Would any Republican have done better than Trump in 2016?

[Sumner 1868]

I've answered this before and I still say no. For all the "Hillary was unelectable!" outtakes, she still nearly won. Drumpf was actually the strongest candidate because only he had appeal in industrial and postindustrial areas. The Romney clones like Kasich, Walker, and Rubio were sure losers because all were free traders who wanted privatization Social Security, and would probably run chasing nonexistent 1980s caricatures of "swing voters" rather than energize conservatives with immigration and cutting into the blue-collar Democratic base with shifts on certain issues like Drumpf did.

Of course, once they lost to Hillary, 2018 would have been a sweep like 1994. So in that sense I suppose they would have done better.