Cuban says that if he runs, it will be as a Republican

[RINO Tom]

He is too socially liberal for my tastes, by the way

I don't care much about gay marriage/abortion and all that (although I am against both, I don't really care personally), do you know what his views are on illegal immigration or trade?

I am sure he is an economic conservative and a supporter of free markets and probably agrees with the vast majority of Republican politicians that free trade is the best trade.

Did you prefer that he took the Nancy Pelosi/Bernie Sanders position on the issue, though?  RINO.

[RINO Tom]

Why do you think Trump is still a God-emperor in the base's eyes whereas they hate everyone else?

Because he's president and they're not.  Just like Bush was popular among Republicans when he was president, and Cruz or Rubio or whoever would be popular with Republicans if they were president right now instead of Trump.

Well yeah. I suspect a lot of Republicans identify with whatever their leader says. If Trump came out in favor of single payer, 80% of Republicans would too.

And the same thing with free trade.  That's how voters are.

[RINO Tom]

If Cuban was serious about winning it, he would run as an Independent.

I don't think anyone serious about winning the Presidency runs as an independent, LOL.

[RINO Tom]

Why do you think Trump is still a God-emperor in the base's eyes whereas they hate everyone else?

Because he's president and they're not.  Just like Bush was popular among Republicans when he was president, and Cruz or Rubio or whoever would be popular with Republicans if they were president right now instead of Trump.

Umm, no. If that's what GOP voters wanted, Cruz or Rubio would have been the nominee.

No, I don't think so.  The GOP primary electorate "wanted" Trump in the sense that a plurality of them had him as their first choice, but that's not the same as him being some kind of consensus choice.  Up until the last month or so of the primary campaign, Trump did worse than Cruz and Rubio in favorability ratings of Republican voters, and was consistently near the top or at the top of "who is your least favorite candidate" polls of Republican voters.  He had poor numbers in "Would you be satisfied if he was the nominee?" polls:

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/republican-voters-kind-of-hate-all-their-choices/

But then, towards the end of the primary campaign, the ground started to shift in his direction, simply because he was becoming the de facto nominee.  If any other candidate had been in a similar position, they also would have become more popular among Republican voters.

Cruz & Rubio did well with party regulars. Trump specifically did well with the type of Independent that tends to learn R and thus determines elections for Rs. These voters don't have any party loyalty, compared to Cruz/Rubio voters. Think about this carefully, how would cruz/rubio be significantly more electable after alienating the literal exact type of independent voter they would need to count on to win?

I didn't say whether they would be electable in the general election or not.  I said that they would be roughly as popular among Republican voters as Trump is currently if they were president instead of him.

To follow up on this, here's a poll from as late as August of last year, in which 52% of Republicans said that they wished that someone besides Trump was the nominee:

http://news.gallup.com/poll/194738/less-half-republicans-pleased-trump-nominee.aspx

Heck, here's a poll of Florida from October of last year:

https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=249392.0

in which Republican voters were asked who they'd vote for in a Florida primary re-do, and Trump just managed a 35% plurality.  So even last year after he became the nominee, it's not like the majority of the party was in love with Trump, and wanted him over any other figure in the party.  Which again, leads me to suspect that pretty much any president with an R next to their name would be roughly as popular among Republicans as Trump currently is, and the support for him isn't specific to Trump qua Trump.

For the rank and file Republicans who'd vote for anyone with an R next to their name (rather than the whole group of Republican voters which would include voters who lean R) I think you're right. But obviously without those lean R voters (who wouldn't show up to vote for Rubio or Cruz), the GOP would lose.

The GOP arguably would have won different Lean R voters.  A "America first conservative" and a "country club Republican" each count as one at the ballot box.

[RINO Tom]

The GOP arguably would have won different Lean R voters.  A "America first conservative" and a "country club Republican" each count as one at the ballot box.

Country club Republicans are increasingly in states Republicans no longer win, while America-first types are much more present in swing states like Ohio, Pennsylvania, and even Florida. So no, their votes don’t count the same in our retarded electoral system.

Don't you think the GOP could have won Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida with better suburban numbers, too?