Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life

This campaign is crazy...and scary. As February ends, Republican candidates are calling each other “con man,” “choker” and “liar,” and the “con man” is taking over the party. In one weekend, the frontrunner hesitated to condemn the Ku Klux Klan, retweeted a fake quote from Mussolini and was endorsed by the most anti-immigrant senator. A son and brother of presidents who started with the most money and endorsements dropped out after the second primary. An independent senator wins his first election as a Democrat in the New Hampshire primary. A former first lady wins in South Carolina with higher African-American support than President Obama received while defeating her eight years ago. The greatest threat to her nomination may be an F.B.I. investigation regarding her emails as secretary of state.

As this is written, the Iowa caucuses are finally moving the presidential campaign into the hands, heads and hearts of voters. Pundits who have been consistently wrong are offering new explanations and projections. Here is a crazy prediction for a crazy campaign. A Republican demolition derby results in a brokered convention and a Democratic meltdown from an indicted or severely damaged frontrunner lead to a Paul Ryan vs. Joe Biden race in the fall. Far more likely, voters will have to choose from the candidates we have.