# How does the GOP pivot to 2024 from here? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [November 13, 2022, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-gop-pivot-to-2024-from-here/974858 "2022-11-13T16:17:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Airbeck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/airbeck/32/6574_2.png) [@Airbeck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airbeck)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2022, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-gop-pivot-to-2024-from-here/974858/61 "2022-11-14T19:51:10Z")
Yeah but the MAGA base has been radicalized to hate RINO’s like Liz Cheney even more than Democrats it seems. Gonna be a tough sell to the MAGA base at this point. I agree with you though, without moving left (closer to center) on a lot of things, the GOP will have a hard time competing state wide or nationally going forward. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2022, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-gop-pivot-to-2024-from-here/974858/62 "2022-11-14T19:54:14Z")
> [@dolphinboy](#): > > Goldwater was no Trump, but he was extremely conservative, and that turned off a lot of voters. “In your guts, you know he’s nuts.” ---
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2022, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-gop-pivot-to-2024-from-here/974858/63 "2022-11-14T19:58:03Z")
The GOP leadership has to break off its relationship with the MAGA base. MAGAs don’t represent a majority of Republican voters, but with Trump in charge, it’s as if they do. Until that changes, their candidates will continue to be considered whackos and lose elections. That’s not sustainable long-term for the party. ---
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2022, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-gop-pivot-to-2024-from-here/974858/64 "2022-11-14T20:01:43Z")
Yes, Goldwater was nuts, but he won the nomination of his party, so what does that tell you? ---
**Author:** ![Airbeck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/airbeck/32/6574_2.png) [@Airbeck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airbeck)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2022, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-gop-pivot-to-2024-from-here/974858/65 "2022-11-14T20:02:00Z")
Yes, but they’d have to be ok with losing for maybe a decade if they rejected their MAGA base. ---
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2022, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-gop-pivot-to-2024-from-here/974858/66 "2022-11-14T20:02:37Z")
That’s a risk I’m willing to take. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2022, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-gop-pivot-to-2024-from-here/974858/67 "2022-11-14T20:03:15Z")
I’ve come to believe that whenever I read a political opinion which has the word “should” in the first paragraph, I am going to read a useless fantasy/rant. Whatever x or the x’s should obviously do, it’s a sure bet that they won’t. Otherwise they would have already done it. So far, skimming articles has shown me I am not wrong. The currently-powerful Republicans want to lose Trump more than ever before, but they are not going to be able to. He may not be able to do anything but damage them and cause a scandalous mess filled with criminality and violence, but if that’s all he can do, he will certainly do that. ---
**Author:** ![Airbeck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/airbeck/32/6574_2.png) [@Airbeck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airbeck)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2022, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-gop-pivot-to-2024-from-here/974858/68 "2022-11-14T20:03:34Z")
Oh me too, in a heartbeat. They are too craven to put long term party health above short term lib ownin’ though. ---
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2022, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-gop-pivot-to-2024-from-here/974858/69 "2022-11-14T20:05:22Z")
They’re damned if they do and damned if they don’t. They’ve put themselves in a terrible position that nobody could have foreseen… I was surprised he was allowed to run in the primary, let alone be nominated by the party. What could possibly go wrong? ---
**Author:** ![Airbeck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/airbeck/32/6574_2.png) [@Airbeck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airbeck)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2022, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-gop-pivot-to-2024-from-here/974858/70 "2022-11-14T20:10:14Z")
I knew it would be a disaster, I just thought it would play out even faster, and that we wouldn’t all have to be hurt in the process before MAGA burned itself out. I didn’t see all these GOP old timers following dear leader this far down into the abyss. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2022, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-gop-pivot-to-2024-from-here/974858/71 "2022-11-14T20:14:21Z")
The only way they can pivot is for a few of the more prominent ones to disavow everything MAGA, then run as write-ins when they get inevitably primaried. Worked for Murkowski. But then, the Murkowski name carries weight in Alaska. I don’t know of very many others who have that built-in loyalty in a state. ---
**Author:** ![Airbeck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/airbeck/32/6574_2.png) [@Airbeck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airbeck)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2022, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-gop-pivot-to-2024-from-here/974858/72 "2022-11-14T20:19:20Z")
Can’t win a primary without being MAGA, but can’t win a general being MAGA. Catch-22 for them, and I am here for it. They made their beds… ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2022, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-gop-pivot-to-2024-from-here/974858/73 "2022-11-14T20:20:12Z")
As long as Murdoch _et al_ control the for-profit propaganda machine that energizes the MAGAs, and not coincidentally a lot of more mainstream conservative-leaning citizens, the GOP as a party will dance to whatever tune Murdoch _et al_ choose to call. So I propose we quit thinking about what the GOP ought to do or even what the GOP will do. The GOP has outsourced control of itself and its agenda to Murdoch & folks like him. What will _they_ do? Given that their goal is not to win elections, but to control how politics is played. Damn hard question IMO. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2022, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-gop-pivot-to-2024-from-here/974858/74 "2022-11-14T20:20:39Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > I don’t know of very many others who have that built-in loyalty in a state. I don’t know if they need built-in loyalty, just built-in name recognition. Were Ted Cruz to try this, he’d certainly not have anyone “loyal” to him, but I’d bet there’d be a significant number of voters who’d vote for him just because that’s the name they’ve checked off for years, and they wouldn’t notice that the party has changed. The problem with this is, it would require Ted Cruz to have enough integrity to be willing to lose an election just to screw up the MAGA candidate’s chances of winning, in favor of the Democratic candidate, and there’s nothing in his life that suggests Ted Cruz has anywhere near the loyalty to the United States to take that hit. If he did, he’d have never started supporting Trump in the first place. And I suspect any other Republicans we could name, with sufficient name recognition to pull this off, would similarly lack such integrity. ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2022, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-gop-pivot-to-2024-from-here/974858/75 "2022-11-14T20:23:41Z")
