LOL at this guy trying to win righties over with something other than brute lib-triggering.

Although, even by the degraded modern Republican cardinal rule of “we’re for whatever the left is against,” you would think it’d be easier to maintain GOP interest in shrinking government. By one estimate the Green New Deal will cost $93 trillion, no typo. It’s no exaggeration to say that AOC and the Squad think the national debt should be waaaaaay bigger than it already is. They also think the problem of not being able to pay for federal programs can be solved by, ahem, simply printing more money. “Slash spending, reform entitlements” is the most obvious way to own the libs.

But it turns out the subject of debt and deficits is the one exception to the cardinal rule. Perfect.

Here’s Mark Sanford, who lost his congressional primary last year for the right-wing heresy of not thinking much of Trump, announcing that … actually, it’s not clear what he’s announcing. He’s considering a primary challenge to POTUS, but he’s also seriously considering passing on electoral politics and launching an “advocacy organization.” In fact, this is the first ad I’ve ever seen in which an apparent candidate for high office makes clear right in the ad that he may *not* end up running after all. He might go off and found “Nerds for Tax Cuts” or whatever instead.

Maybe wait a week until you’ve made up your mind before cutting the ad, eh, Mark?

I like him but he’s one weird dude. Always has been, and not just for his infamous “hiking of the Appalachian Trail.”

He was on “The View” today as well — another move typical of a presidential candidate, not a think-tank founder — and naturally was asked about the topic du jour. That clip is interesting because it shows Sanford grappling with his biggest challenge if he ends up primarying Trump: How does he resist getting sucked into talking about the daily Trump controversy and away from what he really wants to be talking about, spending? You can see an early example of that here, with the hosts pressuring him to call Trump’s tweets about the Squad racist and Sanford obliging them but also making a point of noting that they’re playing Trump’s game by focusing on it. America’s political class can’t go chasing every shiny object he tosses at them, he scolds. Uh, Mark, m’man, I have bad news. We can and we will.

Former GOP Rep. @MarkSanford says “it sounds like to me” Pres. Trump’s attacks on the Democratic freshman congresswomen are racist.

“It is at odds with what the Good Book says … about this notion of loving your neighbor.” https://t.co/BVivesFDzI pic.twitter.com/bNOWMpnSAm

— The View (@TheView) July 18, 2019