Despite President Trump having won the Republican nomination for another term in 2020, Republicans are already setting their sights on his potential successor: former Vice President Joe Biden. Vice President Biden and many of the other 2020 Democratic candidates have been criticized by the Trump administration, including from the president himself, as well as other MAGA lawmakers, and with the White House’s slow and steady pace of passing legislation in Congress, this may be just the beginning of what will likely be an intense campaign season ahead of the next presidential election.
The Mueller Report
In Mueller’s report, the Special Counsel outlines 10 episodes involving Trump or actions taken by those close to him that were investigated for possible obstruction of justice. The two most high-profile instances involved the president’s attempt to have Sessions remove Mueller and his subsequent firing of Comey. But there were also numerous episodes in which he attempted to interfere with, alter, or impede the Russia investigation. For example, Trump sought military strikes against Syria without allocating adequate legal justification; he fired Yates and Flynn, less than a month after they warned him that Flynn had lied about his contact with Kislyak; and he pressured Sessions to instruct FBI Director Comey to limit the Russia investigation.
Interviews
Rep. Jimmy Duncan (R-TN): My advice to him is, stop campaigning and start governing. I would say to him, the only thing you’re qualified for, with what you know how to do that I would want somebody to do it – turn around and run America. That’s all you know how to do.
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY): I think he
Rep. Ted Yoho (R-FL): Joe Biden, who’s in his mid 70s, is running for president of my family, and I don’t have a vote for him to be my family president. In fact, I don’t want him to be my family president because he would lead us down a path that I would not like at all. And that is what America needs, an alternative to socialism, which is slowly eating away at our freedoms in so many different ways.
Rep. Greg Steube (R-FL): I’m not sure what his true motives are, and it doesn’t matter anymore because we’re doing our job. The president does his, I do mine. So I just don’t think there is any chance for a Joe Biden presidency. And if he really wants to help America and make America great again, then stop campaigning and start governing. That would be my advice to him. Stop campaigning and start governing because you would be much better at that than you are at running for president of my family.
Judicial Appointments
-Senator McConnell: The next question, does it make sense to have a debate about an election we don’t even know is going to happen? I think the vice president needs to keep his day job.
-Senator Graham: He’s in for a hell of a 2020 fight and he better be up for it.
-Mitch McConnell: It’s clearly in the political interests of our party to take him out. And I’m not sure he’s going to win, so why can’t we beat him?
-President Trump on Republican Senators leaving Biden untouched until after November 2020 election: I think they’re all misread. They’re playing by different rules than what Democrats are.
New Congress, Same GOP Attitude Towards Working With Trump
2020 looks to be a tough year for Joe Biden and President Trump as they battle to retain their seats, but it’s not clear that the GOP will get along any better with Trump than they did with Obama. The US Federal Government is just a few days old, and already many lawmakers are pointing out potential oversight problems that could arise in 2020 if he does not work with them more efficiently than he did in 2019. So far, it seems like the only major difference between their political climate now and back then is that there are fewer Democrats willing to co-operate with the president.