So the GOP doesn’t like the fact that FBI Director James Comey is bringing no charges against Hillary Clinton. Unsurprising. If Comey had recommended an indictment for Hillary followed by turning the former Secretary of State on a spit over an open flame, the GOP would ask why he didn’t recommend pepper and salt.
It is open season on Hillary. Unfortunately for the GOP, it's probably not going to work in 2016, especially considering the stability of the polls showing a consistent Hillary lead over Trump. But then again, that’s not the point.
Let’s be clear. The 2016 general election is over. The GOP lost. Hillary Clinton is the president-elect…. and there is nothing that can be done to stop that. Don the Con is floundering while Hillary Clinton is straight-up knocking shit out the park with speeches like this one at the African Episcopal Methodist Church in Philadelphia. The GOP jumping ship over Don the Con’s candidacy shows that they are already preparing for the inevitable loss. The car has rolled off the cliff at this point. The GOP has stopped desperately pumping the brakes and is now just bracing for the impact.
Right now the GOP’s strategy is just attacking Hillary Clinton while remaining distant from Trump. Why? Because the GOP has given up 2016 and is now preparing for the 2020 presidential election.
In modern presidential history political parties have not lasted longer than three terms in the White House. After Ronald Reagan’s two terms, George H. W. Bush just lasted one term before being defeated by Bill Clinton. In 2020 the GOP will face an embattled, unpopular Democrat in the White House. Hillary Clinton is a damned competent woman but the next president has some real shit coming down the pipeline in the next four years. The “Brexit”- associated economic chaos will hit the US in force by 2017 and may last the next four years… especially if other countries follow the UK’s lead and also exit the EU. The Syria conflict and migration crisis will probably not be resolved by 2020 (the war in Afghanistan has dragged on for fifteen years now with no sign of stopping) and there are signs of further destabilization in Europe and the Middle East. This will all be on Hillary Clinton by 2020. It will weigh her down like a boat-anchor and the GOP wants to speed up the sinking by stretching out the damnable e-mail investigation for the next year at least.
Meanwhile the GOP will also be working overtime to reform primary rules after 2016. Reince Preibus will be fired. Trump will be a Fox News commentator or a CNN advisor or in jail over fraud charges or dead from a cocaine overdose in a casino. Either way the GOP will make sure neither he nor anyone similar (“Ted Nugent 2020,” shudder) can snatch the nomination again. Primaries will be sewn up tight, registered Republicans only. There will be new convention rules. Maybe delegates will be unbound from the start. Or the RNC chair will be more zealous about immediately disavowing GOP primary candidates with radical viewpoints. Meanwhile up-and-coming minority GOP politicians will be recruited desperately for the Republican nomination to spray away the stink of racism left by 2016. Nikki Haley will get phone calls. Mia Love will get a lot of love thrown her way. I think we all can agree that Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz are already getting their 2020 teams underway.
Of course Hillary Clinton is nothing if not resourceful. She will be careful to tie Don the Con to the GOP so that he will continue to sink the Republicans long after 2016. Judging current demographic trends the US voting population will be far more diverse in 2020 than 2016… historically a greater boon for Democrats than Republicans.
And if Hillary Clinton, First Lady Hillary Clinton, Senator Hillary Clinton, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, President Hillary Clinton has taught us anything, it’s to not underestimate her. 2020? She’s got this.