"LIBERAL" NEW YORK TIMES STOKES GOP STAR-MAKER MACHINERY ON TRUMP FAMILY'S BEHALF

Because it is so dogmatically left-wing, The New York Times has decided to give over several column inches to promoting certain Republicans' fantasies of a younger Trump in Congress.

Could Donald Jr. or Lara Trump Run for Office in New York, and Win?

In some Republican circles, the notion of President Trump’s children running for political office is not only a parlor game — it’s a matter of finding the right opportunity for the right Trump.

Could that opportunity exist in blue New York? And could it happen now?

Some state Republicans are eager to give it a try. With Representative Peter King, a Republican, not seeking re-election on Long Island next year, the circumstance may never be better for a younger Trump to run.

But which one?

We learn that the Club for Growth has polled Republican support in the district for a run by Lara Trump, the wife of Trump's second son, Eric.

The buzz around a potential junior Trump candidacy heightened last week, when a poll surfaced in New York that showed Lara Trump winning by more than 30 points in a hypothetical Republican primary for Mr. King’s seat.

The poll, conducted this month and paid for by an influential conservative anti-tax group, the Club for Growth, was picked up by the right-wing site, Breitbart, and quickly gained steam.

“Word spread rapidly about the poll,” said John Jay LaValle, the former chair of the Suffolk County Republican Party and a Trump surrogate in 2016. “I have not heard one person say a negative thing about it.”

This happened even though there's no evidence that Lara Trump is interested in running for that seat. She doesn't even live in the district.

David McIntosh, the president of Club for Growth, acknowledged that Ms. Trump had nothing to do with the poll; he said the committee’s intent was to show Ms. Trump how popular she was in order to lure her into the open race.

Ms. Trump hails from North Carolina and now lives in Manhattan. She is not currently a candidate on Long Island, or anywhere else.

The poll, we learn from Breitbart, pits her against Rick Lazio, who's thinking of running but is best known as a loser -- he lost a Senate race to Hillary Clinton in 2000 and lost a 2010 gubernatorial primary to the Trump-like Carl Paladino (Paladino was subsequently trounced by Andrew Cuomo after the public learned about his penchant for racist, sexist, and pornographic email forwards.)

But quite a few other Republicans are running or considering a run. They may not have famous names, but they have local roots. One declared candidate is Trish Bergin Weichbrodt, a local councilwoman who's also a former TV news personality, and who's best known on Long Island for having refused Billy Joel's marriage proposal a number of years back. (I suppose that could make her almost as much of a celebrity on Long Island as Lara Trump.)

But although Lara Trump denies interest in the race in a way that leaves her wiggle room ("'While I would never close the door on anything in the future, right now I am focused on winning a second term for President Trump,' Ms. Trump said in a statement"), she still doesn't seem interested. Meanwhile, there's really no evidence that her brother-in-law Don Jr. is interested in the race, yet he's discussed as a possible candidate as well, for little apparent reason:

Donald Trump Jr., the president’s elder son and the member of the family who is most naturally fluent in the language of the Republican base, has frequently been mentioned as a possible candidate for office.

He attracts a younger contingent of Republicans to events, organizers say, and has demonstrated his ability to raise big money for congressional candidates on Long Island....

The children are popular among party activists in New York, so much so that Republican fund-raisers practically swoon over the idea of getting one of them to headline an event. Donald Trump Jr., has been particularly prolific and lucrative, making several trips this year to Long Island.

“They’ve been extremely helpful to the local party,” Mr. LaValle said of the president’s family. “They’re certainly a known commodity here.”

... Mr. Trump has repeatedly been floated by supporters as a potential future candidate for president, and, much less realistically, for New York City mayor, a tall order given the city’s strong Democratic base and its intense dislike for the president.

“Listen, I don’t ever rule anything out,” Mr. Trump said on “CBS This Morning” this month when asked about his political future. He declined to comment for this article.

A year earlier, he told The New York Times that he loved “the intensity of campaigning,” but admitted that he was less sure how much he “would love aspects of the actual job.”

(Or any other "actual job," I suppose.)

Only at the end of the Times story are we reminded that the winner of the Republican primary in this district isn't a guaranteed general election winner:

At the same time, the political window for Lara Trump or any other Trump relative to run in a place like Long Island may be closing. Democrats now outnumber Republicans among registered voters, making gains in both Nassau and Suffolk Counties.

And the Trump name is almost equally galvanizing among Democrats as it is magnetic among Republicans, and a local race involving one of them could draw big money from activist donors from both parties.

No -- the problem isn't just "activist donors." It's anti-Trump voters who'll flock to the polls to prevent another Trump from winning office.

The district has a Cook Political Report rating of R+3. It reliably elected Peter King for many years, and also gave Donald Trump its vote in 2016 -- but it also voted twice for Barack Obama. Maybe running a candidate with the most polarizing name possible isn't a great idea in this district. (The Club for Growth apparently didn't poll a general election.)

But Republicans like the idea, and the Times has chosen to promote it, for whatever reason.