When being old is worse than being a felon

Republicans have other options; they won't use them

It’s interesting what causes pundits to call for your retirement and what doesn’t

It’s been less than four months since Ezra Klein, writing and podcasting at the New York Times, proclaimed that Joe Biden, while an effective and good president, was too old to stand for reelection, and that Democrats should push him into retirement and pick a different nominee at their national convention this summer. Now, following Trump’s 34 felony convictions, Ezra’s equivalents on the right are following the same model, saying that Trump is damaged goods and should be pushed out of the presidential race, and Republicans should use the machinery of the Republican National Convention to pick a new non-felonious nominee.

JK! Actually, I’m not sure who exactly the Ezra Klein of the right is, but let’s see what a few possible equivalents have to say:

• Tucker Carlson: “Import the Third World, become the Third World. That’s what we just saw…. Anyone who defends this verdict is a danger to you and your family.”

• Matt Walsh: “[Trump] should make and publish a list of ten high ranking Democrat criminals who he will have arrested when he takes office.”

• Jesse Watters: “We’re going to vanquish the evil forces that are destroying this republic.”

• Laura Ingraham: “Democrats are showing… the type of power we usually see dictators exercise in China and Cuba and North Korea.”

In short, traditionally pro-Trump media voices are nearly in unison in attacking the conviction, the judge, and even the justice system, proclaiming their enduring support for Trump, and even endorsing his revenge.

The difference from Ezra’s critique of Biden is really quite striking. Ezra delivered a tough indictment of Biden’s apparent capabilities, but sandwiched it in a great deal of praise for Biden personally and for his accomplishments as president. He devoted an episode of his podcast to describing just how party conventions have worked in the past and could work today in dislodging Biden as the party’s 2024 presumptive nominee. I disagreed with what Ezra wrote but he definitely thought it through and made a strong case, and he was not the only left-leaning journalist to do this sort of thing. (These critiques stopped abruptly after Biden’s spirited State of the Union Address in March.)

Following Ezra’s logic, though, Republicans definitely could use their convention to nominate someone other than Trump. And unlike Democrats, they actually have some recently tested options. Nikki Haley ran a spirited campaign, did very well against the presumptive nominee in a number of states, and polls far better against Joe Biden. Ron DeSantis proved a strong campaigner and debater. Vivek Ramaswamy was… enthusiastic! There were a number of other candidates in the Republican debates last year who could take on this role. And in just about any other context, if it suddenly turned out that the presumptive nominee was a convicted felon, the party would push this person to resign almost immediately.

Of course, this will not happen. In part that’s because Republicans at their convention face the same obstacles as Democrats at theirs — both parties are hugely institutionally biased in favor of their own recent presidents, and no one alive today has been a delegate at a contested convention. But also, Trump is massively popular within his party.

We could just say that this is a difference in party cultures. Democrats are far more likely to question their nomination decisions and rethink their nomination processes than Republicans are, and this has been true for some time.

But there’s more than that going on. After all, George W. Bush was a wildly popular president for a while, and twenty years ago the Republican Party was in lockstep in backing him for a second term. But when his popularity faded in that term, Republicans were not afraid to criticize him. Some very publicly parted with him on aspects of the War on Terror, torture, port safety, and more.

Things are far different in the age of Trump. Part of this is the rise of conservative populism within the Republican Party, an ideology that is decidedly anti-pluralist in its outlook and brooks little if any dissent. Part of this is about Trump specifically; once Republican leaders committed to supporting him following the Access Hollywood revelations in 2016, there really wasn’t much space to concede ground. If they could support him after he bragged about sexual assault they could support him in virtually anything, as they have repeatedly proven. Relatedly, they know Trump is vindictive about these things in ways that prior Republican nominees have not been; Republicans who call Trump’s leadership into question will find themselves out of a job and facing death threats.

There are plenty of reasons why neither party will challenge its presumptive nominee as long as the candidate wants the job. It is nonetheless striking how differently the parties respond to or even consider the suggestion, and how the media ecosystem processes it.