According to BetOnline, the top GOP tier of presidential candidates for 2020 has solidified into three candidates. At the top, of course, is President Trump, whose odds of winning are listed at 7-4, far ahead of any of the myriad Democratic hopefuls. Following President Trump, logically enough, is Vice President Mike Pence, with odds of 20-1, leaving him trailing former Congressman Beto O’Rourke and Democratic California Senator Kamala Harris at 8-1, former Vice President Joe Biden at 14-1, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders at 16-1, and tied with Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren.
Eight more Democrats follow, since it’s wide-open season as the incumbent is a Republican, and then the third name on the GOP list appears: Daily Wire Editor-in-Chief Ben Shapiro, at 40-1. Following him is former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, at 50-1.
Shapiro’s odds keep improving; last August, the top three Republicans, according to BetOnline, were President Trump, with slightly better odds are 3-2; Pence, whose odds were better at 16-1 and Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, who was at 40-1. Shapiro had longer odds in August than now, at 50-1, tied with Haley.
Asked at one of his college appearances what he would do if he were elected president, Shapiro answered:
A lot fewer executive orders, I’m not a fan of executive orders … I think that an attempt to restructure entitlements would be very high on the priority list; if you’re going to do it, do it early in your presidency, because you’re going to feel blowback for doing it, and if we don’t fix the entitlement problem, the government’s basically done. 80% of our budget is entitlements, essentially.
I would have a basic rule, and the basic rule would be: I will not sign any bill that is longer than three pages and not in basic language. I want the American people to understand what it is that people are voting for and what they are signing. I would also fire half of the executive branch immediately. I would disband not just three departments, but a lot of departments.
Referencing Rick Perry’s faux pas during the 2012 presidential primaries, he added, “And I won’t bother naming them, because, ‘Oops.’”
He continued:
I think that government by executive fiat is gross; I don’t think that that’s what the presidency was designed to do, and I would try to take structural measures to undermine the power of the federal government so that the person who came after me could not revamp it. I would devolve a lot of power to the states; I would devolve a lot of power to the localities … I would disband the EPA; I would disband the Department of Education; I would disband the Department of Energy. If Congress wants to pass laws along those lines, Congress can damn well pass laws along those lines, but the idea that a bunch of unelected bureaucrats are super-giant experts in all this stuff and they get to make all the regulations and rules without ever having to be exposed to the public eye, I think that’s really gross. …
The president really has two jobs under the Constitution: to enforce the laws and to make sure we have national security. Those were erally his two big jobs under the Constitution, and those would be the two that I take seriously. I would be, maybe, the first president in history trying to undermine the power of the executive branch on behalf of the legislature and simultaneously strengthen the military on behalf of national security.
Via DailyWire
