The media's insistence on covering this as a horse race is becoming increasingly absurd (and it was already pretty ridiculous). The rest of the GOP candidates are toast and this isn't a normal election between two candidates with differing viewpoints. It's a decision whether to remain a democracy or cede the country to authoritarian fascists. It needs to be treated as such.
Does anyone remember that Ron Paul and Santorum were front runners early on in the 2012 season?
JFC guys, none of this "polling" has any value at all. It will be months before a serious challenge to Trump can be mounted. Right now, he's the only game in town. The GOP "debate" was a debacle - as Trump intended. The day the GOP figures out how to avoid being his rubber sex doll, we may see a viable candidate surface.
"A head-to-head of DeSantis vs. Ramaswamy would simultaneously terrify and sterilize most decent people." LOL. It would have the media beating off 24-7, though
My money is still on tRump not having Vivek as VP because Ramaswamy would be a bigger (longer) name than his on a banner. Plus it might be a hard word for him, Pence was simple, in all respects.
The last time a major political party in this country just up and died was the Whig party, but they died largely because they couldn't figure out a viable platform to campaign on and lost relevance to what became the modern Republican party.
But now the Republicans have long learned that they don't even need a platform, just an enemy, and there will always be some significant subset of the American populace who can be motivated entirely and exclusively by hate - so much so that they'd sacrifice democracy before they sacrificed their hate.
There is and indeed can be no such thing a successful pro-democracy Republican, and yet the Republican party still lingers. The only examples I can think of for this phenomenon have to come from countries like Germany.
The only way Trump is not the candidate is if he gets a conviction before the RNC and they pretend they have a rule that you can't be the candidate if you have a felony conviction or something like that. Of course, they won't do that. There may be some noises made by the anti-Trumpers in the party, but nothing that will amount to anything. (I'm thinking of the article a while back about some anti-Trump folks trying to make a claim that the Constitution says he can't be president if you interpret it a certain way)
When your party puts forth a slate of candidates ranging from a bag of toenail clippings, flaming dog poop and the stain left on the bottom of a Dumpster behind a McDonald’s after a 2 month sanitation worker strike, it SO doesn’t matter who you pick. And that smell is never going to wash off.
If they're running to be a Fox commentator, maybe, but if any of them think TFG is going to pick him or her as VP or a cabinet member, they're delusional. Trump is never going to pick someone who had the audacity to run against him. If you can call what they're doing running against him. They're all pretty much saying: "Trump was great, he's still great, I agree with everything Trump does or says, now vote for me instead". Yeah, guys, THAT'S a winning message. I don't know why any of them even bothered. If you're not going to actually challenge your main opponent, you might as well have stayed home and stockpiled money and political capital for 2028.
If the drop to 50% is accurate, it could be interpreted as a hopeful sign for the opponents, because it means half the voters (maybe) would prefer somebody else . . . but by the time trailing also-rans drop out, it will be too late, the runner-up will be too far behind, and DJT will be well on his way to the nomination . . .
arguably PAB is polling better now than he did in 2016 *because* back then candidates were campaigning against him.
The media's insistence on covering this as a horse race is becoming increasingly absurd (and it was already pretty ridiculous). The rest of the GOP candidates are toast and this isn't a normal election between two candidates with differing viewpoints. It's a decision whether to remain a democracy or cede the country to authoritarian fascists. It needs to be treated as such.
This article is good summary about how badly the media is fucking this up: Journalism fails miserably at explaining what is really happening to America (link:https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/commentary/media-2020-election-trump-authoritarianism-20230827.html)
I can't wait for Ramaswamy to start dishing on how ugly Haley's husband is, or how Gov. Puddin' Fingers is dad killed RFK.
Does anyone remember that Ron Paul and Santorum were front runners early on in the 2012 season?
