Opinion: Political season is upon us

For the presidential election held in 2016, Donald Trump formally announced his candidacy on June 16, 2015. This suggests that if you are a serious candidate for the 2024 election, you may be running a tad late.

The Democrats have two announced candidates, sitting President Joe Biden and Kennedy family scion, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

There any number of potential candidates sniffing around in case Joe stumbles (politically, not literally) in his quest for the nomination. Foremost among these at the moment is sitting California Gov. Gavin Newsom. Putting aside the fact that Newsom has run California into the ground, his other qualifications seem to be that he has great hair and is a shirt-tail relative of Nancy Pelosi.

If Biden somehow declines to run, there will be a stampede to oppose Kennedy, including Vice President Kamala Harris. Along with Harris will be an assemblage of con men and boosters, card sharks and crap-shooters, and other politico lifeforms. I would not be surprised to see the name of Hillary Rodham Clinton among them.

If Joe runs, forget it.

The Dems are deathly afraid of Kennedy, not only for the Kennedy family legacy, but also for knowledge of issues and debate skills. During Kennedy’s recent trip to testify before the House Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, it was Democrats who attacked Kennedy’s testimony and Republicans who were on Kennedy’s side.

My only prediction for this one is there is no way Joe Biden will ever debate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

On the Republican side there is front-runner Donald Trump and 10 other candidates who have announced with four more considering their options. The others who have announced are Nikki Haley, Vivek Ramaswamy, Ron DeSantis, Mike Pence, Tim Scott, Asa Hutchinson, Chris Christie, Francis Suarez, Doug Burgum and Will Hurd.

Of this group, the one I find most impressive and working the hardest is Vivek Ramaswamy. He is a 37-year-old self-made billionaire who lacks political skills, but is working on that and seems to be a quick study. If you get a chance to listen and watch him in a long-form interview, I highly recommend it.

As for the rest, if you say, “Who is (fill in the blank),” you can probably scratch them now.

Liz Chaney is one of the four considering a run. There is no way she gets the nomination. Remember, you read it here first.

Rube Render is a former Clovis city commissioner and former chair of the Curry County Republican Party. Contact him:

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