We are heading down a path I thought unbelieveable after the 2020 elections. I thought (hoped) we had seen the last of Donald Trump, and it was apparent to me even before the election that Joe Biden no longer has the the mental capacity to serve as President of the United States. I was shocked when he was elected after spending the summer in his basement in Delaware, and it makes me wonder who is really pulling the levers of power at the top of the Executive Branch; I know it’s not Joe Biden, but that is another discussion.

Unfortunately, Donald Trump did not go away, egged on by a liberal press and a Democrat Party that wants to keep him as a frontrunner on the Republican side – because he is the only Republican that Joe Biden can beat. There was the harping about classified documents, then the gaudy early morning raid on Mar Lago. Now we have the political hit job that is the Bragg indictment in New York, which the Dems hope to parlay through the 2024 election season, attempting to ensure that Trump’s base (and some independent) rage against this gross injustice carries Trump to the nomination.

That is exactly what the Democrats want.

Trump is divisive and will not become any less so. While I generally agree with his policies and voted for him both times (though the second time was more a vote against Mr Magoo/Biden), he is a far cry from being the best this country can find as the Republican standard-bearer, mostly due to his personality and tendency to be boorishness and mean-spirited. He has had his chance, his moment in the sun, and it’s time to put him out to pasture and end the unceasing media focus on “The Donald”.

Trump likely lost the 2020 election because too many independent and suburban voters found his personality too toxic and voted for reason. It happened again in the mid-terms, when what was supposed to be a Red Tsunami turned into a slight high tide. Many voted split tickets, voting straight Republican down-ballot, but shunning the Trump-backed candidate at the top: think Dr Oz in Pennsylvania and Kari Lake in Arizona. It will happen again in 2024. Joe Biden will wait til as late as this Fall to announce he is running again, waltz to the nomination, and beat Trump again for the same reasons as in 2020. It is unfathomable to me that we would elect a vegetable like Joe Biden twice, but I fear we could be in danger of doing so.

This is my call to act, fellow Republicans and Independents. We know that no reasonable person in this country wants a Trump-Biden rematch, with Biden likely winning again, leading to four more years of an unknown and unnamed cabal running the country and pulling us ever farther left, to our great detriment. That is not who we are as a country.

What to do? Contact your local Republican campaign office, find out where they stand, argue against rubber-stamping Trump as the nominee again. Educate yourself now on other candidates, as the Republicans have a deep bench: Desantis, Youngkin, Haley, Pompeo, and others. I don’t believe the polls regarding Trump vs. Desantis will stand, I just don’t think enough people outside of Florida know Desantis well enough yet. Trump knows this, which is why he keeps attacking Desantis in his childish ways. Conservative news organizations need to challenge Trump to stop mocking Desantis and start having serious exchanges with him and other candidates now about the direction of the country. We do not need another Trump-Biden rematch, and neither should occupy the White House again in 2025. It is time for the next generation, with a pragmatic and centrist leader to restore civility and rule of law at home, and restore US standing in the world. Act now!