Ron Paul: Trump may be vulnerable to 2020 GOP primary challenge

[timosman]

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/r...to-2020-gop-primary-challenge/article/2644395

by Steven Nelson | Dec 26, 2017

Former Texas Rep. Ron Paul says a yearlong economic boom under President Trump is “a bit of an illusion” and that debt, inflation, and inequality could cause turmoil that benefits a “hardcore nucleus” of libertarians.

The libertarian Republican leader told the Washington Examiner that Trump could face a strong challenger in the 2020 GOP primary, especially if “things are really much worse."

“The big opening for us is the fact that this system is coming apart. We’re on the verge of something like what happened in ‘89 when the Soviet system just collapsed,” he said. “I’m just hoping our system comes apart as gracefully as the Soviet system.”

Paul doesn’t believe the U.S. will break into separate countries, but instead expects a rethink of monetary policy and an end to what he considers a U.S. “empire” overseas.

“We have ownership of these countries, but it’s not quite like the Soviets did,” he said. “I think our stature in the world and our empire will end, and that’s when, hopefully, the doors will be open and [people will] say, ‘Hey, maybe these libertarians have some answers to this.’”

Paul said “the country’s feeling a lot better, but it’s all on borrowed money” and that “the whole system’s an illusion” built on corporate, personal, and governmental debt. “It’s a bubble economy in many many different ways and it’s going to come unglued,” he said.

The former congressman for years has presented issues in stark terms, refreshingly so for supporters and with an alarmist edge in the eyes of detractors.

Paul rose to prominence with 2008 and 2012 GOP presidential bids, running on an anti-war, pro-civil liberties message. When his son, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., appeared well positioned for a 2016 presidential run, news outlets declared the country was experiencing a “libertarian moment.”

“The appearance of the libertarian movement has been set back partially because of Trump, but intellectually we’ve been doing well,” Paul said, describing a large "hardcore nucleus" of conference-attending enthusiasts.

Although broadly critical of Trump, Paul likes the president's talk about removing government regulations and implementing tax cuts.

“Trump’s being a good cheerleader. He’s a cheerleader for Wall Street, and I keep my fingers crossed, maybe lowering some of the taxes will help, certainly lowering the regulations. But I think the problems are so deep and structural,” he said.

Paul said he's disappointed with Trump's foreign policy, especially his approach toward North Korea and his support for Saudi Arabia's military role in Yemen.

“I think the foreign policy is a total disaster. Trump’s approach sounds good one day but the next day he’s antagonizing everyone in the world and thinks we should start a war here and there," he said.

Domestically, Paul views Attorney General Jeff Sessions as a threat to civil liberties and said he would be “delighted” if Trump fired him, though he’s not hopeful the replacement would be better.

The former congressman said he continues to view the U.S. as being on a path to fascism — on a long historical arch featuring authoritarian policies of Presidents Lincoln and Wilson.

“This time when we have a permanent war on terrorism there’s no backing off — and with the war on immigrants, and the borders,” he said. “Anybody who thinks we’re not doing too badly has not been flying on an airplane lately. That’s about as authoritarian-fascism as you can get.”

Paul said government policies that steer money to the wealthy create understandable anger among poorer Americans — pointing to the success of Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Vermont socialist, in his 2016 campaign for the Democratic nomination. Paul said a libertarian answer, halting inflation and "crony capitalism," would result in more freedom.

“We as libertarians have some work to do before [voters] are going to accept a true-blue libertarian,” he said, “but I think moving in that direction and having a popular candidate [in 2020] is very possible.”

"If they only hear our message, I know they would choose liberty and sound money and freedom and peace over the mess we have today," Paul said.

 

[RonZeplin]

https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-could-face-challenge-2020-primary-republican-warns-173844107.html

Trump could face challenge in 2020 primary, Republican warns

Washington (AFP) - US President Donald Trump may face competition to be the Republican party's nominee for the 2020 White House race if he decides to pursue a second term, a US senator said in an interview broadcast Sunday.

"I do believe if the president is running for re-election, if he continues on the path that he's on, that that's going to leave a huge swath of voters looking for something else," Jeff Flake, one of the few elected Republicans to publicly criticize Trump, said in an interview on ABC's "This Week."

"If he's the Republican nominee again, we're likely to see an independent candidate" in the November 2020 presidential election, said Flake, who announced this fall that was stepping down from his Senate seat in late 2018.

"He's probably inviting a Republican challenge as well" for the 2020 primaries to tap a nominee for the Republican party, he warned.

Sitting presidents are typically considered shoo-ins as the nominee for their party at the end of the first term, although an intra-party challenge is not unheard of.

Democratic President Jimmy Carter faced off against Senator Ted Kennedy in 1980, and four years before that, Republican President Gerald Ford clashed with Ronald Reagan.

Flake is among the few Republican lawmakers who have publicly criticized the president, both on a personal level and for his policies which the senator deems extreme.

"You look at the audiences cheering for Republicans... you look out there and say, those are the spasms of a dying party," he said in the interview.

"By and large, we're appealing to older white men. And there are just a limited number of them. And anger and resentment are not a governing philosophy."

Flake was circumspect when asked if he was considering a run in 2020.

"I don't rule anything out but it's not in my plans," he said.

 

[Superfluous Man]

Any day now, supposedly, some of his most ardent supporters on this forum will turn against him if he fails to arrest a whole bunch of high ranking pedophiles.

 

[Danke]

 

[oyarde]

Ya , well , I will believe it when I see it .

 

[The Rebel Poet]

Any day now, supposedly, some of his most ardent supporters on this forum will turn against him if he fails to arrest a whole bunch of high ranking pedophiles.

Before the election it was going to be if he didn't arrest Hillary

Then it was going to be if he kept up undeclared foreign wars

Then...

You know what is going to happen if the pedophilocracy isn't stopped?

 

[Republicanguy]

Nobody knows if he will. I was surprised he even won the first time around, still a lot of controversy about him.

But who ever is to continue after, they'll need to keep that law funding for NASA.

 

[osan]

A bit too early to begin this sort of speculation.

If the nation is in palpably better shape for those who currently support him, there will be no challenge IMO. Doesn't matter how his opponents fare because they are unintelligent to the point they will go against Trump even if they got everything they wanted as a result of the president's work.

 

[dannno]

The only Republican who would be better than Trump is R. Paul (I don't think Massie is quite ready for Presidential aspirations yet, but I would definitely support him nonetheless, I'd even support Amash over Trump in a primary)

Anybody the establishment or MSM pushes will be toxic.

 

[Keith and stuff]

Ron Paul has been right about things before. Who knows? Ron Paul might be right again.

 

[phill4paul]

Well Ron believes there might be a fiat collapse by then so who knows? If that happens all bets are off.