Can Republicans choose the 2020 Dem presidential candidate?
Not on their own. But they quite possibly could. Right now polls show that Dems want to obstruct Trump and Republicans. That's why prospective Dem candidates have been lining up to pick a fight.
As I wrote yesterday in Nuke the Filibuster,
The Democrat candidates in the last four presidential elections all came out of the Senate. The leading 2020 candidates, Warren, Booker, Sanders and Gillibrand, are mostly sitting senators. They are garnering attention and support with publicity stunts and obstructionism, like Booker’s “testimony” against Attorney General Sessions and Warren’s shrill meltdown at Logan Airport.
The lower tier, Merkley and Wyden, launch even more desperate publicity stunts. Merkeley will be filibustering President Trump’s nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court. Wyden attempted to stop the process by refusing to show up entirely for committee hearings on two Trump nominees.
These antics are futile, but they make it very clear that Senate Democrats will do anything they can to undermine President Trump and pick up supporters and donors for their 2020 campaigns.
The other side of the coin is that Republicans can pick the candidate by picking and choosing whom to pick fights with. And that may be how the latest circus happened.
“Any attention that people pay to Elizabeth Warren is good for Republicans,” the strategist said. “She just isn’t the type of candidate who would do well in states that Democrats lost last cycle."
The left already wants Warren. Bernie was the fallback candidate for Revolution when they couldn't get her to run.
Now Republicans don't always calculate correctly who the dangerous candidate is. They assumed that Obama winning over Hillary was perfect. There was no way Americans would vote for a radical with a Muslim sounding name and an admitted history of serious drug use. But Hillary was actually a very weak candidate and Obama was a strong one.
Likewise the current bets that Keith Ellison will destroy the DNC may be equally shaky. But Elizabeth Warren has serious problems. Her political prospects in her own state are shaky. It's not at all implausible that she will leave the Senate to prep a presidential campaign while avoiding the risk of a career-ending defeat (because not even the Dems in their current state would nominate a defeated senator). And she isn't very likable. She's not as bad as Hillary or Gore. Two candidates that it's unfathomable that any political party without the word "Green" in its name ran for higher office. But she has trouble connecting with voters.
Republicans could very well choose the 2020 candidate with moments like these. Silence Warren and she's a heroine. While Booker tries to squeeze out some fake tears in the corner.