JFC guys, none of this "polling" has any value at all. It will be months before a serious challenge to Trump can be mounted. Right now, he's the only game in town. The GOP "debate" was a debacle - as Trump intended. The day the GOP figures out how to avoid being his rubber sex doll, we may see a viable candidate surface.
"A head-to-head of DeSantis vs. Ramaswamy would simultaneously terrify and sterilize most decent people." LOL. It would have the media beating off 24-7, though
My money is still on tRump not having Vivek as VP because Ramaswamy would be a bigger (longer) name than his on a banner. Plus it might be a hard word for him, Pence was simple, in all respects.
Need more blowhard bloviating from that blowhard bloviating bloviator Chris Christie. On the beach. With lounge chairs.
While, like with Cheeto, the underlings do his jail time.
𝑷𝒐𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝑭𝒖𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝑭𝒆𝒍𝒐𝒏 𝑺𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝑻𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑨𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝑻𝒉𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝑶𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝑮𝑶𝑷 𝑫𝒖𝒎𝒎𝒊𝒆𝒔
I thought Republicans were into tanning their balls?
(If someone has made this v. obvs. joke earlier, I apologize, but at this point I'm not scrolling down to find out.)
Possible Future Felon Still Tanning The Asses of Those Other GOP Dummies.
Spray-tanning.
The last time a major political party in this country just up and died was the Whig party, but they died largely because they couldn't figure out a viable platform to campaign on and lost relevance to what became the modern Republican party.
But now the Republicans have long learned that they don't even need a platform, just an enemy, and there will always be some significant subset of the American populace who can be motivated entirely and exclusively by hate - so much so that they'd sacrifice democracy before they sacrificed their hate.
There is and indeed can be no such thing a successful pro-democracy Republican, and yet the Republican party still lingers. The only examples I can think of for this phenomenon have to come from countries like Germany.
The only way Trump is not the candidate is if he gets a conviction before the RNC and they pretend they have a rule that you can't be the candidate if you have a felony conviction or something like that. Of course, they won't do that. There may be some noises made by the anti-Trumpers in the party, but nothing that will amount to anything. (I'm thinking of the article a while back about some anti-Trump folks trying to make a claim that the Constitution says he can't be president if you interpret it a certain way)
The only way Trump is not the nominee is if every other candidate except one drops out and that person rallies really, really hard.
It’s good to see the three sane, pro-democracy (still conservative assholes of course) candidates, Hutchinson, Hurd and Burgum “roaring” forward!
When your party puts forth a slate of candidates ranging from a bag of toenail clippings, flaming dog poop and the stain left on the bottom of a Dumpster behind a McDonald’s after a 2 month sanitation worker strike, it SO doesn’t matter who you pick. And that smell is never going to wash off.
"The Republican Party will soon have the nominee it deserves"
The American people, OTOH...God help us, indeed...
"the only real fuel for a 2024 horse race is desperate hope."
Pretty sure the other candidates (with the possible exception of DeSantis) are running for Veep, a cabinet position, or a FOX commentator.
If they're running to be a Fox commentator, maybe, but if any of them think TFG is going to pick him or her as VP or a cabinet member, they're delusional. Trump is never going to pick someone who had the audacity to run against him. If you can call what they're doing running against him. They're all pretty much saying: "Trump was great, he's still great, I agree with everything Trump does or says, now vote for me instead". Yeah, guys, THAT'S a winning message. I don't know why any of them even bothered. If you're not going to actually challenge your main opponent, you might as well have stayed home and stockpiled money and political capital for 2028.
You're making a lot of assumptions about their intelligence being higher than their ambition.
If the drop to 50% is accurate, it could be interpreted as a hopeful sign for the opponents, because it means half the voters (maybe) would prefer somebody else . . . but by the time trailing also-rans drop out, it will be too late, the runner-up will be too far behind, and DJT will be well on his way to the nomination . . .
"See, we can fight over the scraps! All six to nine of us!"
None of these changes are probably outside the margin of error...