Ne'er Do Weld

By Hubie and Bertie

Former Massachusetts Governor William Weld says he's planning to challenge Donald Trump in the 2020 GOP primaries. And there's absolutely no doubt that that other former Massachusetts Governor's niece, Ronna ROMNEY McDaniel, and the Republican National Committee will do everything they can to stymie Weld's run.

The GOP has already started rigging its primary process to shut out any resistance to Trump. They're in faithful obedience to their autocrat-in-chief, which is a pretty scary thing (autocrats, like Vladimir Putin, like to win with 99% of the vote). And of course Trump just reinforced his autocratic rep today by declaring his Fake National Emergency.

But we're rooting for Weld anyway. He could have some interesting effects on the race.

• In states that have open primaries — like Iowa, New Hampshire and Wisconsin — he may offer a refuge for so-called moderate Republicans, and help keep them from voting (and causing mischief) in the Democratic caucus or primary.
• He could keep some never-Trumpers in the GOP from jumping on the Coffee Man's spoiler-of-the-century campaign.
• He could further split the never-Trumper vote and make it harder for someone like John Kasich, Ben Sasse or Larry Hogan to gain traction.
• Since the Trumpsters will go pedal-to-the-metal to destroy Weld and keep him off state ballots, they'll hand the Democrats some interesting messaging opportunities. Something along the lines of: "Now the GOP's suppressing this 73-year-old white man's vote" — you get the idea.

Just one question before we tuck into our Friday afternoon nap: If Coffee Man got a town hall on CNN, does that mean Weld gets one? Maybe not — Coffee Man's show bombed. We cats PURR.