I suppose it could be worse.
Lindsey Graham could have suggested the other significant other of Donald Trump’s sons as a possible senator from North Carolina.
Imagine Kimberly Guilfoyle, Don Jr.’s squeeze, in the U.S. Senate. She wouldn’t need microphones for her speeches.
Just the same, though, I’m curious what qualifications Lara Trump has to be a U.S. senator. She has never held or presumably even run for any sort of public office. Her only political experience was working on her father-in-law’s campaign. She was born and raised in North Carolina and she attended college there, although not at Chapel Hill. Her degree is from N.C. State, the poor cousin of the big three (with UNC and Duke).
It will be interesting to see if she runs and her sister-in-law Ivanka runs for the Senate in Florida. Seems like there might be a good sitcom premise in Two Trump Girls in the Senate.
Lindsey could be their confirmed bachelor (there’s a term you don’t hear much anymore) BFF who’s always getting together with them and dishing the dirt.
Seriously, though, what on earth is this fascination Republicans have with handing over high offices to people who have never held any sort of office before? When Lyndon Johnson was feuding with Bobby Kennedy in the early ’60s, he said he knew Bobby was smart but he would feel better about him if he’d ever run for a City Council seat.
Johnson’s reference was because there are skills that can only be learned from holding office, like negotiating with people to get things done while making sure not to get too far ahead of constituents. In essence, a different sort of art of the deal from Donald Trump.
We saw what happened the last four years with Trump in the White House. He really had very few deal-making skills other than “make this deal with me on my terms or I will hurt you.”
To be fair, neither Lara nor Ivanka seem to have the big guy’s toxicity psychologically or his level of narcissticy. If you figure Ivanka would be replacing Marco Rubio, it might be something of a wash. But I can’t think of a way Lara would be good for North Carolina. It isn’t as if the Tar Heel State hasn’t had a woman senator. They’ve had two, more than most states.
Still, when her BFF Lindsey calls her the future of the Republican Party, he might not be all that far wrong.
But the real question is whether that sort of Republican Party is going to exist all that much longer. We’re already hearing that more than 100 present and former Republican officials are going to look into the possibility of a center-right party without all the sleaze.
As Dr. Martin Luther King said, the arc of the universe may be long, but it bends toward justice.
I don’t want to overly praise Democrats here. If I were to exaggerate a little and say Republicans are pure evil, it doesn’t hold that their opponents are pure good. I’ve opined before that comparing the two is like comparing Ted Bundy (who actually was a Republican) and the BTK Killer in Wichita to the guys in the Jimmy Buffett song who rob a filling station.
Lara Trump might actually improve the MAGA Party, but don’t hold your breath.
She might have a better chance than Ivanka, but that doesn’t mean she’s going to Washington.
Lindsey will be heartbroken. Playing dress-up with Joni Ernst and Marsha Blackburn just isn’t the same, and they won’t let him do their hair.