Well blow me down.
Former Arizona senator Jeff Flake has said he won’t primary Trump. "I have always said that I do hope that there is a Republican who challenges the president," said Flake this morning on CBS. "I still hope that somebody does, but that somebody won’t be me."
Of course it still could be, in view of Flake's habitual implications of one thing, only for him to do quite the opposite.
Other than John Kasich, who remains a definite maybe, "that somebody" might be Maryland's Gov. Larry Hogan. He is "consulting with aides and national GOP critics of Trump about whether to pursue a White House bid," reports the Washington Post. After two years of contentiousness between the governor and statehouse Democrats, Hogan reversed course and is now "touting [himself] as a model of bipartisanship, drawing a national spotlight and accolades from Republican dissenters who are seeking a less-polarizing alternative to President Trump."
Said Democratic Senate President Thomas Miller: "When he first got elected, he never held public office before and he was very conservative, believing government is the problem, not the answer. He’s come around. He’s grown."
Hogan has favored nonpartisan redistricting and open primary elections, among other progressive legislation. In a recent interview with the governor, Judy Woodruff of the "PBS Newshour" noted that such legislation would be sternly frowned upon by the GOP's national big shots. "Hogan shrugged. 'Don’t care,' he said."
Some of his associates have downplayed the prospect of a presidential run, "unless the president is significantly weakened," writes the Post. Yet Hogan recently said, “I don’t think you can ever rule anything out. We don’t know what’s going to happen over the next year, or two, or six years."
In addition to a crowded, wide-open Democratic race for the nomination, the potential of a primary challenge against Trump is almost too paradisiac to be real. Yet heaven knows, I hope, that I'm praying for it. Gov. Hogan hasn't a prayer himself, in terms of beating Trump, but the word divine comes to mind when I think of any such primary challenge.
P.S.: If Hogan starts losing weight, we'll know he's in.