Larry Hogan Isn’t Coming to Save the Republican Party
When you press him on it, Larry Hogan will admit that he’s faintly amused by all the media adulation. As the Republican governor of Maryland, he has enjoyed glowing coverage for standing up to President Donald Trump. He is hailed as a Brave Truth-Teller, a Leader With Integrity, a Republican Who Gets It. In truth, the bar is just really low.
“There are so few Republicans willing to say anything that’s not 100 percent in lockstep with the president,” he told me with a chuckle during a recent phone interview. “So when I do say something that disagrees, people say: Wow! A Republican speaks out!”
Naturally, Hogan is not above exploiting this dynamic asbelongs to a distinct subgenre of sanitized political memoirs designed to draw attention to the author’s presidential aspirations. To that end, it’s already succeeded. On his publicity tour, he’s routinely introduced as a prospective 2024 candidate. And as a popular blue-state governor with a pragmatic streak, Hogan is catnip for a certain kind of centrist pundit who has long fantasized about the heroic moderate riding in on a white horse to deliver the GOP from barbarism.
