# How is trump still a viable candidate for president? Really, how? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Tags:** trump\ **Created:** [May 12, 2023, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-trump-still-a-viable-candidate-for-president-really-how/983949 "2023-05-12T14:28:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2023, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-trump-still-a-viable-candidate-for-president-really-how/983949/21 "2023-05-12T16:58:44Z")
> [@Airbeck](#): > > The GOP is stuck in a trap of their own making. They can’t win a primary without Trumpism, but they can’t win a general election with Trumpism. Since 2015, Trump has said and done so many things that should have sank his candidacy that I won’t count him out until he’s either dead or incapacitated. I had some brief hope that the events of January 6, 2020 put the final nail in his coffin, but my hopes were dashed in the following days as Republicans who were rattled by the events started changing their mind and saying nothing happened. Trump very well might be our next president. Part of me finds this idea rather incredulous, and more than repugnant, but there is a real possibility that I simply can’t ignore. > [@Icarus](#): > > Who he goes after automatically becomes the “people they don’t like”. Yes, of course immigrants and LGBTQ are perennial targets of the Right. But Gold Star Veterans? Viet Nam POWs? FBI/CIA? This is one of the most baffling things I continue to find about Trump’s success. When he mocked McCain I thought for sure that would be the end of Trump’s campaign, but no, suddenly his base turned against McCain. But he even goes after dyed-in-the-wool Republicans by declaring them RINOS and his supporters eat it up. This is alarming to me. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2023, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-trump-still-a-viable-candidate-for-president-really-how/983949/22 "2023-05-12T17:01:37Z")
Trump tells a certain group of people that they are perfect and everything bad that happens to them is someone else’s fault. It would feel very good to believe that. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2023, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-trump-still-a-viable-candidate-for-president-really-how/983949/23 "2023-05-12T17:14:23Z")
People gladly sacrifice their reputations and careers for this guy. Some even lose their lives. Even his opponents can’t get to a mike fast enough to express their love when he has any little setback. Hordes of knuckledraggers hang on his every word. I won’t say his spell is supernatural, but it sure as fuck isn’t natural. And I have yet to see evidence of his having at least one redeeming quality. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2023, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-trump-still-a-viable-candidate-for-president-really-how/983949/24 "2023-05-12T17:22:08Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > I attribute it to hatred and fear, at levels that far outdistance such paltry things as morality, ethics, provable facts, and mere common sense. Yeah - but what confounds me is that our system is set up such that these sorts of people - whom I HOPE are significantly less than 50% of our population, are able to hold the entire conservative leaning half of the population hostage. I would like to think that if I were a modestly sane R politician, I’d try to go down in flames decrying the extremists, rather than sacrifice my most basic values and beliefs solely out of self preservation. But I would likely be as craven as they (almost all) seem. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2023, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-trump-still-a-viable-candidate-for-president-really-how/983949/25 "2023-05-12T17:25:30Z")
> [@Jimmy\_Chitwood](#): > > Trump says the things conservatives want to hear, and he’s funny, and he goes after the people they don’t like. They feel good about all of that. He’s good at getting people to want him in charge. That’s it. But he’s not fulfilling the main conservative goal; he’s shown he can’t reliably win elections. The central pillar of modern conservatism isn’t about talking, it’s about holding power. The conservatives would rather be working with somebody like Reagan or Bush or Abbott or De Santis; a steady politician who knows how to win elections for himself and fellow conservatives. ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2023, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-trump-still-a-viable-candidate-for-president-really-how/983949/26 "2023-05-12T17:34:08Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > But he’s not fulfilling the main conservative goal; he’s shown he can’t reliably win elections. The central pillar of modern conservatism isn’t about talking, it’s about holding power. But, again, this is the goal of sane conservatives, which appear to be a shrinking minority of the GOP. TFG’s major draw is owning the libs, which delivers a bigger dopamine hit than silly stuff like holding power. > [@Odesio](#): > > But he even goes after dyed-in-the-wool Republicans by declaring them RINOS and his supporters eat it up. This is alarming to me. Agree. Even McConnell isn’t safe. Either you display featly to the Orange roughy, or face the wrath of his forked tongue and his followers. I wish McConnell or one of the other so-called RINOs would hit back occasionally, but they just seem to shrug it off as the cost of being a Conservative these days. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2023, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-trump-still-a-viable-candidate-for-president-really-how/983949/27 "2023-05-12T17:41:41Z")
