March 19, 2019 --

The following is a list of the 2020 presidential primary dates copied from Wikipedia. The Democratic National Convention will be held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin July 13 - 16, 2020. The Republican National Convention will be held in Charlotte, North Carolina, August 24 - 27, 2020.

February 3: Iowa caucus[203]
February 11: New Hampshire primary[203]
February 22: Nevada caucus[203]
February 29: South Carolina primary[203]
March 3: Super Tuesday (Alabama, California, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, and Virginia primaries)[203]
March 7: Louisiana primary[203]
March 10: Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, and Ohio primaries[203]
March 17: Arizona, Florida, and Illinois primaries[203]
To be determined: Colorado primary (March 3, 10 or 17)[203]
April 7: Wisconsin primary[203]
April 28: Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island primaries[203]
May 5: Indiana primary[203]
May 12: West Virginia primary[203]
May 19: Arkansas, Kentucky, and Oregon primaries[203]
June 2: Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, and South Dakota primaries[203]
June 7: Puerto Rico primary[203]
June 16: District of Columbia primary[203]

As of March 11 - eleven months before the start of the primaries - Sen. Bernie Sanders has emerged as an acceptable candidate to the Democratic establishment for the party's nomination for president in 2020-- for the time being. Polls put socialist Sanders second to Joe Biden, who was reported by The Hill, March 13, to have decided to seek the presidency next year. Would Sen. Biden stand apart from the hard left positions of Sen. Sanders, or -- would he accommodate his candidacy to a leftward lurch by the Democrats (nudged by reports that socialism is preferred younger voters over capitalism).

We still have to learn about the Mueller report, and the multitude of forthcoming investigations of the president by House Democrats to wonder if impeachment of President Trump ( or his removal from office) will impact the GOP choice, 17 months from now. The left and some Republicans never did accept the election of President Trump, in 2016. The Trump resistance has given us something of a political civil war by other means, it seems not unfair to say. Indeed, the refusal to accept the election of President Trump by the left and the GOP Never-Trumpers could present a new form of presidential politics as indicated by the rejection of Mr. Trump: first, demands for a recount; then calls for Electoral College members to vote their conscience, not the winner of a given state's plurality; next, appointment of a special prosecutor, followed by demands for congressional investigations, while, throughout, the media maintains a drumbeat demonizing the disfavored president. This seems to be the pattern of the Trump resistance.

Concerning the Mueller probe, Prof. Stephen F. Cohen mentioned on the John Batchelor Show, March 12, that he did not believe a finding of no collusion of the Trump presidential campaign with the Russians would end the probes of the president, not with Democrats now in control of the House of Representatives. Prof. Cohen also noted, March 12, that Speaker Nancy Pelosi had invited the head of NATO to address Congress. The professor sees this invitation as a provocation to Russia and a slap at President Trump who has criticized NATO, and rightly so, if not eloquently, in the professor's view. He points out that NATO, which once consisted of west European countries, has expanded to the borders of Russia, and now includes former members of the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact nations. Professor Cohen also said that if the economy continues to do well and U.S. forces are not in combat, could the Democrats defeat a "Peace and Prosperity " campaign by President Trump?

LPR would advise President Trump to continue his campaign, begun in 2016, to run against the Washington swamp denizens.