Welcome to Axis ProRata, where we take just 10 minutes to get you smarter on the collision of tech, business, and politics.

Presented by Bridge Bank. Be bold. Venture wisely. I'm Dan Pramack. On today's show, newspaper execs Storm the Capitol, and J.P. Morgan

introduces a Trump tweet index. But first, the Republican undercard. So almost all of the 2020

presidential politics talk has focused on who the Democrats will nominate in that person's

subsequent campaign versus President Trump. But the Republican primary contest is getting more interesting by the day.

For starters, the very existence of a GOP primary challenge is notable.

President Trump now has three rivals, two of whom are former governors, Bill Weld and Mark Sanford,

plus former Tea Party congressman turned never Trump or Joe Walsh.

But at the same time, the Republican Party overall is doing a

Ranks Closing Act, with four states choosing not to hold presidential primaries or caucuses, claiming

they're too expensive given the inevitable outcome. President Trump got asked about it yesterday,

and while not explicitly endorsing the cancellations, you know, because democracy, he didn't

object to that either. To be honest,

I'm not looking to give them any credibility. They have no credibility. Now, more states could follow,

although it's worth noting, the Republican parties of both Iowa and New Hampshire are moving

forward with their caucus in primary, respectfully. The reason all of this matters isn't because

one of the primary challenges is likely to knock off President Trump.

They aren't, as Trump is extremely popular within the party.

But as the first President Bush and President Carter can both attest, strong primary challenges can severely weaken an incumbent's general election prospects, causing a diversion of time, money, and attention, plus possibly softening up some electoral weak spots.

The bottom line here, the Republican primaries are unlikely to change the November 2020 ballot,

but they could affect the ultimate outcome.

Well, assuming there actually are enough Republican primaries.

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