> [@Airbeck](#): > > What?? She **led** the committee trying to put him in jail. She spearheaded the effort of trying to prove he committed sedition. That is not just criticizing trump. And we’re talking about Wyoming here. Very very red place. Still 25% of GOP primary voters, the most engaged GOP voters, voted for her. OK, you are correct-- she did far more than just criticize trump. Still, I feel that the 25% GOP vote she did get were not necessarily anti-trumpism votes so much as they they were pro-Cheney. As in “I don’t like her anti-trump stance, but I still want her as my Rep”. But I think your general comments in your original post such as > [@Airbeck](#): > > they can’t win a general election with Trumpism. …are an underestimation of the resurgence of trump and the persistence of trumpism in general. Again, trump got _ **more votes than any sitting President in history** _ after 4 years of utter chaos. Then came January 6, and the aftermath, which had even the Grahams and the McConnells speaking out against trump publicly. It looked like trump’s “Have you no sense of decency?” moment had finally arrived. But here he comes back, like a cockroach you were sure had been smushed. I just think that we underestimate the chances of his reelection at our peril. ---
**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:** [May 12, 2023, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-trump-still-a-viable-candidate-for-president-really-how/983949/28 "2023-05-12T17:43:57Z")
How did Trump’s handpicked state wide candidates do in 2022? Remember the red wave that wasn’t? Every single election denying state wide candidate in a purple state lost in 2022. Three straight national elections have been lost for them due to Trumpism. Some GOP politicians are openly admitting that at this point. I’m not trying to blow smoke up anybody’s ass here. I’m just looking at recent election results and the very clear message they have been sending. I may be wrong, but I’m not going to be in a state of panic every day from now until November 2024. He lost in 2020, and that was before Jan 6th. He isn’t even trying to appeal to anyone to the left of Sean Hannity. How is he going to get enough independent or moderate votes to win? The GOP cannot win nationally with only the hardcore GOP base. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2023, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-trump-still-a-viable-candidate-for-president-really-how/983949/29 "2023-05-12T17:48:47Z")
> [@snowthx](#): > > But, again, this is the goal of sane conservatives, which appear to be a shrinking minority of the GOP. TFG’s major draw is owning the libs, which delivers a bigger dopamine hit than silly stuff like holding power. Yes, but without holding political power Trump is just another Alex Jones. He lacks the power to do any serious harm. He can stage rallies and his followers will give him money but the rest of us can mostly ignore him. ---
**Author:** ![Jimmy\_Chitwood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jimmy\_Chitwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jimmy_Chitwood)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2023, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-trump-still-a-viable-candidate-for-president-really-how/983949/30 "2023-05-12T17:49:26Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > The conservatives would rather be working with somebody like Reagan or Bush or Abbott or De Santis; a steady politician who knows how to win elections for himself and fellow conservatives. I think this, like a lot of things people say about Trump, is an article of faith, not a statement about what you might call the facts on the ground. When I say conservative, I mean the people on the right of the political divide. When you use it here, you mean someone with a particular ideology. _Liberals_, using the term very broadly, would rather be working with Reagan or Bush or DeSantis. But there’s plenty of room for them in the conservative wing of the Democratic party now. They’re what we all think of as the group “conservatives” because that’s how Republicans used to be, but they are not the average right wing American anymore. The American right wing’s goals are being fulfilled by Trump, or at least his promise is the promise of fulfilling them. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2023, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-trump-still-a-viable-candidate-for-president-really-how/983949/31 "2023-05-12T17:50:14Z")
> [@solost](#): > > I just think that we underestimate the chances of his reelection at our peril. This. Very much this. > [@Airbeck](#): > > How did Trump’s handpicked state wide candidates do in 2022? Remember the red wave that wasn’t? Those candidates were not Trump himself. People WILL vote for Trump himself, for reasons outlined in previous posts. He’s a funny insult comic. He allows people to hate “other” people. He makes losers feel good about themselves. It’s a cult of personality that only rubs off on other “hand picked” candidates to a small amount. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2023, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-trump-still-a-viable-candidate-for-president-really-how/983949/32 "2023-05-12T17:50:43Z")
