The Republicans need to rally around another candidate besides Trump unless they want him to win a primary.

If Trump runs I don't see anybody beating him in primary except DeSantis. I don't think anyone else can reach that high floor.

If Trump doesn't run, it opens up a wide range of possibilities for sleepers since there's a chance DeSantis campaign is a disappointment, plus Trump could get behind someone else if he wanted.

I think Trump would support DeSantis because he is the most likely to pardon Trump of things really go south

Should have a 2022 GOP Election thread, because WTF has happened to the party in recent years? I spent some time to make sure none of this was parody, and didn't find proof. If it happens to be parody, please let me know. If not, has the GOP just lost all control in many states?

Not skits. And it's just absurdly hilarious they whine and whine about a "stolen" 2020 election, and then the guy brings up how he thinks Lake is cheating and she rolls her eyes.

I think I liked the libertarian debates better at this point. As unhinged as they were, at least they were funny. This is just scary.

I hope she wins just based on this clip

Amazing that the right has voted for years now with only one thing in mind, "owning the libs".

Truly the biggest idiots on the planet.

It's the twitterfication of politics: many who run for office will try and throw the jab that will get them the most likes and retweets instead of talking about their projects and ideas. Trump unfortunately proved the old saying "there's no such thing as bad publicity" correct.

California vs Florida would really be a fitting 2024 election

This is a great ad and I have been waiting forever for someone to take this. It also reminds me of PB 2020 debate highlight:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMLLcNenKno

These elections are won with moderates in suburbs and their tars of angles are extremely effective. Simple, to the point.

Kellyanne Conway absolutely nailed the current state of GOP candidates on David Axelrod's podcast. There is nothing different about DeSantis compared to Scott Walker or Marco Rubio in 2015 (leaders from a pivotal swing states). Do not take this as meaning that Trump is the candidate obviously. Her point was the poll leaders 2-3 years out are almost never the candidate. it remains to be seen what GOP voters will truly be hungering for in 2023 and 2024. DT got crushed by Biden in 11/2020, and I see absolutely no reason think that DT's popularity has improved since then given the extreme unpopularity of his post election behavior.

Like 2008, 2012, 2016, and 2020, 2024 will be decidedly in the suburbs. The market in 2020 for suburban voters was for LESS DRAMA. The Dems nearly killed themselves with the uber drama from the squad, but Biden's presence was perfect antidote. Should this continue, I think this is a fatal problem for Trump and a late problem for a DeSantis type figure. Voters do indeed want a fighter, but they want it packaged professionally. My general thought is calm demeanor packaged with generic MAGA policies will allow people like Mike Pence or even Marco Rubio to perform better than expected.

Until proven otherwise, I think Mike Pence's actions on 1/6 did himself a remarkable service with the traditional suburban Republican voter and this is going benefit him tremendously in 2023 and beyond. No, Pence won't poll as well as DeSantis right now, but when actual campaigns begin, and they get on the debate stage, I expect Pence to perform quite well. I also think he is ultimately someone that 90% of die hard DT supporters (not the "hang Pence crowd" which is <.01% of DT crowd) could get behind along with the GOP establishment. He is the more presentable, family friendly version of Trump.

Trump, on the other hand, is getting more and more toxic. But possibly more crucial to the GOP, I think many feel he is a Bernie-esque candidate who simply cannot win a general election. I would expect them to coalesce around someone else if it indeed looks like DT will win the nomination.

I find it funny to see a governor who went all in on covid lockdowns paint himself as the pro freedom side

Yeah man one guy tried many things to prevent people from dying, the other didn't give a shit whether you lived or died.

The Rubio thing or others like Perry was pretty much based on aesthetic I think, in part cause the other options really sucked. DeSantis has earned respect of the right through his actions during covid and not just by being a young guy who talks tough. With that said it’s still possible he could flame out.

Trump is electable just based on if he stayed roughly level, the Democrats having a less popular candidate than 2020 Biden (like 2024 Biden or Harris) could give it to him.

In spite of being Trump's VP, in part due to J6 and his safe persona, I still think Pence is more of a candidate that the Never Trump and establishment voters will support like Haley, than someone who can really bridge MAGA and establishment voters.

For non Trump/DeSantis candidates

3. Pompeo
4. Cotton
5. Cruz
6. Pence
7. Hawley
8. Haley
9. Scott
10. Noem

(Youngkin top 7 if he runs)

I like Pompeo as a sleeper because he can be the nicer Trump, and more supported by Trump/Trump base than Pence due to not having J6 baggage and I think being more aligned with his views anyways. Despite his weakness being not proven as a politician any time I've heard him talk he seems like he's talking to you like a real person. I preferred when he was fat though to have that everyman John Goodman appeal.

Cotton and Cruz are not true MAGA, but have some elements appealing to them (I'd say Cruz is the exact halfway point between MAGA and the RINOs). I think being able to have some appeal to both establishment and MAGA side is a pretty good place to be, much like how both the progressive Democrats and the conservative ones could talk themselves into Biden. Neither personality is ideal though.

Until proven otherwise I don't think Republicans will be nominating a black person or woman yet. Haley is the easiest call to be one of the primary jabronis.

And yet Florida still had less deaths per capita than lockdown happy New York and New Jersey

Those two states also are far more condensed. Florida is pretty damn spread out

Florida is 7th most densely populated, it's not Manhattan but it's also not Alaska.

Anyway, the majority of Americans do not support lockdowns outside of deep blue cities and would rather make their own health decisions, even if the risk leads to a tad more deaths per capita. Anyone who is concerned about a virus can still take precautions themselves. It doesn't have to be forced by the governor.

Not to mention Newsom's French Laundry moment really showed how seriously he took covid and he was definitely not a "rules for thee but not for me" type of guy.

Zero states locked down. Zero cities locked down.

Just absolute gibberish being fed to the right wing nuts.

Also holy fuck this is psychotic. You call yourself pro-life? Jesus would literally be a Communist.

Florida being 18th in deaths per person despite having the most old people is pretty reasonable.

While whether they did better in California is unclear as their numbers were pretty good, I'd certainly take DeSantis strategy that was based on the idea that that old and obese people are the ones most at risk, over states like New York that didn't seem to care about that at all as seen by sending covid patients to nursing homes and locking down gyms and schools.

People taking a calculated risk of their own accord is morally permissible IMO. You could guarantee pretty much everyone died of old age if you locked everyone inside forever. But we don't do it. Obviously in a country of 330m people some people will die from covid. Doesn't change the fact its a very low percentage and if you were young and healthy it was even less likely, and thus it's not the states interest what risks people are willing to take.

So you're pro abortion, then, right?

Women taking a calculated risk of their own accord is morally permissible. If you're OK with healthy people passing a deadly virus to older people or even just people with "comorbidities".

The odds of passing on covid asymptomatically to someone who subsequently died was far from the most common cause of covid deaths, most of which were infected from symptomatic people. Whereas you can guarantee a baby dies every time an abortion is committed.

If someone was worried about covid, because of age or comorbidities, they were free to take precautions themselves. It's not on everybody else to take 2 years off their lives due to a very small chance they could hypothetically catch covid asymptomatically, and then transmit it to someone who got it bad enough they died.