Larry Hogan still has visions of the presidency dancing in his head

AP Photo/Julio Cortez

Former Maryland Governor Larry Hogan seems to be determined to make himself relevant in politics. He is so determined that he has visions of himself as a presidential candidate in 2024 on a No Labels ticket.

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Hogan has been pussyfooting around for months as the Republican primary race takes shape in the run-up to party primaries. He is a regular on legacy network news shows and on CNN, too. Democrats love nothing more than a Republican who is willing to publicly trash his own party to puff himself up. So, he’s a regular guest on political shows and is always asked if he is planning on running for president. Once he ruled out jumping into the Republican primary race because the writing was on the wall that he had no lane there, he went public with his participation in a third party – the No Labels political organization. Hogan is sitting on the fence between being a Republican and an independent.

He was a popular governor in Maryland, mostly with Democrats, because he enjoyed being a moderate to liberal Republican. Northeast Republicans are not necessarily known for being particularly conservative and Hogan relishes in being a liberal Republican. He was term-limited out of office and was promptly replaced by a Democrat. He didn’t even bother to support the Republican running for the governorship because that candidate had the endorsement of Trump.

On Sunday’s Face the Nation, Hogan was again asked if he plans to run for president on a potential No Labels ticket. He said he has “not closed the door” to the possibility.

“If I believe that we can actually win the race, we might have to try to pull off something that’s never been done,” Hogan said in an interview that aired Sunday.

“I think we should only put together a ticket in the event that it’s Trump and Biden,” said Hogan, when asked about concern that a No Labels ticket could split the Democratic vote and provide former President Donald Trump with a win in 2024.

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He is right that now is the time, if Trump and Biden become the nominees, to launch a third-party ticket. An overwhelming majority of voters say that they do not want either Trump or Biden to run again and they certainly do not want another Trump versus Biden match-up. More Democrats don’t want Biden to run again than Republicans who don’t want Trump to run again, interestingly enough. I think that likely has to do with Biden’s noticeable mental and physical decline since taking office more than anything else. Trump is too old, too, at the age of 77, but he is seen as more energetic and mentally alert than Joe Biden.

Hogan is still working on getting a “good” Republican nominee, he said. “It has to be a good ticket that can actually win,” Hogan said, in the event that No Labels put forward candidates. “Nobody’s trying to spoil anything. This is about actually receiving a majority of the votes.”

No, it’s about sticking it to Trump. Let’s be honest here. Hogan is a Never-Trump Republican. That’s his prerogative. He is using that attitude as a way to remain active in Republican politics. Maybe he is hoping for a spot on CNN or MSNBC as a paid contributor. In the meantime, he is national co-chair of No Labels. Former Senator Joe Lieberman (D-CT) is the founding chairman. Hogan thinks that there is a “good likelihood” that No Labels will offer a presidential ticket in 2024.

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“I’m not sure sitting here today that Donald Trump and Joe Biden are the two nominees of the major parties or whether this ever lifts off the ground,” Hogan said. “But if in fact, that’s the case, I do believe that this group has a chance to get access to the ballot in all 50 states and if they put together you know, a really great ticket, and ran a perfect campaign, that they would actually have a shot to be not just a spoiler, but to be in it to win it.”

Hogan wants the field of Republican candidates to thin out as soon as possible, which would make it more competitive for the final candidates against Trump. He singled out Vivek Ramaswamy.

Ramaswamy, Hogan said in an interview for CBS’ “Face the Nation,” “is up there being a cheerleader and a fill-in for Trump. He shouldn’t be running for president, he should, you know, he obviously is trying to apply for a job for Trump. But if you’re in there running for vice president, or you’re trying to be a Cabinet secretary, or you’re trying to become famous, or write a book or get on television, you should get the heck out of the race.”

I can understand his attitude toward Vivek. I think it is very peculiar for a candidate to declare Trump as the best president of the 21st century while he is running against him for the party nomination. He sure sounds like a Trump plant in the race. He is articulate and well educated but he is not nearly ready for prime time. His foreign policy opinions alone raise red flags for conservatives.

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Hogan also pointed to Will Hurd as a candidate who should go ahead and bow out of the race. It makes sense for any of the ones who didn’t meet the requirements for the first debate to get out. That includes those who don’t meet the requirements for the second debate, too. If the goal is to stop Trump, that can be accomplished quicker if he only has two or three competitors running against him.

Larry Hogan is not a serious man. He’s a political gadfly at this point. The Democrats in the media will indulge him during this election cycle because he is anti-Trump. He doesn’t put himself forward on his own accomplishments in office but on his hatred for Trump. That’s not a good enough reason.

Read the room, Larry. Close that door.

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