PRESIDENT ROMNEY 2020: A COMIC TRAGEDY IN THREE ACTS

It could happen, and this is how I see the drama playing out.

ACT 1. Confusion

The Democratic Party seems to be struggling to identify a clear choice for their 2020 presidential candidate. Dem voters also seem to be struggling with the choice of candidates in terms of the perpetual question: who can actually beat Trump? Is health care really the major issue of our times? Watching the so-called debates leads to that conclusion; however, there is no indication that this is the singular issue vexing voters. 

This Democratic comedy is getting so bad that now there are numerous articles and opinion pieces in the media suggesting that the movers and shakers in the Democratic Party are looking for someone to step in late in the game and take the nomination; someone who, in their view, would be a clear winner against Trump and the forces of evil. The names being thrown around include Michelle Obama and - gasp - Hillary Clinton!  

ACT 2. The Path to Survival. And then there is the Republican Party, or what’s left of it. Whether or not he is impeached, and I doubt that the Senate Republicans would convict him, Trump’s image will be severely tattered and torn by the impeachment revelations. Sure, his renowned Base will mostly stick by him - he’s their guy - but serious-minded Republicans will be hoping for a knight in shining armor to rescue them from themselves. 

Enter Mitt Romney, stage middle-right. Mitt has wanted to be President for a long time. I see his clever purchase of a Senate seat as his second chance strategy to achieve his goal. The Trump impeachment could be the opening Mitt has been angling for, and in this scenario, he jumps into the Republican primary in early 2020 as a clear-minded, sane, intelligent, politically seasoned, stable, old-style moderate Republican. He could actually beat Donald Trump in a primary race and emerge as the 2020 Republican candidate. 

ACT 3, Final Scene, The Reckoning. The characters left on stage are Mitt Romney and either Joe Biden or Elizabeth Warren (long shot: Bernie Sanders). The Romney strategy and message is simple: Joe Biden is Barak Obama, and Republicans certainly don’t want more of that. Warren or Sanders are fire-bomb-throwing radicals who will turn the United States into the Soviet Union - SOCIALISM!!!! - and no red-blooded American Patriot will stand for that! 

What do Democratic voters do? If Biden is the candidate, young progressive voters either don’t vote or vote for a Jill Stein or other lefty crackpot. If Warren/Sanders is the candidate, older, moderate Democrats and possibly middle class white voters put their mark next to Romney on the ballot because, as a moderate, he’s a better choice than the socialist Democrat. 

Curtain call: Mitt Romney struts his victory strut and the curtain falls. 

The audience goes home to a Romney presidency. 

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