The things that Trump proposes and says that makes everybody outside the MAGA bubble go “huh?” inside the bubble, they see as great strategy.
Now that they see a campaign in decline, after months of telling us that Trump doesn’t need the votes of conservatives, they are now reduced to questioning our ideology and patriotism because we will not vote for the guy. They dismissed all polling and evidence of Trump’s deep unpopularity with the public as fake. The left-wing strategy of promoting Trump endorsed candidates in 2022 in their primary so that they could go on and lose in the general election was a very big risk, considering Joe Biden’s unpopularity at the time, but it worked.
Maybe it’s just one of those things. In 2016, Hillary Clinton was the stale candidate and Trump was the new exciting shiny object. Now Trump is the stale candidate and Kamala Harris is the shiny new object.
Maybe the Republicans will get lucky and find another new shiny object for the voters in 2028
Trump is the oldest candidate to run for president. That also has to be in voters’s minds more so after seeing how quickly Biden declined in four years.
That's all right - But I would point out that it's also status quo.
Republican 'leadership' is the Moderate wing, backed by the old money liberal wing.
About a third of the Republican base can be found directly under those flags, with the rest largely thought to be the conservative base. I would challenge that - I think most of the Conservatives - the real ones - have left the party and are now swelling the independents - Which explains why the independents have swung rightward over the years.
What is left is the 'shiney shit' people - The Populists. They tend to be emotionally driven, tied to people instead of principles, responding to shallow sloganeering.
For a long time, I think, Republican success happened when the Conservatives and the populists aligned against the leadership. I don't think that can happen anymore.
I think the TEA Party was the last great movement the Republicans will see. There is a chasm between Conservatives and Populists, and regular party Republicans that can no longer be crossed.
