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William Otis's avatar

Here's the central question. How can Trump win the general election? He has this utterly devoted following but it's not anything close to a majority, so he needs voters beyond his base. Where are they going to come from? Just about everyone I know who doesn't love Trump hates him and will never vote for him. So I just don't see how this is going to work. The best thing to do obviously is avoid the problem with Desantis, but right now that doesn't look like it's going to happen.

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Mike Crathes's avatar

I read the original column by McCotter a few days ago and have been mulling it over since then; it raises a very compelling question. I have to conclude that GOP populism is just the person and not a movement. What are the principles that enliven the Trump base? What does the orange man bring to the table that any other sensible Republican seeking the nomination doesn't provide, without the bombast and vulgarity that is uniquely Trump. GOP populism is the same as anyone else's populism in that is simply not elite--there is no special principle included in that package. I am not elite either and I would grant that Trump did a well above average job as president (with the exception of COVID management). I would even grant that I beleve he was robbed of a fair election in 2020, but we have several candidate options who could do the same or better without all of the contempt he inspires in a huge number of citizens. If Trump had governed with any principle at all it was just to get out of the peoples' way as much as practical and let them prosper. I beleieve we can get back to that without accepting the extremely high risk another 4 years of Joe Biden and his family of crime.

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