Going into 2020, Republicans appear to have coalesced around a strategy to keep Donald Trump in office: bait Democrats into nominating a far-left progressive, and thereby drive centrists back, screaming, into Trump’s open arms. The two biggest threats to this plan, G.O.P. insiders suggest, are Beto O’Rourke and Joe Biden, whom they see as more palatable in a general election than a socialist like Bernie Sanders.
There is already something of a plan in place to tank Beto, even if it’s not fully baked. Republicans figure they can play up suspicions on the left that O’Rourke, who previously drew donations from the pro-Republican business establishment, is a phony progressive who doesn’t really believe in anything besides his own celebrity. (The Club for Growth is already out with an ad decrying O’Rourke’s “white male privilege.”)