Trump hints about running through all of 2023 and into 2024. As is typical, a social conservative (Cruz?) wins over a splintered field in Iowa. NH becomes a showdown between two moderates (Haley and DeSantis) vs the insurgent IA winner. RDS narrowly ekes it out in NH, gets Trump's Twitter endorsement that next week, and then steamrolls SC and Super Tuesday.
DeSantis and Haley are not moderates, lol. And how does Trump endorse via Twitter? His ban won't be reversed.
DeSantis and Haley are moderates in a GOP primary, just like Trump was
And "Twitter" is just a stand-in for whatever social media platform Trump is on in 2024. Although, I think it's likely his ban could be lifted prior to 2024.
How are DeSantis and Haley moderates? Latter may be nicer in tone, but they all have embraced Trump and the Tea Party's right wing agenda. By no means are they moderate. Even Kasich is conservative on a lot of issues, though calling him a moderate would be much more accurate than the 2 named above.
Moderate =/= sounding nice.
If you look at polling from the 2016 primaries, Trump won the "moderate" lane in the GOP primary just like Romney and McCain did before him. In 2000, Bush put McCain to sleep in South Carolina by winning working-class, rural moderates; not suburban conservatives (which is the same coalition Trump won with in 2016.)
What liberal pundits don't understand is that the Republican base, especially in the Northeast and Midwest, is just way too heterodox to ever nominate a TrueConservative
TM. 2016 was a resounding rejection of the Tea Party by Republican partisans.
Poll
