With Evan McMullin having shown himself to be a total weirdo and David French too busy writing bad legal analysis on National Review, I guess Never Trumpers needed a new squeeze. I’m sure this one will work out so much better than the others.

PJMedia has the story.

On Tuesday, Gov. Larry Hogan (R-Md.) announced he is considering a 2020 campaign for president, challenging President Donald Trump in the Republican primary. Hogan is the second to consider such a campaign, following former Libertarian vice presidential nominee Gov. William Weld (R-Mass.). He would arguably mount a stronger challenge to Trump than Weld. Hogan spoke at the Politics & Eggs breakfast, an event hosted by the New England Council and the New Hampshire Institute of Politics — a must-do event for any presidential candidate. The Maryland governor has planned trips to 16 different states in the next few months as he considers a run for president, The Washington Post reported. “I’m not just wandering around the states, hitchhiking,” Hogan quipped.

Larry Hogan is about as cookie cutter of a moderate Republican as you can imagine. In a highly liberal state like Maryland, that’s probably a necessity. In a Republican primary? Good freaking luck, much less against an incumbent President who enjoys 85-90% approval in his own party.

Given the stupidity of trying to primary Trump, it’s no surprise who’s behind it.

After the governor decided to attack Trump, he said he’s been approached “by a lot of people and a growing number of people” since his second inauguration in January. Last year, he became the second Republican governor to win re-election in deep blue Maryland. He won by nearly 12 points, and he is one of the most popular governors in America. Bill Kristol, former founder and editor-at-large of the defunct Weekly Standard and a leader of the #NeverTrump Republican movement, encouraged Hogan to run. “Larry Hogan is obviously at the top of the list of credible challengers,” Kristol told The Washington Post. If the governor chose to challenge Trump, “it would be a patriotic thing to do,” he said.

There are few (fake) Republicans as irrelevant as Bill Kristol. He has no base anymore, no connection to Republican voters, and no ability to promote his chosen candidates outside the beltway cocktail circuit.

Not content with running the Weekly Standard into the ground, he’s now started a failing blog called The Bulwark that gets about as much traffic as Eric Swalwell’s youtube channel. Despite that, major cable networks desperate to push anti-Trump narratives continue to treat him as some kind of political kingmaker. In reality, everything he touches flops.

As you can see, Hogan is off to a good start.

According to a recent New Hampshire poll, more than 75 percent of Republican voters said they would support Trump in a contested primary. Hogan attracted a mere 1 percent. Weld, who has formally announced his candidacy, garnered 5 percent. A full 10 percent chose former Gov. John Kasich (R-Ohio), who has not yet announced a 2020 bid.

That number would likely rise if he officially announced, but obviously, there’s no groundswell begging for Hogan to enter the race. He’s apparently heading to 16 states, including Utah in June at the invitation of Mitt Romney, because if there’s one guy who knows about winning Presidential elections it’s (checks notes)…Mitt Romney?

Obviously, none of this is going anywhere. Trump, unless he chooses not to run, will be the 2020 nominee. Yet, it’s looking fairly certain there will be some heel nippers that challenge him in 2020. Bill Weld is already in the race, Kasich is likely to run, and Hogan may see it as a win/win to challenge Trump. Even when he loses, it’ll only solidify his prospects in Maryland.

Trump would be smart to just ignore these people. The only thing Bill Kristol and his clan are looking for right now is attention.

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