So many people going on record now saying he needs to step aside.

I don't think it's going to work lol. He'll happily destroy them before becoming a team player.

Even if he (Trump) wins the nomination and then loses again to Biden, that wouldn't be enough. He has to lose the nomination.

>I don't think it's going to work lol. He'll happily destroy them before becoming a team player.

And hopefully that happens. The repugs should reap what they sowed. Fuck em all. I hope he creates the MAGA party and splits the 2024 vote.

I hope this is a long, brutal, bloody knife fight, brimming with casualties.

Even DeSantis getting the nomination wouldn't make him go away. Trump didn't get into this for party or country, he wants the power, adulation, and most of all, money. Even if he doesn't get the nomination, I think there's a pretty high likelihood of him running as a third party candidate with MTG, He needs to keep the grift going.

The most "plausible" options I've heard for making him step to the side include many forms of bribery: agreeing to pay his legal fees if he gets indicted, letting him continue to hold his rallies and raise money even if DeSantis got the nomination, promising him that he can be the Governor of Florida, kissing his ass for the entirety of the GOP convention as the "Godfather of the Party."

And I still don't see any or all of that combined as doing the trick. He doesn't want to be seen as the King Maker; he wants to be the guy who pardons the turkey on Thanksgiving.

(c) Tyrion

"king maker" is the obvious smooth offramp for him, but nothing is ever not messy and chaotic with that guy

He would then have to primary DeSantis in 2028 when he'll be 82. Unless a potential DeSantis first term is a complete disaster the normie Republican voters and alot of former MAGA voters will stick with DeSantis.

I don't think they all necessarily worship him - they mainly want to win. If they see they can win without him they'll do that.

they're all dying to dump him and latch on to shiny new DiSantis but it's not gonna be that clean

Cult45 may shrink but it's not going away. Scott Baio may jump ship to RD, but Jon Voight ain't going nowhere.

it's funny and sad watching these spineless goons pretend he's a problem just now.

Yep even got Candace Owens backing away slowly.


https://www.businessinsider.com/candace-owens-donald-trump-rude-change-her-mind-about-him-2022-11

When the Republican Presidential nomination comes around, it'll be the voters/the Republican masses that'll decide ultimately if Trump goes away, not television talking heads. Outside of actually agreeing with him, I'm under the assumption 90% of Republicans currently in office still show Trump support because the Republican masses still give him support.

I wonder if establishment talking head Republicans trying to kick dirt on Trump will perversely result to right leaning folks to support him more.

All the above is assuming of course the man isn't behind bars, which I pessimistically think is a long shot, but I suppose time will tell.

Trump or DeSantis? Moreso, which do you think Biden has a better chance of beating?

My initial thought was that a lot of Trump voters are Trump loyalists and are only excited about politics when Trump is on the ballot or at least actively telling them to vote for a candidate, so if Trump isn't on the ballot, assuming the dem voters (see: Gen Y and Z) still show up in droves, it should be an easy victory.

But then I think about how many "never Trump" voters on the Republican side there were who either voted for Biden begrudgingly or just sat out entirely in 2020 because they hated both candidates would be DeSantis votes in 2024 and make it harder for Biden. It's clear that momentum is on DeSantis' side and the party is starting to favor him and being vocal about it.

Massachusetts lets Independents choose their ballot in the primary, so I'm thinking about grabbing a Repub ballot just to vote DeSantis and helping the Fuck Trump 2024 cause before it gets too far.

My hope is that DeSantis wins the nom and Trump threatens to run as a 3rd party. Probably too good to be true though. But even if his name isn't on the ballot, assuming he doesn't end up endorsing DeSantis, you know a whole bunch of MAGA voters are going to write him in cause to those crazies Trump >>> Party/Country/Themselves

Clean meaning Trump doesn't burn DeSantis and the GOP down before he gets to Biden

its increasingly doubtful any would even win the popular vote again in our lifetime.

desantis is more extreme than trump. nowhere near the same charisma or machismo as him. or the same populist or archie bunker type culture appeal to the rust belt white working class voters.

and desantis is about to push/sign a stricter abortion ban in florida. how do you think thats gonna play out nationwide after what you just saw these midterms?

the economy is gonna be better, the crime rate is gonna decrease, and americans are gonna see how batshit a republican house majority is. all things that biden and dems will run on.

repubs couldnt even make significant gains under some of the worst historical inflation in our history and a president near the bottom of his popularity.

what makes you think they could win 2024 in a landslide with less favorable conditions?

I think DeSantis could get broad Republican support. He's not offensive so he can appeal to the Republicans turned off by Trump's personality (i.e. the suburbs).

Although his policies might be more extreme. His presentation allows him to come off as a moderate. I've seen him called a RINO a lot.

Yeah, DeSantis could win, but there's no way it would be a landslide. Despite the "narrative," he's not a known quantity outside of Florida, where his "Land of Do Whatever You Please" shit plays well. Otherwise, he backs all the same unpopular policies as Trump, but without the cult of personality.

