I am realistic enough to recognize that the Dems are increasingly radicalized, and want Trump to be our nominee as much or more as you, RIV and Aligncare do. WHY IS THAT, folks??? They want Trump to be our nominee because they know they can demonize him - and the Republican brand - among the swing voters who will decide the election. They want Trump to be our nominee because they know that he can and will inevitably destroy himself.
It is crazy to do exactly as the Democrats want, and nominate a man they can credibly accuse of racism and ginning up mobs....I think
@Jazzhead I agree - it's crazy to do exactly as the Democrats want. I'd even agree with you that the Democrats would prefer to run against Trump more than against some other potential opponents. However, that's not
exactly what they want. What they'd want even more than running against Trump is to see the GOP tear itself to shreds in an internal war to try to prevent a very popular (at least among a majority of Republicans) sitting President from becoming his party's nominee. If the attempt fails, as it is overwhelmingly likely to do, he will have been weakened by the barrage of GOP attacks against him. And if it succeeds, huge numbers of his supporters will sit out of the 2020 election, and hand the Democrats a landslide. That's what they'd
really want, and that's exactly why you see people like Chuck Schumer constantly calling on other Republicans to criticize Trump. Because they know that if the GOP turns on Trump, it guarantees a Democrat landslide in 2020.
You said you're "realistic enough" recognize that the Democrats are increasingly radicalized. But are you truly being "realistic" when you think Trump can be convinced to abandon his quest for a second term?
He doesn't believe the polls, and based on what happened in the summer of 2016 when everyone and their brother was handing the election to Hillary as a done deal, why should he?
I think you are 100% correct in believing that if Trump stepped down voluntarily and tossed his support to Nikki Haley, that we'd have a much better chance of winning the 2020 general election. But that's just pure wishful thinking, with no foundation in reality. There is no plausible way to actually get from here to there.