Trump isn't as strong as he looks -- his GOP rivals are letting him win

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

E.J. Dionne Jr.

To understand why Donald Trump is once again skipping a Republican presidential debate, realize that the conventional way of looking at the GOP’s nomination contest has things largely backward. Trump’s standing in the polls is less about his strength than about the weakness of the rest of the field — and the traditional Republican Party.

Trump wants his foes to stay weak. By not showing up, he reduces them to squabbling bit players trying to bring each other down while the major contenders offer pale imitations of his own message and values.

Republican voters once open to someone other than the former president are concluding that if they’re going to get Trumpism, they might as well go with the guy who invented it. And they’re getting little useful advice from party leaders who — as Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) told his biographer McKay Coppins — see Trump as a disaster but are too timid to say so publicly.

-snip-

Sure, Trump has an unshakable base, those who would stick with him if he were indicted a dozen more times. But that hard core accounts for no more than about 35 percent of the Republican primary electorate. There really is (or was) room for someone else to break through.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/09/24/trump-skip-debate-weak-rivals/

[CharleyDog]

1. Chris Christie might be able to give him a run

Can't think of anyone else who could break through.

[Lonestarblue]

2. I think Youngkin is waiting in the wings to see what happens.

He’s letting the current candidates bash one another while Trump dominates the headlines and lets the children fight over a contest he has most likely already won. By the time Republicans have to choose a final nominee, perhaps the documents trial and the J6 trial will have ended. If Trump is convicted and sentenced to jail, who knows what happens next! The DOJ has bent over backwards and sideways to accommodate Trump, though Smith seems less accommodating, but the big question is how to imprison Trump and still provide Secret Service protection.

At that point, Republicans may come to their senses and jettison Trump for a better candidate, which means Youngkin, Larry Hogan, John Sununu might throw their hats in the ring. Heaven knows the current batch of candidates don’t inspire much of anything but a snooze.

[DFW]

4. Hogan and Sununu would be serious candidates, Youngkin is a lightweight

If the Republicans were to nominate either Hogan or Sununu, I’d say we have us a race on our hands. Like the few rational Republicans left in public life, neither has indicated any interest at all in running against Biden.

If Youngkin hasn’t yet said anything, I give that two I possible explanations. Either 1.) he looked in his political mirror on the wall, asked who’s the most presidential of them all, and heard the mirror laughing hysterically, asking if he was being serious, or 2.) he is somehow being deluded by some serious money who is willing to take a chance on him since he clueless, and can probably be manipulated and shaped easier than Play Dough or Trump. My bet as of now would be Door Number Two, since I don’t think he is bright enough to take the hint from Door Number One. There is still Door Number Three: he thinks that by borrowing from Joe Biden’s playbook, he thinks he can win by an 8 million margin as well. But I don’t think it’s that one, because if he’s like most Republicans, then he hasn’t figured out WHY Joe Biden won by 8 million votes. If that isn’t obvious to him by now, it never will be.

Maybe Youngkin remembers the 2020 Democratic primary race, where Biden was cautious with his entry, but it ended up being perfectly timed for him to be the last man standing, and thinks he can win in a similar manner. But if so, he is forgetting that some of Biden’s primary opponents were qualified for the presidency, whereas none of the current Republican crowd are. You’re not a great track star just because you can jump over chopsticks without tripping.

[Walleye]

3. I am betting that if Trump is the nominee, he will not debate Biden this time

[DFW]

5. I agree with that, but

I don’t think Trump will be their nominee. I think he, and his support will melt down to the core of Republican primary voters that will vote for him because MAGA, and beyond that, they have no idea why. “Didn’t Fox say so? Don’t make me think, it gives me a headache.” THOSE Republican primary voters.

[Walleye]

6. I only hope he isn't a nominee. I wish some interviewer would ask him if he's gonna do the

Same shit when he loses again. Win or lose he will damage us

[DFW]

7. Any interviewer asking THAT had better bring a bodyguard.

Ask him about what he’ll do WHEN he loses again, he’ll lose it completely. Asking him what he’ll do IF he loses again, aside from a Marchais-style “why would they ever vote us out?” and your chances of again conducting another interview while alive improve dramatically improve.