Trump’s his own biggest threat to re-election

5 mins read



Complain all you like, but in your heart, you know he’s right. Really, though, this is just another way of saying that the presidential race is Donald Trump’s to lose. Sen. Tim Scott appeared on CBS This Morning earlier to discuss the South Carolina Democratic primary and its impact on the general election race. However, Scott told Gayle King that the biggest wildcard in November is on the other ticket.

The good news, Scott says, is that we’ve seen Trump put his A-game front and center recently. “If he’s on his game, as he was at the State of the Union,” Scott told King, “I don’t think there’s a candidate in the country that can beat him.” The closest to manage it would likely not be Joe Biden or Michael Bloomberg, though:

“I would say that the biggest threat to President Trump is President Trump,” Scott said. “If he’s on his game, as he was at the State of the Union, I don’t think there’s a candidate in the country that can beat him. If there is a second choice, other than himself, it would be Bernie Sanders. Bernie Sanders brings that outside game in a similar fashion that President Trump did in 2016.”

The comments from Scott seemed to echo a statement Trump made earlier Monday to reporters while on his trip to India. “I actually think he would be tougher than most of the other candidates because he is like me but I have a much bigger base,” Trump said of Sanders.

Asked who the easiest candidate for Trump to beat in the general election, Scott offered former New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg.

“He has so many challenging headlines,” Scott said. “The narratives for, as the president calls him, ‘Little Mike’ would be easy for President Trump to take a strong advantage.”

Otherwise, Scott said, Republicans might want to rethink their cheering over the rise of a socialist in the other party. He sees some parallels between Trump and Bernie Sanders that might prove difficult to overcome, especially if Trump makes missteps between now and November:

“Bernie Sanders brings that outside game in a similar fashion that President Trump did in 2016,” Scott said in an exclusive interview with “CBS This Morning” in Charleston, the site of Tuesday’s Democratic debate, co-hosted by CBS News. “Think about the similarities. In 2016, Republican leadership, Republican wisdom said that there is no way in the world out of the 17 candidates, Donald Trump will be the president. I think it’s very similar.” …

“Bernie Sanders is doing something in 2020 that he could not do in 2016, which is getting African Americans and Hispanic voters to take a second look at his campaign,” he said. “I think perhaps a primary reason is health care. If you look at what stands out the most in his campaign is he is undeniable a socialist, but he is strong and clear and competent on the issues he supports and the issue of health care is a big issue in the African-American community and I think it is the issue for why he ended up with 51% of the Hispanic vote in Nevada.”

Trump’s licking his chops for a heavyweight battle between capitalism and socialism in November, and many Republicans are as well. If that’s what Trump wants, then great … but he’d better win it.





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