Could the 2024 Republican primary be the opposite of 2016?

[EJ24]

In 2016, you had a bunch of establishment Republicans like Marco Rubio, John Kasich, Chris Christie, Jeb Bush, and others splitting the vote, and as a result Trump was able to consolidate the anti-establishment lane and win the nomination.

Could 2024 be the opposite, where you have a bunch of pro-Trump candidates in the race splitting the vote, and one establishment figure like Larry Hogan or Nikki Haley ends up clinching the nomination because of this?

[2016]

In 2016, you had a bunch of establishment Republicans like Marco Rubio, John Kasich, Chris Christie, Jeb Bush, and others splitting the vote, and as a result Trump was able to consolidate the anti-establishment lane and win the nomination.

Could 2024 be the opposite, where you have a bunch of pro-Trump candidates in the race splitting the vote, and one establishment figure like Larry Hogan or Nikki Haley ends up clinching the nomination because of this?

I hope this doesn't happen! Look, we already had Establishment Republicans being nominated like John McCain or Mitt Romney. The Party has moved on from these types of Candidates & Nominees.

The GOP needs to nominate a strong "America First Pro-Trump Policy Republican" to win otherwise the WWC won't come out to vote in November 2024.

I don't quite understand why so many Atlas Democrats & Republicans want to move back to the elitist type Republicans in the mold of Mitt Romney, Rupert Murdoch or Bill Kristol. Trust me, this isn't going to work. Republicans would basically threw away an Election if that happens!

[If my soul was made of stone]

Even when he was widely seen as a dangerous outsider, Trump still had a solid base of support. Larry Hogan represents a dying faction of the party and wouldn't have nearly enough support to win a primary unless he was against 100 Trump clones.

[Kleine Scheiße]

the only candidate this could even conceivably happen for is pence

[Ferguson97]

Nah. If Trump himself runs, then he'll win the nomination easily. If he doesn't, he'll endorse someone and all the other Trumpy candidates will drop out.

[AlterEgo]

In 2016, you had a bunch of establishment Republicans like Marco Rubio, John Kasich, Chris Christie, Jeb Bush, and others splitting the vote, and as a result Trump was able to consolidate the anti-establishment lane and win the nomination.

Could 2024 be the opposite, where you have a bunch of pro-Trump candidates in the race splitting the vote, and one establishment figure like Larry Hogan or Nikki Haley ends up clinching the nomination because of this?

I hope this doesn't happen! Look, we already had Establishment Republicans being nominated like John McCain or Mitt Romney. The Party has moved on from these types of Candidates & Nominees.

The GOP needs to nominate a strong "America First Pro-Trump Policy Republican" to win otherwise the WWC won't come out to vote in November 2024.

I don't quite understand why so many Atlas Democrats & Republicans want to move back to the elitist type Republicans in the mold of Mitt Romney, Rupert Murdoch or Bill Kristol. Trust me, this isn't going to work. Republicans would basically threw away an Election if that happens!

As to the bold: Well, maybe because those "elitists" don't try to incite insurrection?