Well, the former Oklahoma GOP senator is definitely a constitutional conservative and absolutely anti-"establishment", so he would be a place I and other #NeverTrumpers could park out votes this fall, and might even be able to lure away a few Trumplicans as well.
His lack of name-recognition outside of us political junkies might be a problem, though:
But should that effort falter, leading conservatives are prepared to field an independent candidate in the general election, to defend Republican principles and offer traditional conservatives an alternative to Trump’s hard-edged populism. They described their plans in interviews after Trump’s victories last Tuesday in Florida and three other States…
Among the recruits under discussion are Tom Coburn, a former Oklahoma senator who has told associates that he would be open to running, and Rick Perry, the former Texas governor who was suggested as a possible third-party candidate at a meeting of conservative activists on Thursday in Washington.
Mr. Coburn, who left the Senate early last year to receive treatment for cancer, said in an interview that Trump “needs to be stopped” and that he expected to back an independent candidate against him. He said he had little appetite for a campaign of his own, but did not flatly rule one out.
“I’m going to support that person,” Mr. Coburn said, “and I don’t expect that person to be me.”
Coburn is open to running, but really doesn't want to. And may not be healthy enough to do so given his recent bout with cancer. Who, really, could blame him for that?
If he did, he would have as much "populist" street cred as Trump and all the proven constitutional conservatism Trump conspicuously lacks. He would not, though, have either the name recognition, resources, or be as brain-dead "entertaining" as the millionaire slumlord. And those who think that Trump wouldn't pile-drive Coburn as an "establishment" flunkie anyway simply by virtue of his having served in the U.S. Senate, to the degree that he paid any attention to him at all, just haven't been paying attention....
Good to know Ted Cruz is the establishment, K-Street backed candidate. #HelloStatusQuo
Weaver is John Kasich's campaign manager, and Kasich is in the tank for Trump, just as a reminder.
Bottom line, Tom Coburn would nominally enhance the magnitude of Hillary Clinton's landslide, maybe even carry Oklahoma as a favorite son (remember, Ted Cruz handily beat Trump in the Sooner State), but that's it....other than providing exiled conservatives with someplace of conscience to go.
He'd be better than Mitt Romney, who, even with greater resources and name recognition, would still only possibly carry Utah and nothing else. Or the aforequoted Governor Perry, who has greater name recognition, but only for this....
....and he's not running anyway.
@GovernorPerry has no interest in running as a 3rd party candidate. For the good of the country, he wants the GOP to unite around @tedcruz
So go ahead, Senator Coburn, give it a shot if you want; it's either you or the Constitution Party.
But even I, as a #NeverTrumper who bows to nobody in my #NeverTrumpiness, am not going to take it this far:
Call it a boycott, call it a blackball, call it a blacklist, call it whatever you want. I’m done with these folks and other conservatives should be, too. Anyone who will defend a man condoning random acts of violence at his rallies has lost his morals; he will defend anything at all.
So, I’d like to remember who supported Trump so I never give any kind of credence to their judgment. “Never Trump” means never those who support him as well.
Here is the list of current federal and State GOP officials, former Republican officials, and private citizens who have formally endorsed Trump if anyone else is interested in joining me. Each and every one of his endorsers should be held accountable in their future elections or political ventures.
Heaven knows Amanda Carpenter is hot....
....but in this case I think she needs to cool down a bit. Here's the reality: Trump is almost certainly going to be the nominee, and a lot of GOP officials are going to be caught in the middle, having to say and do things in their official capacity that they never would as a private citizen in order to keep the party apparatus in salvageable condition for after Trump loses all fifty-seven States in November. As I've argued so many times to Tea Partiers, there's nothing to be gained from vilifying and alienating natural allies that we're going to need to rebuild from this latest self-inflicted cataclysm. Prominent Trumplicans themselves, like Chris Christie, Ben Carson, Jeff Sessions, and John Kasich, have destroyed their political careers already. And their counterparts among the grassroots don't have to be "blackballed," because what makes you think they'd ever come back to a party they're trying to destroy, Miss Carpenter? And if any of them do come crawling back, let's make 'em earn it, so that the lesson of their calamitous folly will never be forgotten.
Which is why they probably won't come back. In which case, good riddance.
But leave it up to them. It'll be much more cathartically satisfying that way.
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