March 12-16 Primaries & Caucuses megathread

[theBTMANIAC]

I can't read the tea leaves concerning the general election - we're still a lifetime away from November in the realm of political discourse - but Trump resoundingly winning the GOP primary really does seem to be a consequence of Democrats' overreach. I'm the black sheep in my family. I'm the only person who has ever *not* voted for a Democrat candidate, and even my family has been turned off by the Democrats trying to throw everything at the wall to stop Trump. My family was willing to believe that he should be criminally charged in Florida and Georgia, but the sheer number of trials and then the efforts to remove him from the ballot prematurely really bolstered Trump's sympathy among many people. Just last year DeSantis was a viable contender for the presidency, but the Democrats' actions have really unified the GOP/right-leaning independents behind Trump. These actions are now viewed as an existential threat to the vast majority of people who do not identify with the Democrat Party, and as aforementioned, that doesn't exclusively mean MAGA Republicans. I believe even Nikki would have fared better had the Democrats not overstretched. I'm seeing a lot of heterodox personalities concerned by the clear use of the legal system to try to influence the November election.

Let's be honest. We know the White House and other partisan actors are trying to influence the November election. Everyone is basically admitting this on all sides. We know there's coordination going on between the White House, prosecutors, judges, and pundits. The Fulton County office is probably the worst example of this coordination - caught literally billing for their coordination with political allies in both the executive and legislature, but it goes beyond that. Court reporters months ago confirmed the DC judge overseeing Jan. 6th trial was in contact with NYC, and despite the defense's objections, not sharing the content of those communications. I'm now wondering if this tactic backfired. If they could rewind the clock, the Democrats would be better off coordinating one or two rock solid legal disputes with the most upstanding legal teams they could muster. The civil trials and ballot efforts in particular REALLY hurt their public perception to the point even progressive independent outlets like the Young Turks are hot and bothered.

I'm sure I'll get criticized for saying all of this, but I'm a rather balanced individual. These are just my observations. A lot of Republicans two years ago were open to the idea of moving past Trump. Now abandoning Trump is essentially unquestionable to 80% of the Republican voting base: they view the sheer scale of these actions as attacks on their own families and citizenship.

In 2016 the Clinton campaign reached out to NBC and CNN to elevate Trump because they viewed him as the easiest opponent for the GE. If Trump does somehow manage to win again, the Dems' hubris is once again at fault.