At this week’s Republican National Convention, the GOP confirmed their ticket for the 2024 presidential race while calling for unity in America following the assignation attempt on candidate Donald Trump. Meanwhile, there’s growing pressure among Democrats for President Joe Biden to step away from the race.
Long-time political analyst Jim Wiesemeyer joined Tyne Morgan and Clinton Griffiths on Farm Journal’s new Unscripted podcast this week to sort through all the breaking news.
The assassination attempt on Sunday in rural Pennsylvania reminded Wiesemeyer of the failed attempt on the life of President Ronald Reagan in 1981. “It changed Reagan and it appears to have changed Trump,” Wiesemeyer tells the hosts. He felt a new tone among Republicans at last week’s convention. “They wanted to present a sense of spreading the tent,” he says. “I think a lot of people toned down the negatives.”
In discussing Donald Trump’s 92-minute acceptance speech, Wiesemeyer notes on the podcast, “The speech was especially effective at the beginning and less so as it went on, as it became undifferentiated from a normal Trump speech.”
Wiesemeyer compared the Democrats’ situation with Joe Biden to the 1968 presidential election, when incumbent Lyndon Johnson stepped down rather than run for a second term in office. The D.C. insider believes there’s enough time still left to replace Biden but adds, “They can’t doddle. The polls are still close.” If Biden does end his campaign, Wiesemeyer says, “They’ll try to pick a candidate that galvanizes all the different factions, and that’s hard to do.”
In viewing the race as it currently stands, Wiesemeyer sees what he calls “an enthusiasm gap” but tells the podcast hosts that much can change in the next few weeks. He believes that voters, in the end, must look at the policies of the two parties. “Sure there will be some emotion, but look at the policies,” he says. “Let the best party win.”
Watch the full episode of Unscripted.
