Weld's Wildcard: Iowa, NH, Senate Removes Trump, GOP Nomination

CONCORD, NH — One of the 16 GOP presidential candidates on the ballot in New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation primary is hoping to become President Donald Trump's main challenger after the Iowa Caucus, voting in New Hampshire, and Super Tuesday primaries and caucuses, which might be more friendly to "a New England Republican." Former Massachusetts Gov. William Weld, a Republican and the Libertarian Party's vice presidential nominee in 2016, was at Revelstoke Coffee on North Main Street in Concord speaking to activists from the American Cancer Society and later, to about two dozen other people, including a number of young voters, who entered the coffee shop midway through the meeting, to see what was going on. Weld attended the meeting mostly to listen but also shared his disgust of cigarettes — noting his parents were chain-smokers and growing up with all the smoke led him to never take a puff — and how he had learned a lot about health care issues as a governor and from his brother, who is a doctor.

When asked about the Affordable Care Act, he said it was great that it led to 20 million more people being insured. But he also pitched changes to health savings accounts to allow them to accumulate for future use and emergencies, adding that he preferred the idea of the private accounts making money for people tax-free. He also called for deregulation of some parts of "sprawling bureaucracies" in federal, state, and local government to spur innovation. Weld also said he would increase federal dollars for research including at the National Institutes of Health as well as loosening cannabidiol.

Weld added that while Trump thought the wall was a national emergency, he thought health and academics were actually bigger national emergencies — especially when it dealing with cancer research, and artificial intelligence and automation, which is expected to change employment drastically for future generations. He said executive experience, as governor, made him the best choice, since during his previous one and a half terms as governor in Massachusetts, he was making decisions about issues a hundred times a day.

"You do make choices, that is a part of governing," Weld said. "I'm a tremendous believer in prevention. I'm really good at zero-based budgeting and balancing budgets — but that doesn't mean you cut everything."

After about 40 minutes of speaking with activists, Weld realized there was a large gathering of people around him and stood up to speak to them and answer questions.

One, an older woman who previously lived in Massachusetts but was not affiliated with the cancer activists, complained about the lack of civil discourse in the country but then launched into a tirade calling Trump "a dangerous maniac" and "mentally ill." She also called his supporters "spineless, pathetic, complicit people," to some eye-rolls and guffawing. As a Democrat, she said, she wouldn't vote for Weld, but she appreciated that he was running.

"Well, you can continue you in that vein as long as you like," Weld said, to laughs.

A younger woman, who said she was a Trump supporter, countered the woman who attacked the president and his supporters as maniacs saying it "was bull and somewhat unintelligent to say." She asked, however, how Weld would compete for the hearts and minds of Republicans in the wake of all the achievements and accomplishments by the administration.

Weld said when he ran in Massachusetts primaries, he received a lot of support from Republicans but even more support from independents. He was hoping to build a big tent for Republicans including women and young people. The campaign would be going around the current GOP structures — since they were all with the president.

"My plan is to exceed expectations in New Hampshire and then, go onto Super Tuesday … a whole bunch of states that are Bill Weld friendly," he said.

While looking a former Executive Councilor Peter Spaulding, a Republican supporter, he said, "There is a plan there. I will be one of two tickets out of Iowa, right?"

Weld said he would be on all but a handful of ballots across the country while most other Republican candidates were letting them slip by.

Weld also pointed to the U.S. Senate impeachment inquiry and speculated if any new evidence came up that led to the jurors voting to remove the president, he would be the only candidate on many ballots and would arrive at the Republican convention with enough delegates to win. Senators up for re-election might see their seats in jeopardy and would support him, he added.

"I know of only one sport where the unthinkable can become the inevitable in a few weeks and it's not the National Football League," he said. "It's national politics … I worked on the Nixon impeachment … I saw it happen … it happens very quickly."

When facing a Democrat nominee like U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders or U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, with the United States being "a right-of-center nation not a left-of-center nation," Weld said he would be able to build a coalition of conservatives, moderates, and non-socialists to win the general election in 2020.

"I would look fairly harmless standing next to President Trump," Weld said, to more laughs. "There are ways I can end up on 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue."

Weld also embraced a carbon tax to fight climate change, returning to a more stable foreign policy that involved diplomacy and treaties, and nuclear nonproliferation to prevent nuclear war. He said he would also work to stabilize nations by focusing on combating food and water issues.

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