Trump separated himself from the pack in 2016 by campaigning on building the wall, deporting illegals, draining the swamp, and locking up Hillary.
If he tries running on the same or similar issues this time around, the stench of bullshit will be too much to ignore except for his most devoted followers.
IMO, he'll probably run on "I'm not Biden," and I'm sure with how bad Biden is, he'll win just off of that.
The sad part is, this will be another wasted election to try and get an actual change candidate who won't sell out as much. Too bad Rand Paul has a terrible sense of what grassroots Republican voters want. Last time around, he was pandering to try in bring in more black voters. Fucking eh, what a mess.
But these are people who distrust the media and wouldnt piss on a reporter if they were on fire. It has nothing to do with Ukraine being the Current Thing. It has to do with people genuinely enraged, mostly driven by them seeking out their own information with direct battlefield video and reporting (that never even touches the media in many cases), Many of them even go further than what the Media says.
In fact, I know people who were being tepid in the days before the invasion saying that it was a bad idea to keep poking the bear and that we should back off. Then the second Russian tanks rolled across the border, they said "I changed my mind. BURN RUSSIA TO THE GROUND!" I have also heard many a "the line must be drawn here" and comparing it to the Nazi's invading Poland, and how the French and British were cowards for not doing more and "We are going to show those Limey bastards and Frogs what a real ally looks like."
Same with the polling and surveys on the matter. Its one thing when you get a contentious issue, or one that is controversial. But when there is almost 70% approval across the board, that is not controversial and shows a definitive political direction.
I know its not what they want to hear, but the people on here are actually in the minority on the issue, by far.
EDIT: Another thing I just thought of. The media has been through about 3 or 4 different "Current Things" since Ukraine was invaded, but the support for Ukraine has remained high. Which tells me that rather than it being a media propped up "Current Thing", it was a genuine reaction that the media just happened to be on the same side as the general public on.