I agree with Big3 too when it comes to Trump winning a primary with ten or more candidates; that's pretty much how he won in 2016.

But if the Repubs are smart (and they are learning from the Dems very well how to take defeat from the jaws of victory), they'll surround themselves around one viable candidate that will wipe the floor with Trump. Maybe it's Desantis but I still have a feeling his star is going to wane over the next two years. Realistically, though, I think there are too many egos in both parties for a smooth primary season.

The question is what does a "viable" gop candidate look like. I don't see them going for anyone that moderate which is why I think DeSantis and Trump are both trying to lean in on the same far right crowd. DeSantis has the veneer of civility politics but he's still more like Trump than he is like a pre-Trump republican.

Really? Who the hell else could it possibly be?

Not right wing enough?
https://cbs2iowa.com/resources/media...?1470067461569

Oh, I don't know. Cruz, Hawley, Hogan, probably about a dozen others we haven't heard from yet. Don't forget, they had 20 plus Republicans running in 2016.

In 2016 there was a complete power vacuum. That was before anyone took Trump seriously. Now, if you run in 2024 you are basically double crossing Trump, in his eyes. I think that could limit the size of the pool of candidates this time around. We've yet to see what a gop primary looks like in the Trump era.

Sparing you the math, if it's not DeSantis or Trump, I think the dark-horse option would be Rubio.

This might be the post-Trump era based on the mid-terms.

I'll consider it the post-Trump era when the GOP is no longer scared of crossing him. But yeah it's possible 24 will be that year.

Also, no telling whether he'll get indicted and what affect that will have if he does.

Or, you know, keels over

No chance in hell, he's one of the most unpopular senators in the country and his own party just barely tolerates him, sure he can win a gerrymandered hellscape like Texas but not a national election.

I could see him as the kind of boring candidate the establishment Republicans would get to run but it wouldn't amount to anything in a primary race, for the same reason Walker didn't, he's just a cookie cutter Republican with nothing remarkable about him, they're gonna need more than that to win over the Trump base.

Who?

I assume you don't mean Hulk Hogan, but honestly I'm not sure.

Yeah and look how that turned out.