But they know swapping him out would be a disaster.

On the contrary, it would be a great victory. They care far more about their power within the party (and their party's obedience to establishment orthodoxy) than they do about the party's power. The ideal situation for the GOP would be a landslide, or even an narrow, Trump defeat. Second best is a defeat under Haley.

In case this sounds odd to you, in the UK Labour Party elites were actively sabotaging the party under Jeremy Corbyn, so that it'd lose and they could blame it on him - so that they could seize power for themselves. The only problem is that they could possibly be blamed for the loss, which is why all RINOs now support Trump (unfortunately).

The 'democracy' that works best is the one where people can choose between two clones, one with the R label and one with the D label.

if Trump gets taken out one way or another, they're not going to put her in as the candidate, even if she's still in the race...they're going to swap back to DeSantis, who recovered some of his popularity after dropping and endorsing Trump, and was also polling higher. It would make the whole process seem much more palatable to some. I personally don't think it would be enough, but it's certainly better than running Haley.

Me getting shot in the head would be better than the GOP running Haley.

Essentially, Nikki Haley is in the race to be hated, so the GOP can stab Trump in the back and swap back to DeSantis or something, and pretend it's for the good of the people and the party.

While you are probably not correct about this specific instance, I do think this happens a lot. The whole Democrat-Republican thing is an example of this. YES, YOU SHOULD HATE THE PEOPLE WHO ARE EXACTLY THE SAME AS I AM, BECAUSE THEY DIFFER ON THESE THREE TINY, INCONSEQUENTIAL ISSUES! That makes you end up on the side of the likes of Eyepatch McCain.

And, since I know we probably still have some DeSantis fans,

Depends on what you call 'fan'. My extremely important and significant opinion as an anonymous European is that Trump should be the nominee, and that DeSantis is the best governor in the US. He's a bit too neoconny for my taste, but he's a shining gem compared to what the GOP has offered in previous cycles.

No matter what happens, this election cycle is going to be a chaotic mess.

The regime has made a lot of unforced errors. Their best move would have been to try to beat Trump fairly, and to contain him even if he won - as they very successfully did in his first term. With those absurd indictments, they discredited trust in their justice system and made it possible that Trump would actually do something about their entrenchted power in a second term. Trump being Trump, it's very doubtful, and it's doubtful anyone can take on powers of such magnitude, but it's still very dumb!

But they know swapping him out would be a disaster.

On the contrary, it would be a great victory. They care far more about their power within the party (and their party's obedience to establishment orthodoxy) than they do about the party's power. The ideal situation for the GOP would be a landslide, or even an narrow, Trump defeat. Second best is a defeat under Haley.

The 'democracy' that works best is the one where people can choose between two clones, one with the R label and one with the D label.

if Trump gets taken out one way or another, they're not going to put her in as the candidate, even if she's still in the race...they're going to swap back to DeSantis, who recovered some of his popularity after dropping and endorsing Trump, and was also polling higher. It would make the whole process seem much more palatable to some. I personally don't think it would be enough, but it's certainly better than running Haley.

Me getting shot in the head would be better than the GOP running Haley.

Essentially, Nikki Haley is in the race to be hated, so the GOP can stab Trump in the back and swap back to DeSantis or something, and pretend it's for the good of the people and the party.

While you are probably not correct about this specific instance, I do think this happens a lot. The whole Democrat-Republican thing is an example of this. YES, YOU SHOULD HATE THE PEOPLE WHO ARE EXACTLY THE SAME AS I AM, BECAUSE THEY DIFFER ON THESE THREE TINY, INCONSEQUENTIAL ISSUES! That makes you end up on the side of the likes of Eyepatch McCain.

And, since I know we probably still have some DeSantis fans,

Depends on what you call 'fan'. My extremely important and significant opinion as an anonymous European is that Trump should be the nominee, and that DeSantis is the best governor in the US. He's a bit too neoconny for my taste, but he's a shining gem compared to what the GOP has offered in previous cycles.

No matter what happens, this election cycle is going to be a chaotic mess.

The regime has made a lot of unforced errors. Their best move would have been to try to beat Trump fairly, and to contain him even if he won - as they very successfully did in his first term. With those absurd indictments, they discredited trust in their justice system and made it possible that Trump would actually do something about their entrenchted power in a second term. Trump being Trump, it's very doubtful, and it's doubtful anyone can take on powers of such magnitude, but it's still very dumb!