The race for President in 2020 is off and running with candidates floating trial balloons to see if they have any support. This includes members of Donald Trump’s own party.

According to Politico

Jeff Flake said Friday that a Republican needs to challenge Donald Trump for the Republican presidential nomination in 2020. And it might be him.

Flake gave at least some credence to the widespread speculation that he might mount a quixotic primary campaign against Trump, given the retiring senator’s public fretting about the state of the party. The Arizona GOP senator, who has visited New Hampshire recently, is decidedly keeping his name out there.

“I’ve not ruled it out. I’ve not ruled it in. Just, somebody needs to run on the Republican side,” Flake said on Friday in a lengthy conversation with POLITICO and The Hill on Friday. Flake said both outgoing Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Nebraska GOP Sen. Ben Sasse could give Trump a credible challenge.

Flake insisted that Trump’s popularity in the party is ruining the GOP’s long-term viability and predicted only a brutal electoral loss could make that clear.

“I hope somebody does [run], just to remind Republicans what it means to be conservative and what it means to be decent. We’ve got to bring that back,” Flake said. “You can whip up the base for a cycle or two but it wears thin. Anger and resentment are not a governing philosophy.”

Dismissing what Flake says here out of hand is probably a huge mistake. Presidents that have serious contenders within their party usually do not win reelection.

President Ford vs Governor Reagan 1976 ( Ford loses to Cater)

President Carter vs Senator Ted Kennedy 1980 ( Cater loses to Reagan)

President Bush 41 vs Pat Buchanan 1992 ( Bush loses to Clinton with the help of third-party candidate Ross Perot)

When the press mentions the anger that is directed at President Trump they usually mention Democrats. Yet there is a strong group of Republicans that you could say have never forgotten the primaries in 2016 and would not mind seeing Trump fall to save the party, country or their pocketbooks for another election cycle.

Also while the election results from last Tuesday are still being broken down there are signs that the Republican party is in danger of going through the electoral desert on a horse with no name for a while. My colleague here at Red State covered why in this excellent piece earlier this week, Election Reflection: Forget The Spin, Danger Lies Ahead For Republicans.

I personally don’t think Jeff Flake has it in him to go through the grind of a national run AND take fire from Donald Trump in a way that only the President can deliver. He had two ladies rattle him at an elevator and he folded on supporting Kavanaugh from the yelling and flying spittle.

Gov. John Kasich though won’t be deterred that easy in my opinion. He has been chomping at the bit to take a piece out of Trump and John does not want to wait until 2024 to tell us once again that his Dad was a mailman.

However, this starts to unfold all sides that do not like Donald J Trump believe they smell blood in the water and they are coming. I look forward to seeing how this all unfolds.

In case you missed my other post on a different subject Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: Nazis And Global Warning Are Like The Same Thing DUH!! and check out my podcast Bourbon On The Rocks plus like Bourbon On The Rocks on Facebook and follow me on the twitters at IRISHDUKE2