There's no indication that anything about his policies are popular in a state like PA, which he'll absolutely have to carry to win, much like Michigan or other swing states.

but a lot could happen in 2 years.

the repub/media establishment said scott walker was the future of the republican party for his rise as a conservative star in wisconsin (a template they thought the party would follow nationwide).

he was relegated to the kiddie debate 2nd stage in 2016 and his political career was completely over 2 years later.

the repub/media establishment said paul ryan was gonna be a generational leader for repubs in the house like pelosi was for the dems. he became majority leader for the 1st time in 2016 and two years later he was on the board at the fox company lol.

desantis is all the trump culture war shit but without the trump attachment to the white working class nationwide. his extreme right wing fl politics will also push away a lot of moderate suburban folks.
and hes a frail whiny pussy when confronted.

desantis is already refusing to fight back against trumps attacks on him. but the high road doesnt work in republican politics. their base sees that and automatically thinks weakness.

polls about the 2024 nomination have dropped after election day and desantis has been barely up on trump...at the height of desantis popularity. that aint gonna cut it.

once trump (and his allies) start relentessly assaulting desantis and talk about his height, his days as a high school teacher, his days in congress, etc...the dream is over. dude will get exposed as the paper tiger he is.

then all of republican politicians who have been shitting on him for the past week will fall right in line and say the most important thing to do in 2024 is unite behind the nominee and stop joe biden lol.

Dude lasted 3 minutes on stage with Trump.

If DeSantis was smart, he will sit this one out and let Trump flame out and run with a clean slate 2028. He is young enough to do it.


**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

Jeb or any other generic candidate.

Trump was winning 2016 primaries with like 30% support. While the other 17 candidates were splitting the rest.

If the GOP were smart (and really want Trump gone), they will limit the number of candidates some how.

I don't think that was ever gonna work. We all just got caught up in name recognition, but name recognition isn't everything.

https://twitter.com/JonLemire/status/1592480054201946113

Of course Trump would be leading a head to head right now.

But there's also this poll. I don't trust it because I think the Club for Growth is just trying to get Trump out the paint. But it's a poll nonetheless

https://www.politico.com/news/2022/11/14/club-for-growth-steps-trump-relaunch-desantis-00066820

Iowa
Ron DeSantis (R): 48%
Donald Trump (R): 37%

New Hampshire
Ron DeSantis (R): 52%
Donald Trump (R): 37%

Florida
Ron DeSantis (R): 56%
Donald Trump (R): 30%

Georgia
Ron DeSantis (R): 55%
Donald Trump (R): 35%

Dude literlly waited until after the results and party turned on Trump to finally do a sit down interview dissing Trump. Peak coward behavior.

... to give him a platform for his rehab tour. Fuck it all I hate this place.

He's trying to pump up his royalty fees from his upcoming book. If he truly felt indignant at Trump literally putting his life in danger, Pence should have sat down for the Jan 6th committee hearings and fully expose Trump for the slime ball he truly was and is.

>Pence should have sat down for the Jan 6th
>committee hearings and fully expose Trump for the slime ball
>he truly was and is.

In the one clip I saw from his rehab tour on ABC he was asked point blank if - based on what Pence himself said and what the J6 Committee has uncovered about Trump's involvement - Trump should be able to be president again if he runs. Pence paused like the piece of shit that he is, and, like the piece of shit that he is, smirked, and said "I think the american people should decide." Like the piece of shit that he is.

Fuck that dude forever and ever and ever.

shouldn't be president of the united states

give him a break

His personality and method may be politically idiosyncratic, but he tapped into a very real voter base and, more importantly, managed to engage a pretty slippery donor base - a petite bourgeoisie that:

a)doesn't rely on immigrant labor and can afford to be hawkish on that front

b)doesn't send its kids to public schools and can afford to tear down that institution

c)isn't beholden to traditional American foreign policy interests for the success of their business (or doesn't believe themselves to be)

d)isn't served by the traditional GOP pandering to the interests of giant corporations (or, again, doesn't believe themselves to be)

People keep noting that the argument on the right at the moment is miming the usual argument on the left: the radical flank of the movement is threatening a stable American political synthesis and will cost the mainstream candidates, and therefore the party, a solid foothold. But that observation is true in the particulars as well, that the political movement that Trump wrangled is one that can't necessarily be counted on to show up for conventional GOP candidates. If the GOP wants him gone, they can't just excise him abruptly without alienating a lot of support that they really need. And the additional problem is that those guys are already rich, so they're not as easy to scare with the threat of electoral loss. I mean, they're already scared all the time - of women, of people who aren't white, of gay people, of their kids hating them, etc. but those fears have mostly solidified into a political identity. They don't expect Trump to fix those problems, they only expect him to legitimize their fear.

That's not really saying anything though. Reaction never goes away; it just mutates. The lifelong Democrats right now that are starting to get nervous about their property values or starting crying and gnashing their teeth because their kids had to stay home from school during COVID are going to be ripe targets for Republicans who want to turn down the volume on the craziness, and a not small amount of suburban ones will flip the moment their material comfort risks being sacrificed to help somebody else not be miserable.

rich folks don't care what he says as long as they have a fellow rich guy looking out for their financial interests.

And poor rednecks in the south that are mainly low information voters and just think he's cool.

Well stated.

I bet they love it and will talk more about Trump than they do Biden for the foreseeable future.

If enough GOP start to get vocal enough in dissent, he might just peel away and go independent or create his own party.

I’m crossing my fingers he does this and makes the GOP eat themselves.

A neighbor down the street, since early 2016 has had a trump inspired flag with an American flag, loser took it down after the midterms. If I had any kind of relationship with, him I'd ask about it. He even had one that said trump 2024, no more bullshit.

seems like bullshit. fucking loser.