Larry Hogan Fight Club
thesecretpodcast.thebulwark.com
May 20, 2022 • 54M
Larry Hogan Fight Club
Is he a net plus or minus?
Appears in this episode
Jonathan V. Last
Sarah Longwell
Best friends Sarah Longwell and JVL, go off-leash and uncensored in this intimate Friday podcast. Only for Bulwark+ members.
Episode details
43 comments
Larry Hogan Fight Club
...I'm sorry, but I think JVL has the right of this re: Hogan. It's the same issue I have with the Anti-Trump Right who couldn't bring themselves to vote for Biden or any non-R candidate. Now that 2020 is done, they have for the most part spent way more time talking about how radical and terrible and evil Joe Biden and the Dems are and oh how I can't vote Trump (but I won't vote against him).
I'd accept it even if Hogan didn't go JVL's maximalist "switch party" idea but if his posture was "Listen, Trump and the Trump right are crazy and should not be elected. I am a Republican but in the spirit of bipartisanship I'm going to not go negative. Vote for me because I am the True Republican." I'd even have less of an issue if he sniped at a theoretical D challenger for him in the governor's race. But by going after national Dems, he's signaling that it's okay to elect the Trump Right (or at least "just don't vote Dem. I'll leave to your imagination who to vote for if not Dems"). He'd rather keep his Place in the Party secure than actually make practical steps towards preventing the end of democracy.
It would also make me more comfortable promoting Hogan as a National True Republican Voice instead of just a quirk of MD if he was active in boosting non-Trump candidates and really tried getting non-Trump candidates in. But I mean, who were the last candidates he endorsed? Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue (both big fans of the Big Lie).
To sum up, I'm not asking Hogan to switch teams or to suddenly become a Democrat. I am asking that if he really is that anti-Trump, that he look very closely with clear eyes as to what actions and rhetoric are most likely to bring the Trumpists back to power and what will keep them from power. Or, in short: is he more anti-Trump or anti-Democrat?
Sarah is right. And I have not listened yet.