It appears that Bill Kristol and Anthony Scaramucci are supporting Joe Walsh as a Republican primary challenger to President Trump in the hope that it forces the president to withdraw from the race.

First up, here’s Bill Kristol who thinks things could go as they did in 1968 when incumbent President Lyndon Johnson dropped out of the primary:

August 25, 1967: LBJ's approval rating is higher than Trump's today. He has no primary challenger.

March 12, 1968: Gene McCarthy gets 42% of the vote in NH.

March 16, 1968: Bobby Kennedy renounces his support for Johnson and joins the race.

March 31, 1968: Johnson withdraws. — Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) August 25, 2019

This was then echoed by Anthony Scaramucci:

.@realDonaldTrump out of the race by March 2020. Approval rating will be in high 20s. https://t.co/XdE9C2hgBY — Anthony Scaramucci (@Scaramucci) August 25, 2019

Their problem? Kristol is using national poll data when it’s only Republican support that matters, and Trump is in no way comparable to Lyndon Johnson:

Actually Bill LBJ’s approval among Democrats was 30 points lower than Trump’s approval among GOP. — Matthew Dowd (@matthewjdowd) August 25, 2019

Oh, an if Kristol and Scaramucci get their way and Trump does drop out for some reason? Well, in 1968 incumbent Vice President Hubert Humphrey got the nomination and then lost to former Vice President Richard Nixon. Their plan to save the GOP is that Vice President Mike Pence loses to former Vice President Joe Biden? Thanks?

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