Honestly, the only way this splits the party is if Trump loses. There are "Trump only" voters, and there are a fucking shitload of them. If Trump wins, honestly, most of DeSantis supporters will come on board, same way even Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio all did.
Like I've said before, I'm okay with the debates because I can easily see great moments shifting the overton window to the right for a lot of normies, which is why I really want Larry Elder to be up there. (Frankly, I'd vote Elder more than Trump, but he ain't gonna win)
What I'm much more worried about is that the establishment is absolutely funding DeSantis in order to fucking kill them both. In the event that DeSantis wins, he'll lose the core Trump supporters, and each and every one of his current donors are gonna start making demands that he can't fulfill. The Republicans will get fucking destroyed because they will walk DeSantis off a fucking cliff and claim that "this is unquestionable proof that winning elections with Far Right rhetoric is impossible, and we need to go back to true conservatives like Jeb Bush."
Practically yes, though with present company considered I'd like to point out that they are less the "Trump-Cultist bloc" as they are the "America First / anti-establishment bloc".
I bet if Mike Lindell randomly decided to run for president, he could convince many Trump voters to give him their votes, assuming he talked American manufacturing, the federal reserve, and smashing the deep state. Hell even Alex Jones could get a lot of those votes. (theirs and nobody else's...) Ron Paul obviously.
Trump started a movement that many of his voters do not believe DeSantis would continue. You could say they are not strategically wise, but it doesn't necessarily make them a cult of personality. This is not related to anything else you said, I just wanted to get it out of the way before the DeSantis fans in the audience jump on that as proof of something.
Practically yes, though with present company considered I'd like to point out that they are less the "Trump-Cultist bloc" as they are the "America First / anti-establishment bloc".
I'd say the majority are America First block, but the there's still probably around some large minority of Trump supporters that are staunchly: Trump only. And, frankly, (waves hands) we're gonna need them to over-come 5-10 points of voter fraud.
They're not strategically wise at all, but it's not exactly a cult.
I think the better term is "Trump Loyalist". There are some people to whom, Trump was such a boon, they wouldn't go for anyone else, and see them as their representative/leader. I don't even think most Trump supporters are that, but there's a fair few who are. These are people who stopped voting maybe 20 years ago, or even never voted because they were so disenfranchized, they just didn't think it was worth it. And Trump, personally, changed that mentality in them. It's going to be a struggle to keep them without a Trump endorsement, and even then, I don't think a Trump endorsement is as powerful as Trump himself.
For the majority of of the America First populists (of which I see myself as one kind), I don't trust DeSantis because he's surrounding himself and making himself fiscally dependent on worse people than Trump did. There really is a big Mitt Romney feel to his campaign, and I don't think they are doing well.
I think he's actually genuine at resisting wokeness, but I feel like he's actually making himself friends in all the wrong places. To me, the Kanye-Trump blip is stupid as hell, but not dangerous. DeSantis's donors and book deals make me fucking nervous. There is no limit to what the establishment will do to purge the MAGA movement, and destroying both Trump and DeSantis is a major win.
They're not cultists, they were diseffected normies that came out of the wood-work for Trump specifically. You're looking at people in their 40's, 50's, and 60's who never voted until they voted Trump.
As for RFK Jr., He won't be nominated, but I feel like if they treat him badly enough, there will be so many disaffected Leftists that they won't be able to count on a small portion of progressive votes turning out. 2020 got every Leftist voter to vote for Joe Biden. All of them. In 2024, so long as RFK doesn't cuck out like Bernie Sanders did, some chunk of those votes, maybe a million, might not show up.
Honestly, the only way this splits the party is if Trump loses. There are "Trump only" voters, and there are a fucking shitload of them. If Trump wins, honestly, most of DeSantis supporters will come on board, same way even Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio all did.
Like I've said before, I'm okay with the debates because I can easily see great moments shifting the overton window to the right for a lot of normies, which is why I really want Larry Elder to be up there. (Frankly, I'd vote Elder more than Trump, but he ain't gonna win)
What I'm much more worried about is that the establishment is absolutely funding DeSantis in order to fucking kill them both. In the event that DeSantis wins, he'll lose the core Trump supporters, and each and every one of his current donors are gonna start making demands that he can't fulfill. The Republicans will get fucking destroyed because they will walk DeSantis off a fucking cliff and claim that "this is unquestionable proof that winning elections with Far Right rhetoric is impossible, and we need to go back to true conservatives like Jeb Bush."
Practically yes, though with present company considered I'd like to point out that they are less the "Trump-Cultist bloc" as they are the "America First / anti-establishment bloc".
I bet if Mike Lindell randomly decided to run for president, he could convince many Trump voters to give him their votes, assuming he talked American manufacturing, the federal reserve, and smashing the deep state. Hell even Alex Jones could get a lot of those votes. (theirs and nobody else's...) Ron Paul obviously.
Trump started a movement that many of his voters do not believe DeSantis would continue. You could say they are not strategically wise, but it doesn't necessarily make them a cult of personality. This is not related to anything else you said, I just wanted to get it out of the way before the DeSantis fans in the audience jump on that as proof of something.
I'd say the majority are America First block, but the there's still probably around some large minority of Trump supporters that are staunchly: Trump only. And, frankly, (waves hands) we're gonna need them to over-come 5-10 points of voter fraud.
They're not strategically wise at all, but it's not exactly a cult.
I think the better term is "Trump Loyalist". There are some people to whom, Trump was such a boon, they wouldn't go for anyone else, and see them as their representative/leader. I don't even think most Trump supporters are that, but there's a fair few who are. These are people who stopped voting maybe 20 years ago, or even never voted because they were so disenfranchized, they just didn't think it was worth it. And Trump, personally, changed that mentality in them. It's going to be a struggle to keep them without a Trump endorsement, and even then, I don't think a Trump endorsement is as powerful as Trump himself.
For the majority of of the America First populists (of which I see myself as one kind), I don't trust DeSantis because he's surrounding himself and making himself fiscally dependent on worse people than Trump did. There really is a big Mitt Romney feel to his campaign, and I don't think they are doing well.
I think he's actually genuine at resisting wokeness, but I feel like he's actually making himself friends in all the wrong places. To me, the Kanye-Trump blip is stupid as hell, but not dangerous. DeSantis's donors and book deals make me fucking nervous. There is no limit to what the establishment will do to purge the MAGA movement, and destroying both Trump and DeSantis is a major win.
I find this prediction hard to agree with, unless you think "core Trump supporters" are personality cultists.
I'm hoping for the impossible: The DP nominating RFK Jr.
They're not cultists, they were diseffected normies that came out of the wood-work for Trump specifically. You're looking at people in their 40's, 50's, and 60's who never voted until they voted Trump.
As for RFK Jr., He won't be nominated, but I feel like if they treat him badly enough, there will be so many disaffected Leftists that they won't be able to count on a small portion of progressive votes turning out. 2020 got every Leftist voter to vote for Joe Biden. All of them. In 2024, so long as RFK doesn't cuck out like Bernie Sanders did, some chunk of those votes, maybe a million, might not show up.
Some are. And Trump is a loose cannon who will probably denounce DeSantis rather than backing him.