination was Chester A. Arthur in 1884. “Republican voters don’t want what [Weld is] selling,” a White House official told the Washington Post. “They want to support the president.”
But there still could be a strategy to Weld's run. As Matt Welch, the former editor-in-chief of the libertarian Reason magazine, told my colleague Tina Nguyen in February, “someone’s gotta be left standing” if Trump's volatile presidency and potential legal problems derail his re-election bid. “Part of this, I think, is either [Weld will] be the last guy standing, the only one who’s foolish or brave enough to compete—or, by his example, other people who’ve been on the sidelines will now jump in,” Welch said. Weld, for his part, seems to believe his candidacy is viable, telling Tapper his campaign strategy will focus on New Hampshire, which allows Independents to vote in its primaries, and areas like the Northeast, California, Pacific Northwest and inner Mountain West, which he believes could all be more open to a Trump alternative. “It is a long shot,” Stuart Stevens, Weld's strategist and adviser, told the Post. “But it’s certainly less of a long shot than Donald Trump was when he announced and no one thought he was serious.”
— What happens if Trump realizes that Stephen Miller is the border crisis?
— How the L.A. Times rose from the near-dead
— Is the Biden campaign dead on arrival?
— Did China create a racist A.I. to track Muslims?
Looking for more? Sign up for our daily Hive newsletter and never miss a story.
