Is Trump unbeatable, or are his opponents just weak?

[Tekken_Guy]

Is Donald Trump just unbeatable in the primary or are his primary opponents just too weak to beat him?

[The Economy is Getting Worse]

Trump is unbeatable. Being a former President is too big of an advantage.

[Mr.Bakari-Sellers]

They decided to take on Hunter Biden and it's on a gun charge and not paying taxes just like Trump didn't do instead of taking in Trump himself


All Nikki Haley and Tim Scott are doing is attacking Biden following what Graham did in 2016, no one is covering his campaign no more

There is no there there on Hunter at any rate Don Jr was acquitted by Mueller for meeting RUSSUAN oligarchy at Trump Towers before Ukraine War and he was duped to get stolen emails from Hillary

That's why Schiff is fav he tells the Truth

[Wrong about 2024 Ghost]

His opponents are, mostly, too afraid of the consequences of challenging him and failing. (See Ronald DeSantis.) We'll see if that changes with Christie, or maybe Burgum.

[Consuming is good, it's what we're made for]

Yes.

[Atlas Force]

[I love MAGA, don’t send me to the camps]

I voted #1. As much as some Republicans still don’t want to admit it eight years later, the average primary voter has a slavish devotion to DJT. I don’t know how an opponent would successfully deploy cult deprogramming tactics, but those seem to be needed for a large swath of the party.

[Doomer]

Option 3: Republican primary voters are just really, really dumb.

[Progressive Pessimist]

Both to some extent. But not even the objectively best Republican candidate ever (reanimated Reagan in his prime?) could seize the party from Trump's stranglehold presently. He is the party.

Option 3: Republican primary voters are just really, really dumb.

This too, of course.

[For Trump, everything. For immigrants, the law]

The electorate would have to be different for him to lose.

[2016]

Trump in a newly released short Video is literally begging all the Candidates to drop out.

The Trump Campaign is IMPLODING! They are out of money.

To DeSantis, Haley, T. Scott, Chris Christie, etc. please hang in there.

[TML]

There just doesn't seem to be a lane wide enough for a non-Trump candidate. Going to the right of Trump will get nowhere if the candidate does not have Trump's charisma, while going to the left of Trump will not earn much support among the Republican primary electorate overall.

[Wrong about 2024 Ghost]

There just doesn't seem to be a lane wide enough for a non-Trump candidate. Going to the right of Trump will get nowhere if the candidate does not have Trump's charisma, while going to the left of Trump will not earn much support among the Republican primary electorate overall.

It's not about "lanes". Trump isn't even on the road most of the time.

It's about getting the voters to buy what the candidates are selling. Trump understood that quite well. He also understood that modern Republican voters are carefully filtered for minimal critical thinking skills - the are people you can lead around by their own failed cognitive skills (if they weren't, they wouldn't be Republicans). And he sold them a mix of fear, envy, hate, and excuses (Republicans really, really love hearing why they're never responsible for anything). It's a potent drug, and a strong plurality of the GOP is still tripping on it.

But there are two easy ways to steal most of his addictsaudience. First, sell the voters a similar but stronger mix. I.e. take everything Trump says, and add hefty doses of some new hates, fears, and envies. (DeSantis has tried this, but he really, really sucks at it, so it hasn't worked.) Or, as a second alternative, sell them a whole different mix, ideally one where they can feel good about having supported Trump, but can feel even better about moving to support Trump's replacement.

I don't know what that second one is, but I'd guess it will have strong elements of "Republicans are good people" and "right message, wrong man".

[2016]

It's far from over. I think Vivek gets it in the end. He is surging. He's a younger version of Trumpish policies without all the baggage and he's likable. Trump is yesterdays news and so is Biden. Both need to quit politics and leave us alone forever at this point. I am so tired of hearing about both of them. Honestly. I also still think RFk Jr. has a chance at the nomination. Biden could still drop out. He's barely at 40%. The economy is getting worse with the 8% mortgage rate, inflation is ticking up again. I don't think he will have the support come Jan to run again and will make up an excuse to drop out. LBJ 2.0

Vivek is a Democrat. He would pardon Hunter Biden. That tells you everything you need to know. If not DeSantis I'd rather have Scott as Nominee. Tim probably can make the Race very close even if he comes up just short against Biden.

[walleye26]

It's far from over. I think Vivek gets it in the end. He is surging. He's a younger version of Trumpish policies without all the baggage and he's likable. Trump is yesterdays news and so is Biden. Both need to quit politics and leave us alone forever at this point. I am so tired of hearing about both of them. Honestly. I also still think RFk Jr. has a chance at the nomination. Biden could still drop out. He's barely at 40%. The economy is getting worse with the 8% mortgage rate, inflation is ticking up again. I don't think he will have the support come Jan to run again and will make up an excuse to drop out. LBJ 2.0 then we get RFK v. Kamala v. Gavin. My popcorn is ready.

Is this a troll post? I can’t even begin to list all the things wrong with this.

