I voted for Donald Trump four times, including in the 2016 Ohio primary. I contributed to all three of his Presidential campaigns. But after the catastrophe he brought down on the Republican Party in the mid-terms, he must leave the White House soon.
The disaster in the mid-terms springs primarily from one cause, the war in Iran. It was just the sort of foreign military adventure Mr. Trump had repeatedly promised not to undertake. Not only was avoiding unnecessary foreign wars a primary plank in his platforms, it was a principal theme in his National Defense Strategy and National Security Strategy. By throwing all his promises out the window and Pearl-Harboring Iran on February 28, attacking without warning as negotiations were underway, he showed contempt for everyone who had voted for him. They repaid him in kind in the mid-terms, mostly by staying home.
Nor has he repented. The November 5 Wall Street Journal quotes him as saying "that if he had to start the war again, he would." I can offer only one point in his defense. Like most Washington civilians, he does not understand that we lose all our wars because our military's Second Generation, firepower/attrition way of war is hopelessly reductionist and a century out of date. Our armed services think that if you just put enough firepower on enough tactical targets, you will win strategically. War is a bit more complicated than that.
While Mr. Trump knows nothing about war or militaries, one might think that, as commander-in-chief, he would have at least one advisor who does.
Vice President Vance at least knows enough that he opposed the attack on Iran. That is now, after the mid-terms, the most important qualification for any Republican who holds the Presidency. What needs to happen, quickly, is that Mr. Vance replaces Mr. Trump in that office.
It is not likely to happen because Mr. Trump takes responsibility for Republicans' defeat and leaves [handwritten correction/strikeout]. But there is a way to force him out.
A Democratic Congress will be the impeachment-of-the-weeks club. If enough Republicans go to the White House and say they will join Democrats in voting to impeach him, convict him and remove him from office, he will have no choice. They should demand only that he "retire," not resign, something entirely justifiable at his age. President Vance will pardon Mr. Trump and family members, following the Biden precedent. Trying them and potentially sending them to prison would rip the country apart. Neither Party should want that.
Because he opposed the Iran war, President Vance will have credibility with the public. He will face a hostile Congress, but if the Democrats attempt to personalize their opposition, they will hurt themselves more than Mr. Vance. He will have two years in which to establish himself rather than Mr. Trump as the face of the Republican Party.
By 2028, if Mr. Trump is long gone from office, voters will be tired of the Democrats. They will fail to bring prices down because neither Party knows how to do that (it starts with setting the Federal Reserve Bank's goal not as 2% inflation but 0%). The antics and incompetence of many newly-elected Democrats will have [handwritten correction appears here; original wording partially obscured]. My state, Ohio, elected as Governor a [handwritten correction] ditz named Amy Action who has never held elected office; in well under two years, she will be seen as a bad joke.
But Republican recovery is impossible if Mr. Trump remains President. We have gone from a quietly senile Democratic President to an actively senile Republican. If you doubt me, watch his speech before election day in which he talked not about affordability but about the reflecting pool and how he planted better grass on the White House lawn. Trump must go.