Rick Wilson of Lincoln Project fame posits that in the end, Republicans will turn back to Trump. So long as Trump controls 30%+ of their base, it’s their only available strategy. Wilson knows Republicans better than most, so I’m inclined to listen to him. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2022, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-gop-pivot-to-2024-from-here/974858/76 "2022-11-14T20:33:56Z")
> [@Aspenglow](#): > > Rick Wilson of Lincoln Project fame posits that in the end, Republicans will turn back to Trump. So long as Trump controls 30%+ of their base, it’s their only available strategy. > > Wilson knows Republicans better than most, so I’m inclined to listen to him Summing his [twit thread](https://twitter.com/TheRickWilson/status/1589766502529441794): > [@](#): > > So here it is. He’s back, and people are finally realizing that no amount of “He’s the Former Guy” wishcasting was going to work. > > No amount of “He CAN’T run if he’s under indictment” copium is changing the grim reality of our world now. > > Lucy, football. Or maybe he’ll cry havoc and let slip to mooks of war. Nothing – save a shark attack, a meteor strike, or a medical crisis was ever going to stop his return. > > Already, the replay of 2016 is in full flood. The Good Republicans, that vanishing tribe are convinced the GOP is ready to move one. Ready to leave Trump behind. Ready for Ron or Glenn or someone, ANYONE else but the gibbering umber golem. > > It’s only demonstrates how profoundly they misread the MAGA takeover then, and now. > > There is no GOP primary. Stop imagining a white (very) knight riding to the rescue. You think a mumbling podge like Ron DeSantis wants to have Trump jape and caper while beating him to death in debate after debate after debate? > > If they talk him into running, it’s malpractice. > > The GOP primary is all humiliation kabuki, a searing exercise in masochism (which is why Cotton not running surprises me, iykwim) and fuckery. > > It won’t stop reporters from covering it as if its a real thing, but it’s performance art from people angling for 2028. > > It’s Trump’s need for this moment and attention that makes him a stronger competitor than anyone else in the field. > > Do you still think there’s a person underneath there? There isn’t. It’s just an ebon maw, an endless void of narcissism and sociopathy. > > it will be worse this time. More cruel. More insane. More conspiratorial. His devoted followers and Trumphadi shock troops of the Proud Boys, Oath Keepers et al view this is an all or nothing battle for control. > > Watch for all the schemers like Bannon to return to the fold. > > he is most certainly beatable, but if Democrats, independents, NT, reporters, and activists go into 2023 thinking they have a year off, think again. > > The dumbest premise of 2016 was “my guy can wait until X takes out Trump” and by then they were all PTSDed. > > Already, you can sense the tidal gravity of media attention turning back to him. As @stuartpstevens is fond of saying, "The greatest danger is not realizing what’s the greatest danger. It’s Trump. And he’s back. Get ready, because this will be one hell of a fight. ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2022, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-gop-pivot-to-2024-from-here/974858/77 "2022-11-14T20:40:14Z")
Thanks for that. I rarely read Twitter unless a specific tweet is referenced here on the forum, so reading that was informative. Wilson really fleshed out his reasoning, didn’t he? I agree with him. Much as I wish it weren’t so, Trump is far from over. ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2022, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-gop-pivot-to-2024-from-here/974858/78 "2022-11-14T20:54:11Z")
> [@Horatius](#): > > And I suspect any other Republicans we could name, with sufficient name recognition to pull this off, would similarly lack such integrity. I still support (and would strongly have considered voting for) John Kasich. But he’s a far, far closer to a true RINO than Cheney would ever dream of being. So yeah, a pipe dream to consider him getting any honest to god support from even sane (R) if he ran again. But, I’d argue there’s at least a 50/50 chance he’s have the integrity to try, but don’t honestly believe it would make a difference in the (R) final vote - until Trump is dead or otherwise prevented from running, he’ll be able to sabotage any otherwise ambitious or sane candidate from his party. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2022, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-gop-pivot-to-2024-from-here/974858/79 "2022-11-14T21:11:21Z")
> [@Aspenglow](#): > > Rick Wilson of Lincoln Project fame posits that in the end, Republicans will turn back to Trump. So long as Trump controls 30%+ of their base, it’s their only available strategy. That’s what I figure. Some friends of mine had this discussion back in October of 2015 and figured he had it in the bag simply because nobody else was polling in the double digits while he had a solid 30% The same reasoning still applies. There’s no other clear challenger and nothing’s shaking that 30+% built-in support. Indictments and the midterms won’t matter. Nothing short of a serious medical condition that clearly and obviously affects his ability to move and speak (death, a stroke, etc) would move the needle at all, and I’m not too convinced even that would be enough. ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2022, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-gop-pivot-to-2024-from-here/974858/80 "2022-11-14T21:53:34Z")
It’s an interesting thread, but I think it’s important to note it was published on November 7th. I do think most Republicans are going to eventually pivot back to Trump just to avoid being destroyed by him, but I don’t think they are all going to clear a path to him for 2024. I think he’ll have serious primary challengers. At this point I would suggest that “Lock Him Up” is not a partisan viewpoint. I still think he should be arrested, but I think if he is running around free it will be good for the Democrats. He pretty much pivoted to Presidential primary mode the second the polls closed, and he’s set to spend the next year and a half attacking Republicans. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-gop-pivot-to-2024-from-here/974858.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-gop-pivot-to-2024-from-here/974858.md?page=5)