It doesn’t; they’re more terrified of Trump than ever, especially as he evades legal consequence and continues to draw followers. And they’re even more terrified of losing elections. They’re trapped in a descending spiral which is astonishingly parallel to the rise of Hitler and the NSDAP, where German politicians were both afraid to speak out and convinced that they could control the movement. Whether Trump wins or loses, the instability for the GOP is inescapable. What comes of that is anyone’s guess, but I wouldn’t bet against Trump being the nominee, nor creating a disruption whether he is or is not in the general election.
You are improperly conflating multiple factors into a single inaccurate conclusion.
The billionaires can use their money to buy messaging but they cannot use their money to buy votes. The Koch class can fund any campaign they like, but if the GOP voter on the ground votes for someone else, then that’s it.
The billionaires didn’t want Trump to be the nominee in 2016, because they correctly perceived him as a loose cannon who would not reliably continue to execute the gradual takeover plan that had been in the works since the late 80s at least and probably back to the early 70s. They initially favored Jeb, but when he flamed out they scrambled to find anyone who could derail Trump. They pivoted to Trump only when it became clear opposition was a lost cause. You seem to have forgotten the way Fox News turned on a dime toward the end of the primaries. This is not because the billionaires actually wanted Trump, it’s because they surrendered to the inevitable and hoped for the best.
I’m quite confident the billionaires also picked up their phones in January 2021 and screamed at their lap dogs that this was the chance to cut and run. They got the impeachment, but they didn’t get the conviction. If they really had the ironclad control of the party you suggest, then Trump’s second impeachment trial would have resulted in his removal. It didn’t. Ergo, they don’t.
The billionaires still don’t want Trump to be the nominee. If they did, then high-profile candidates like Haley wouldn’t be in the race; it would all be independently-funded pushovers like Ramaswamy. But their alternatives continue not to find traction with the voters, and Trump continues to enjoy the loyalty of the people on the ground who cast the actual votes.
This is, again, because while the billionaires can certainly fund a vast amount of messaging, their effort will be defeated by someone with a better message. Trump, obviously, has that better message, and nothing the billionaires have tried has been able to puncture and deflate it.
Unless and until Big Money is able to directly buy votes on ballots, as long as Trump is alive and conscious and talking, Big Money has no way to counter him.
I’m viewing all this from the UK.
It seems to me that the situation is very depressing.
Trump can get away with anything and not lose his base (remember he boasted “I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose voters”.)
MAGA voters simply don’t believe stories about Trump’s lies or his court cases etc. They do believe the last election was stolen.
As others have said, dropping Trump will be a disaster for the GOP, since a) he may run himself anyway b) MAGA voters will not vote for the candidate that supplanted their hero.
There will be the usual lies and disinformation about Biden from the GOP, which may well confuse some Democrat voters.
Russia will happily interfere in the election, since a Trump victory will be superb for them (US drops out of NATO for starters.)
While I agree with some of this, you’re missing half of the equation. How does the country view Biden?
He’s four years older and looks and acts every day of that. And many of my friends aren’t going to vote for him because they don’t want President Harris and feel Biden can’t or won’t finish his term.
Biden deserves some? much? of the blame for inflation and the border crisis to name two. Young people are angry with him over not getting student debt waived, and many older folks are angry because he tried to do it. People have reasons not to like Biden.
So, while many might like Trump less than they did four years ago, I think Biden is less likeable as well. The question is how far down the road each has gone.
Relevant to the discussion, there’s an article this morning in Politico about how Trump is inexorably getting the Republican mega-donors – including some who have opposed him on the past – on board with his campaign.
Well, he’s been the president, so, absolutely, he gets the blame and credit for everything in the distorted manner that such are always distributed.
One big strength is that he is the incumbent, and incumbents almost always win. However, the race is unusual in that Trump is a kind of semi-incumbent himself (which has certainly affected the primary race).
If people are going to take the certainty of Trump over the potential for Harris, then I don’t know what to say. Trump is completely unacceptable as a candidate. People who vote for him are… well, we dealt with this in another thread.
Biden is old, but the media is now beginning to notice that Trump is old too.
None for inflation. It was a global issue, and it’s way down now anyway. Border crisis… I will blame the administration for poor messaging on it. I don’t really even know what they’re trying to do, and the GOP is smacking them upside the head with it all day long.
Yes, this is that being the prez thing. No one in that office in this political climate right now would be doing much better, I think.
Had Trump not done election denial and insurrection and just walked away and shut up for four years, I think he’d be a shoo-in or something close to it. As it stands we have a ranting, raving maniac versus a pretty darn good president. I don’t think it’s gonna be close if Trump indeed gets the nominatiion.
As appealing as a Republican nominee who is not covered in grotesque orange makeup may be to me, I don’t see it. He’s going to win most of the delegates, they will be bound to vote for him on the first ballot and vote for him they will. Doing otherwise would require rule changes which I don’t see the MAGA delegates standing still for. Assuming he does not cool down to room temperature, he’ll be on the ballot in November, even if he’s in a supermax prison.
Please pay attention to mod notes and earlier warnings in this discussion. This discussion is about Trump and whether he will be the Republican Party nominee. It has nothing to do with Biden. Drop this line of discussion now.
The only way Trump isn’t the nominee is if he is dead or in jail.
Democrats need to understand just how angry much of the country is at the direction it has taken since the lockdowns, and they see Trump as their champion. That’s why his popularity goes up every time he is indicted. That’s why it went up after the J6 hearings. The more the left tries to ‘get’ Trump, the angrier and more motivated his base gets. And at this point, it doesn’t even matter who is right.
Nikki Haley had a slim chance. She still has one miniscule chance: she has to beat Trump in South Carolina, then hope that he says or does something that causes himself trouble with his base. But that’s almost certainly not going to happen.
Seriously, I do think if Trump reached the point of continuous, obvious gaffes and random exclamations, and had reached the literal poo-flinging stage, they’d run him if they felt they could cover it up to the home team, but otherwise I think they’d shift focus.
And Republicans need to understand they don’t have anything to be angry about. Democrats have plenty to be angry about. And it all sources back to Trump.
If lockdowns had happened sooner under Trump, many, many more people would still be alive. Trump allowed people to die because of his ego. He needs to be locked up with the rest of the mob. Slowly, that is being done.
The J6 hearing happened because Trump sent his mob on an attempt at an insurrection. He’s a traitor, plain and simple.
Are they angry about justice?
So what do Trumps people have to be angry about? That he did not win re-election (he didn’t)? Angry about LGBT… whatever? That does NOT affect them, unless they are LGBT…
Or are you arguing that 15 million + new jobs, upward wage pressures, and a booming economy marked by the stock market receiving record highs is something to be angry about?
What Republicans need to understand is that people are very, very sick of Trump. Sick of hearing about him, sick of having the press constantly throw him in their faces, sick of all the commentary, sick of the social media posts about him, and… above all… sick of all the goddamned whining.
And major urban areas dealing with migrants. The Dems do not have to vote Republican, they just have to not vote and the Pubs may be able to steal some seats, senators and states.