[Andrew Cuomo is a No Go]

Trump wasn’t and still isn’t unbeatable. The current crop of candidates has put up an absolutely pathetic performance thus far. Look to the post-debate polling to see if anyone makes a splash. The real primary starts there.

[DPKdebator]

As it stands currently, Trump is simply too popular amongst the GOP primary base to be beatable. A competent Trump-skeptical opponent could make inroads theoretically, but people like DeSantis haven’t found the right formula to really take on Trump. The result is limp rhetoric that vaguely goes against Trump but offers little of substance. It doesn’t help anti-Trumpers that the primary has turned into a clown car, so anti-Trumpers don’t really have one candidate to coalesce around (especially as Ron’s star fades).

[Averroës]

Ramaswamy laps the field in terms of both media and in-person charisma, so he's at least worth talking about on that account.

The others are lacking. DeSantis gets the most attention, but this field so awful that it makes me wonder, what is going on with these politicians?

Haley is so wooden and stilted that you wonder whether she is listening to her own words. Nothing about her comes across as genuine and every line sounds like a rehearsed cliché that you've been hearing on cable news for years. It's hard to believe that this woman has ever connected with an audience. I can believe that she was effective as an officer's wife playing queen bee, but that's another matter.

Pundits keep talking about Tim Scott as this emotionally compelling figure, but I just don't see it. It reminds me of the people who kept talking up Marco Rubio. Their idea of a candidate who appeals to "regular folks" is so vacuous that it's hard to reflect on it without feeling insulted. You get the idea that these politicians owe their success more to appealing to donors, who view them as supplicants, than to voters who view them as prospective leaders. I can believe that Tim Scott is good at listening to county chairs on the phone or taking a pat on the head from someone writing a five-figure check with grace. It's a lot harder to imagine an audience taking him seriously as a leader.

Who does that leave? It's hard to take Christie's campaign seriously. I watched Doug Burgum at the Iowa State Fair, and he came across more like a rich guy taking a vacation swing through the state than a candidate for president. The others are non-factors.

Mike Pence, hardly a warm and fuzzy figure, actually might be the most effective political communicator in the rest of the Republican field.

[Mr.Bakari-Sellers]

As was said already the Primary opponents started talking about Hunter instead of Trump himself that's why Trump is winning

[Duke 🇺🇸]

He's a former president with a cult following. No one in the GOP would be able to knock him off, not even Youngkin that everyone raves about.

[Red Velvet]

I think it’s honestly a mix of both tbh…

Trump IS a strong candidate AND his Republican opposition is uninspiring and bland as hell. It makes a ton of difference when you put a guy who has charisma and authenticity to spare in the side of a bunch of soulless robots who only repeat talking points from their owners.

[Rat]

It's far from over. I think Vivek gets it in the end. He is surging. He's a younger version of Trumpish policies without all the baggage and he's likable. Trump is yesterdays news and so is Biden. Both need to quit politics and leave us alone forever at this point. I am so tired of hearing about both of them. Honestly. I also still think RFk Jr. has a chance at the nomination. Biden could still drop out. He's barely at 40%. The economy is getting worse with the 8% mortgage rate, inflation is ticking up again. I don't think he will have the support come Jan to run again and will make up an excuse to drop out. LBJ 2.0

Vivek is a Democrat. He would pardon Hunter Biden. That tells you everything you need to know. If not DeSantis I'd rather have Scott as Nominee. Tim probably can make the Race very close even if he comes up just short against Biden.

Why do you say Vivek is a Democrat? He was a libertarian in college, and has only been active in Republican political circles.

[Meatball Slayer]

Trump in a newly released short Video is literally begging all the Candidates to drop out.

The Trump Campaign is IMPLODING! They are out of money.

To DeSantis, Haley, T. Scott, Chris Christie, etc. please hang in there.

Can you go one day without posting a braindead take?

Trump is going UP while his opponents combined are going DOWN. He going to win the primary in a landslide and sweep all 50 states. The Electoral College afterwards is a tossup.

[2016]

Trump in a newly released short Video is literally begging all the Candidates to drop out.

The Trump Campaign is IMPLODING! They are out of money.

To DeSantis, Haley, T. Scott, Chris Christie, etc. please hang in there.

Can you go one day without posting a braindead take?

Trump is going UP while his opponents combined are going DOWN. He going to win the primary in a landslide and sweep all 50 states. The Electoral College afterwards is a tossup.

Trump will not win every contest. He isn't going to win Utah or Georgia.

[Meatball Slayer]

Trump in a newly released short Video is literally begging all the Candidates to drop out.

The Trump Campaign is IMPLODING! They are out of money.

To DeSantis, Haley, T. Scott, Chris Christie, etc. please hang in there.

Can you go one day without posting a braindead take?

Trump is going UP while his opponents combined are going DOWN. He going to win the primary in a landslide and sweep all 50 states. The Electoral College afterwards is a tossup.

Trump will not win every contest. He isn't going to win Utah or Georgia.

Yes, he will, thanks to momentum after winning all four early states in landslides, and his opposition dropping out by Super Tuesday.