Brooks and Capehart on Biden’s budget, Trump’s legal trouble, the GOP’s presidential field

David Brooks:

Yes.

This is a season where a lot of governors are reaching out to journalists. So, I have spent a lot of time around governors all of a sudden. And my sense is that the Republicans have quite a strong — it’s like a Major League Baseball organization with a great minor leagues and a pitcher who can’t throw a pitch. And that pitcher is Donald Trump.

But, underneath, there’s a lot of talent in the party. And when you talk to the governors — I’m talking about Governor Kemp of Georgia, Governor Sununu of New Hampshire, former Governor Ducey of Arizona, Governor Youngkin of Virginia — I think one of the things they point to is that people are moving to red states.

If you look at where people are moving, they’re moving out of blue states and into red states. And why is that? Well, their claim is that people like the quality of life. They like the tax structure. They like the schools. And so Florida, Georgia, Texas, just a lot of people are moving to those places.

And these governors are not focusing on some of the culture war issues, except for DeSantis. They’re not going after Disney. They’re not making trans the center of their — their trans issues the center of whatever they want to do. They’re talking about crimes, streets, schools, the normal things that governance is all about.

And so I do think there’s a lane for a — somebody who’s going to focus on quality of life. And if I had to pick out one person right now, I would say Chris Sununu of New Hampshire. And that’s mostly because he’s just a warm, friendly, natural, good guy that people like. He won a very impressive reelect victory up there in New Hampshire, a pretty mixed state.

And, somehow, he leaps out to me in these early days as someone with just political skill. And so, if there’s going to be a normie, or somebody who is going to focus on quality of life, somehow, Governor Sununu seems to me, at least a potential, that person.