> [@solost](#): > > Again, trump got _ **more votes than any sitting President in history** _ after 4 years of utter chaos. And he got less votes than Joe Biden. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2023, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-trump-still-a-viable-candidate-for-president-really-how/983949/33 "2023-05-12T17:51:54Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > And he got less votes than Joe Biden. And if Biden cannot draw that kind of turnout next election (for whatever reason), then Trump WILL win. ---
**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:** [May 12, 2023, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-trump-still-a-viable-candidate-for-president-really-how/983949/34 "2023-05-12T17:51:57Z")
And that was before Jan 6th ---
**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:** [May 12, 2023, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-trump-still-a-viable-candidate-for-president-really-how/983949/35 "2023-05-12T17:52:46Z")
He drives an incredible amount of negative turnout. Nobody, and I mean nobody, gets blue voters to the polls better than Trump. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2023, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-trump-still-a-viable-candidate-for-president-really-how/983949/36 "2023-05-12T17:54:22Z")
As long as folks don’t get complacent, thinking “Meh, there is NO WAY Trump can win this time.” ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2023, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-trump-still-a-viable-candidate-for-president-really-how/983949/37 "2023-05-12T17:55:33Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > And if Biden cannot draw that kind of turnout next election (for whatever reason), then Trump WILL win. I feel De Santis can beat Biden in 2024. But I don’t think Trump can. If Biden is running against Trump again in 2024, I’m confident the election will have the same outcome. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2023, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-trump-still-a-viable-candidate-for-president-really-how/983949/38 "2023-05-12T17:56:50Z")
> [@Airbeck](#): > > How did Trump’s handpicked state wide candidates do in 2022? Remember the red wave that wasn’t? Yes, everything you say about the '22 midterms is absolutely correct. But at the time of the midterms, the realities of Jan. 6 were still on everyone’s mind. Many Repubs did not want his support because he was seen as politically toxic. trump appeared to be turning into a political pariah, which was all well and good and very…appropriate, I thought. It’s about damn time, I thought. Good riddance. But the very reason I decided to make this post is…he’s coming back. As mentioned, he’s far ahead of the current Repub possible candidates. He’s beating Biden in early polling. He’s appearing on CNN Town Halls, doing his old crazy shtick, and Repubs are eating it up. The middle of 2023 has become a very different political environment from Nov. 2022. > [@Airbeck](#): > > I’m not going to be in a state of panic every day from now until November 2024 I reserve the right to panic 😱 ---
**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:** [May 12, 2023, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-trump-still-a-viable-candidate-for-president-really-how/983949/39 "2023-05-12T17:57:28Z")
I’m not complacent, I’m just realistically looking at our most recent elections. I’m also hearing GOP politicians saying the same thing now. Of course I’m concerned about the possibility of another 4 years of hell, I mean Trump. But 11/2024 is a very long time away to be worrying every day about it. That’s all I’m saying. For me, personally, my mental health wouldn’t be able to handle 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:** [May 12, 2023, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-trump-still-a-viable-candidate-for-president-really-how/983949/40 "2023-05-12T17:58:47Z")
> [@solost](#): > > He’s beating Biden in early polling No he isn’t. There was one outlier poll of “voting age adults”, which is a group you never see in polls. It should be registered voters or likely voters. Has there been any other poll showing that? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-trump-still-a-viable-candidate-for-president-really-how/983949.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-trump-still-a-viable-candidate-for-president-really-how/983949.md?page=3)