Amidst Making America Great Again, Donald Trump and his team are already looking ahead to 2020 to see what challengers may emerge from the Democratic ticket.
Some of the names reportedly on the list are Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy, Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban.
Of course it’s the last name that stands out the most as possibly the biggest threat. At least in my mind.
Also notable are the people who didn’t make the list: Bernie Sanders (maybe because he would be too old) and Hillary Clinton (because who, other than Mitt Romney, wants to lose 3 times?).
The White House is already tracking which Democrats could challenge President Trump in 2020 and Gov. Cuomo and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand aren’t on the list, sources told The Post.
Trump’s chief strategist, Steve Bannon, asked consultants to scour the backgrounds of four outspoken Democrats — Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy, Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, two sources close to the administration said.
“The White House political department wants people to start looking into them,” said one source close to the White House. “Trump is obsessed with running for re-election.”
Both Murphy, a freshman senator who has lambasted Trump’s immigration orders, and Brown, a 10-year Senate vet who made Hillary Clinton’s VP short list, are seen as viable threats who can quickly raise money and build a network of supporters, the sources said.
Hickenlooper, who founded a brewery before becoming governor of the Western swing state, is seen as a less-combative rising star, the sources said.
But the White House’s “biggest fear” is that Cuban, a billionaire businessman, would run because he can appeal to Republicans and independents, the sources said.
“He’s not a typical candidate,” the second insider said. “He appeals to a lot of people the same way Trump did.”
“If you believe in the Trump revolution, you can believe a candidate like Mark Cuban could win an election,” the source added. “And Mark is the kind of guy who would drop half a billion dollars of his own money on the race.”
Cuban said in September that there was “no possible way” he would run for president, but that hasn’t stopped him from heckling Trump online and in public.
Last week, the mogul said he didn’t think Trump would last four weeks in the job.
A number of prominent Democrats didn’t make the cut on the preliminary enemies list.
As for me and my house, I say we KEEP THE LION in the White House in 2020:
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