Is J.D. Vance in Trouble? Mark Halperin's Stunning 2028 Election Prediction

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And join Michael Smerconish right here in the middle.

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This is The Smerconish Podcast for Independent Minds.

Michael Smerconish (0:41)

It's the third hour of the Wednesday program. You know what that means. We so look forward to Mark Halpern's weekly appearances here. And I have to say his Wide World of News newsletter today, reflecting on the midterms and the future direction of the country, I find to be rather provocative.

As I say, in looking back at what just transpired and White Mind come and evaluating the mood of the country, Mark looks into the future and he considers the notion that a dark horse and or anti-establishment candidate are destined to face off for the Oval Office in 2028 There's an alternative scenario. We'll get there in a moment. But Mark, you say essentially voters want somebody to take a crowbar, nunchucks and TNT to an economy. They believe is rigged against them. That's what you see in the results of the midterm and as you look toward the future. Will you describe that scenario?

Mark Halperin (1:35)

Yeah, I mean, in 2016, Donald Trump beat a Clinton and a Bush to become the Republican nominee and then president. And everybody said, OK, the Republican Party is no longer the McCain Romney Bush Party. It's now a populist MAGA Trump Party.

At the same time, Bernie Sanders would have become the Democratic nominee had the Democrats not conspired. The DNC and the Clintons to keep him from being the nominee. So it kind of obscured really for 10 years what was happening, which simultaneously, the American people, not just Independence and disaffected voters, but a lot of Democrats and Republicans, were turning against their own parties and their own party's leadership. And you're seeing signs of that right now. Chuck Schumer just led the Democrats to an extraordinary historic win in the Senate. And the grassroots and some of his fellow senators, including Bernie Sanders, are trying to get rid of him.

So, as I've done reporting this the last few days, for my rankings of the eight most likely Democratic nominees, and eight most Democratic presidential nominees, and eight most likely Republican presidential nominees, I've talked to strategists and politicians and others all around the country.

And they say, Mark, you got to think anew. When you're talking about the Democratic nomination, the big news out of the midterms is John Ossoff. Now, he is the United States Senator, but he's young. He's not a familiar face. He has good relationships with the Progressive Wing of the Party. And he's the hot it candidate right now. And on the Republican side, I've been stunned by the turn against Vice President Vance. Ironically, he's, of course, an outsider in many ways. But as the Vice President, as the incumbent party, people are telling me, I shouldn't even rank him in the top eight, that he's got no chance.

It's quite an extraordinary turn. Now, who would fill those roles is an interesting question. Because most of the candidates who are talked about for both the Democrats and the Republicans are not necessarily outside or anti-establishment candidates. But all of them have that in their repertoire. All of them understand the moment we're in. Not just on things like corruption and the power of special interest or the war in Iran, but all of those things as an indication of the public mood that's saying, look, the economy is broken. It's not working for us. It's working for billionaires. But it's not working for us, whether we're liberal Democrats or MAGA Republicans. And we'll keep switching our votes around as they did last Tuesday until we find somebody who takes seriously our complaints. And that's, I think, where people are talking to think about the next two presidential candidates, the Republican and the Democrat. And will they be in sync with that perspective of the voters?

Michael Smerconish (4:06)

Mark Halpern writes, I'm not the first to observe the defining divide in America now is not right versus left, but insider versus outsider or up versus down. And then further along in the newsletter today writes, in two years, America did not acquire an entirely new population. Roughly the same country that embraced MAGA has now demonstrated how receptive it can be to the economic anger animating the Democratic socialists of America. That does not mean voters have studied both movements' policy papers and discovered a pleasing philosophical consistency.