Recently, Massachusetts’ former Republican governor Bill Weld announced he will challenge President Trump in the Republican primaries for the 2020 election. …
Before Weld, all nomination challengers have come from the parties’ ideological extremes: insurgent Democrats who accuse their presidents of straying from New Deal and Great Society liberalism, or insurgent Republicans attacking their presidents for compromising conservative principles. …
Never before has an incumbent president’s renomination been challenged from the political center. To be sure, Weld has positioned himself as a genuine fiscal conservative in contrast with the Trump administration’s fiscal irresponsibility. But he has also framed his campaign as a protest against “both major parties” and promised to appoint a bipartisan cabinet if elected. CONT.
Adam Hilton (Mount Holyoke), Monkey Cage