Larry Hogan Isn't Coming to Save the Republican Party

[brooklynite]

The Atlantic

When you press him on it, Larry Hogan will admit that he’s faintly amused by all the media adulation. As the Republican governor of Maryland, he has enjoyed glowing coverage for standing up to President Donald Trump. He is hailed as a Brave Truth-Teller, a Leader With Integrity, a Republican Who Gets It. In truth, the bar is just really low.

“There are so few Republicans willing to say anything that’s not 100 percent in lockstep with the president,” he told me with a chuckle during a recent phone interview. “So when I do say something that disagrees, people say: Wow! A Republican speaks out!”

Naturally, Hogan is not above exploiting this dynamic as he promotes his new book. Still Standing: Surviving Cancer, Riots, a Global Pandemic, and the Toxic Politics That Divide America belongs to a distinct subgenre of sanitized political memoirs designed to draw attention to the author’s presidential aspirations. To that end, it’s already succeeded. On his publicity tour, he’s routinely introduced as a prospective 2024 candidate. And as a popular blue-state governor with a pragmatic streak, Hogan is catnip for a certain kind of centrist pundit who has long fantasized about the heroic moderate riding in on a white horse to deliver the GOP from barbarism.

But figures like Hogan have a history of attracting more column inches than votes in Republican presidential primaries. (See: John Kasich, Jon Huntsman, assorted other Jo(h)ns.) What makes him an interesting case study is not his moderation, but how he’s positioned himself in opposition to a deeply unpopular incumbent who will—win or lose—remain a noisy force in conservative politics. The logic of a Hogan candidacy is premised on the idea that when Trump leaves office, Trumpism will leave with him. There’s reason to be skeptical.

Worth remembering that a largely Democratic electorate (2:1 margin) voted for him twice.

[denem]

1. Any potential savior should be aware that real Republican dissentants

like the Lincoln Project crew, have no intention of sparing 'good Germans' like Hogan after the flood.

[dutch777]

2. It's bad when a loyal Dem like me begins thinking Hogan, Kasich, et. al. don't look so bad

The two statements that sadly really ring true are that the bar is so low for anything to seem like sensible Republican leadership and while Trump may leave, Trumpism may not. If we as Dems can't navigate a winning course in this situation, we should go back to the drawing board.

[comradebillyboy]

3. They are both deplorable. But I'm happy to have them attack Trump.

The US allied with Stalin to stop Hitler. Kasich and Hogan aren't nearly as bad as Stalin so a temporary alliance is OK by me.