Sean O'Hara

Since the 2016 race is effectively done, it's time to start looking forward!

With Clinton approaching 73 in 2020, will she be in any shape to run again? Will she face a neo-Sandernista challenger from the Left?

Will the Republican Party even be functional four years from now?

Cruz and Pence have both been trying to position themselves for the nomination, but Cruz blew it by shifting his support to Trump five seconds before Trump imploded, while Pence will forever be tainted as Trump's running mate, and that's not even touching on his desire to electrocute gay children.

So who does that leave for the Republicans to field as a reasonable candidate? Ben Sasse? Larry Hogan? Or will the Trumpkins still have control of the GOP and insist upon doubling down on fascism?

VinVega

I'm betting on Clinton being a one term Prez. Several Repubs could have beaten her this year. I don't think the party will make anotber Trump mistake in 2020.

slop101

If the country's in worse shape by the next election, Clinton is out. If the country is in measurably better shape, she stays. If it's in the same shape as now, it's a toss up, depending on who the GOP run.

inri222

I bet the winner will be a Democrat or a Republican.

Nick Danger

I don't see the Republican party changing yet. After the Romney defeat, they did a study that recommended expanding their appeal from the angry white male demographic. Nothing changed in 2016. The party grassroots will declare that Trump betrayed them, and go for another bite at the same apple.

Being President is a hard job in your 50s. We've seen how rapidly it ages people. It must be a killer in your 70s. I think Clinton will be worn out in four years and will leave an open seat.

The campaign in 2020 will be Kaine vs Cruz. If not Cruz, some other pious hypocrite supported by Ralph Reed and Falwell Jr.

One thing that will come out of the 2016 election is that we won't see another billionaire businessman running for president for a while. Everything embarrassing thing that Trump has said over 40 years has been dug up and thrown in his face. People who plan to be President someday know that happens and they watch everything they say from college onward. Most businessmen haven't been that careful, and they know they can't stand up to that level of scrutiny.

dork

It all depends on the economy. If the economy's good, President Kaine will probably win another term. If the economy's bad, say hello to President al-Baghdadi.

JasonF

And I thought I was being silly starting the 2016 thread the day after the election last time!

Of course Hillary will run for reelection, barring any huge catastrophes. Once she has a four year track record as President, assuming the country is reasonably on track, none of this "OMG! Email! Foundation!" bullshit will matter. She'll be judged as all incumbents are -- is the country headed in the right direction?

Nick Danger

Yes, I'm being silly. Last time I said that I expected to see Jeb Bush on the ballot. That's how good a prophet I am.

But I still think the Republicans will dig themselves deeper in four years. They'll look at the good results from the mid-term election and double down again.

davidh777

The Republicans would be better served to find someone fresh who doesn't have the stink of this election on him/her.

hdnmickey

Hopefully, unlike in 2016, both sides will nominate somebody their constitutes can actually stand behind and positively support rather than play childish, "but they did it too!" and "but they are worse! games.

Supermallet

What, no one is predicting that Johnson getting 15% of the vote his year will allow the libertarian party into the debates in 2020, at which point the unwashed masses will rise as one to band together and vote in a president who can enact a free market utopia?

chowderhead

I am not sure by 2020, Gary Johnson will remember who Gary Johnson is.

mcnabb

No doubt we won't nominate someone as bombastic as Trump, but the Trump-wing will still push good candidates to take a hard line on Immigration the same way the Christian Conservatives put a litmus test on every Candidate being Pro-life.

If we lose next month, this will be 6 of the last 7 popular votes we have lost, and its because of these wedge issues that may play well in the Republican primary, push off too many moderates in the general election.

Nick Danger

That's one litmus test I'd like to see gone. Trump showed that he could get the support of the religious right even if he's indifferent about abortion, tomcats around, and doesn't go to any church. I hope that future candidates seize that crack and pry it open. If the religious right supported Trump, they'll support anyone with an (R).

VinVega

The Libertarian party had a real chance to siphon voters away from both the Dems and the Repubs this year, but Johnson is such a flake on TV, he's just not worth it. If they could get a real candidate they could make some headway. People are really blah about both parties I think.

JasonF

Anyone who is a real credible candidate wouldn't be running as a Libertarian. It's a loony party that attracts loony candidates.

Josh-da-man

Yeah. Johnson being excluded from the debates is doing him a favor. His "Aleppo" moment looked like something from Jaywalking.

creekdipper

But Clinton & the Democrats get a pass from moderates for their litmus test on the same issue (reiterated by Clinton last night)?

inri222

So what should they do, run as Democrats or Republicans?

JasonF

In a word, yes. We live in a country whose government was engineered (not intentionally, but even so) to produce two political parties. Anyone who doesn't recognize this is, by definition, tilting at windmills.

dom56

As a Democrat I wish John Kasich had won the Republican nomination as I would have voted for him for the President. Trump is just too hot-headed and I'm real not a fan of Hillary either.

inri222

Hopefully this election will get people to try and get the laws changed (although I doubt it). First past the post has got to go.

The reason there will be no change is because the people who stand to lose from change have all the power, and the people that stand to gain from change have none of the power. - Niccolò Machiavelli

creekdipper

Doesn't every major movement begin with someone tilting at windmills?

Next year will be the 500th Anniversary of the Protestant Reformation begun by Martin Luther. He & other reformers were certainly tilting at a monolithic, entrenched presence.

Our own Founding Fathers, who face either apathy from colonists or direct opposition from loyalists, might have been discouraged from facing the powerful British Empire. But they persevered.

Mabuse

Those people were bad asses. We're all a bunch of pussies whose brains are so addled that the majority of us believe there was a "winner" of that travesty that was held last night.

dork

This is most likely a fake quote.