Republican consultant Roger Stone offered his guess as to who would be the Democratic nominee in the upcoming presidential election: He is all in on Michelle Obama 2024.
In remarks at Sunday’s Turning Point Action conference, Stone hypothesized that President Joe Biden will not be the Democratic nominee in 2024 and that Vice President Kamala Harris will briefly replace him before the next president.
“The only way in their party they can replace a woman of color is with another woman of color, and yes you heard it here first, the Democratic nominee for president will be Michelle Obama,” said Stone as the audience booed.
Stone, who was convicted of obstructing a congressional inquiry and eventually had his sentence commuted by his longtime friend and former President Donald Trump, went on to allege that the Democratic party had “rigged their primaries.”
Stone also received a full pardon from Trump.
The Democratic National Committee elected to reorder its primary calendar for 2024, moving Iowa later in the cycle and South Carolina up to the first position. South Carolina was the first state Biden won in 2020 during a bid that initially looked unlikely to succeed.
“The reason that they have canceled the Iowa Caucuses and the New Hampshire primary is to put South Carolina, a state where the majority of Democratic primary voters are African Americans, and they will allow Gavin Newsom to purchase the Vice-Presidential nomination but the Obamas will hold him up for 6 or 800 million dollars to do so,” Stone said. (To be clear, the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary have not been canceled, but the dates are supposed to be reordered).
Despite his ongoing feud with presidential contender and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), Newsom, the Democratic California governor, has repeatedly rejected speculation that he is considering entering the 2024 race. He has left the door open in the unlikely event that Biden drops his reelection bid.
Will Michelle Obama 2024 happen?
Michelle Obama has also given no interest that she’s interested in running for president—let alone in the next two years.
“I’ve never expressed any interest in politics. Ever,” she said in an April interview. “I mean, I agreed to support my husband. He wanted to do it, and he was great at it. But at no point have I ever said, ‘I think I want to run’ ever.”
That hasn’t stopped the speculation and in some cases, hope, by some.
“If Michelle were on the Democratic ticket, Barack would be a close adviser, not just to Michelle but to the administration and the Democratic Party,” wrote opinion columnist Merrill Matthews. “In short, capturing Michelle would be the best way to recapture what Democrats see as that ole’ Obama magic.”
Speculation about who will be the Democratic nominee in 2024, despite Biden being the only mainstream candidate and holding the incumbent advantage, has continued as some polling has shown a general reluctance by Democrats to make Biden a two-term president, especially given his age.
The political betting market PredictIt currently shows Biden as the heavy favorite, followed by Newsom—who, again, has not launched a bid—then Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Recent polling shows Biden trouncing Kennedy Jr. in a hypothetical match-up by an average of more than 50 points.
Michelle Obama 2024 doesn’t even register on the market. Hillary Clinton, though, comes in fifth.
This post has been updated to note Stone received a pardon from Trump after his sentence was commuted.
