by Rod Williams, Feb. 17, 2026 - The next presidential election is almost three years away, so no one who knows what the political landscape will look like at that time. Unless by that time, some Republican emerges who never was a Trump sycophant and cheerleader and who, between now and that election, becomes a Trump critic, I will most likely not be voting for the Republican candidate. I will certainly not vote for Donald Trump Jr., Marco Rubio, or JD Vance. There could emerge a Republican figure I could support but I don't see one yet. I would look favorably upon Congressman Thomas Massie should he become a candidate, but I would have to learn more about his policies. I like that he has stood up to Trump in getting the Epstein files released. I can't think of any other Republicans I could support at this time.
This position leaves me open to voting for a Democrat again, having reluctantly cast my first-ever vote for a Democrat presidential nominee in 2024 when I voted for Kamala Harris. At this time, I am very impressed by Senator Mark Kelly. I hope he becomes a candidate, and I look forward to learning more about him. While I might reluctantly again vote for a Democrat in order to vote against a JD Vance or another Trumpinista Republican, if the Dem is a woke lefty, I may just sit out the election.
If we survive the next three years of Donald Trump, and America remains a democracy, I am not going to breathe a big sigh of relief if Democrats regain control of the White House and Congress. I have my doubts that a Democrat-controlled government would relinquish the power that Trump has amassed and appropriated. I fear Democrats would simply use the power for different ends. Nevertheless, my disgust with Trump and his cowardly enablers leaves me at this time predisposed to vote for a Democrat.
The worst thing, in my view, that Democrats could do to ensure a JD Vance or some other Trumpian candidate is elected to succeed Trump, is to nominate someone from the progressive wing of the party- a woke Democratic Socialist; someone like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Monday, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez went to the annual Munich Security Conference in Germany. Attending the conference and rubbing elbows with world leaders and diplomats is the type of thing one does to raise one's profile and to give oneself some foreign policy credentials. AOC said she is attended, “not because I’m running for president,” amid speculation that she could pursue the 2028 Democratic nomination.
She proved herself not ready to lead. Appearing on panels discussing foreign policy and in interviews, she stumbled, giving incoherent, confusing answers to questions. She gave wishy washy answers to questions about the US defending Taiwan, and she did not give her wishy washy answers with grace and finesse. She certainly did not appear confident. She appeared afraid that any answer she gave would offend someone.
Here are excerpts of some of what she had to say:
This answer she gave in response to a question about the US commitment to defending Taiwan:
Um, you know, I think that this is such a, you know, I think that this is a um — this is, of course, a, um, very long-standing, um, policy of the United States. And I think what we are hoping for is that we want to make sure that we never get to that point, and we want to make sure that we are moving in all of our economic research and our global positions to avoid any such confrontation — and for that question to even arise.
And:
What we are seeking is a return to a rules-based order that eliminates the hypocrisies around when too often in the West we look the other way for inconvenient populations, to act out these paradoxes.
What does that last one even mean?
While in Munick, she also advocated a wealth tax policy and again called Israeli action in Palestine "genocide." And she said, "We have to have a working class-centered politics if we are going to succeed, and also if we are going to stave off the scourges of authoritarianism." That doesn't tell me much, but it does raise concern. I often think that the political spectrum is horseshoe-shaped, and Trump and his nationalist populist are one end of the horseshoe, and AOC and the woke Democratic Socialist are the other end. If the 20208 contest should be AOC versus JD Vance, I will be a no-show.
Watch the above video to sample her attempt to communicate something and to appear serious and moderate while taking care not to offend her extremist base.
For more on her Munick performance, see this link, this link, this one, and this one.
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