Let's say Trump isn't removed from office, but decides not to run again in 2020

[Polybius]

Let's also say he doesn't resign. Who would be the Republican nominee in 2020? I wouldn't call Pence the front-runner, because he would be coming out of a very tainted administration. He might not even run.

So who? My bet is Cruz gets the nomination this time, although he alienated lots in his own Party. He would almost certainly run again. Perhaps we'll see a Cruz vs. Beto again, only this time on the national level. That would be a very interesting race.

Or do you think someone else would get the nomination? Romney? Jeb? Rick Scott? <gasp> Cindy Hyde-Smith?

[Turbineguy]

1. Cruz is too competent.

Even Palin is a stretch.

I'm sure there must be some totaly incompetent idiot somewhere who is qualified.

[Polybius]

9. They don't always nominate incompetent buffoons

Dole, McCain, and Romney were at least qualified. Hmm, but they did all lose. I guess the Republican Party does best when they nominate idiots like Bush II and Trump.

[bearsfootball516]

2. Rubio would have a good shot to get it

[mainstreetonce]

3. The name they are purtting out is

Nikki Haley

[Garrett78]

11. She would be their best option, I think.

[cpamomfromtexas]

4. It will be Romney

[Marie Marie]

5. Kasich wants it soooo bad.

[Polybius]

6. Yeah but he's hated now

I doubt he could win a nomination.

[sarcasmo]

7. Nikki Haley.

[Algernon Moncrieff]

8. Nikki Haley

They want white suburban women back. That is the answer.

[Polybius]

10. That's not who I want them to nominate

I want a cakewalk in 2020 and she scares me.

[Garrett78]

13. She is, without a doubt, our greatest threat.

And the thought of the first woman president being a Republican is nauseating.

[OhioBlue]

15. I don't think Republican primary voters will vote for a woman that is a 2nd generation immigrant.

I could be wrong, but I don't see it with the current GOP primary electorate.

[Garrett78]

16. I think you're right. Haley would have to go full Nazi to get the nomination.

[tinrobot]

12. Paul Ryan?

[Polybius]

18. I doubt he wants it

Maybe in 2024, but not yet.

[RainCaster]

14. Qualifications have not been a concept the GOP has believed in since the 1960s

I expect them to offer up Paul Reubens.

[BannonsLiver]

17. Tom Cotton might be in the mix

Young, a war veteran and batshit crazy.

Here’s a taste:

Political positions
Domestic policy
Criminal justice reform
In 2016, Cotton said that the United States had an "under-incarceration problem", as opposed to a problem with over-incarceration.[75] Cotton said that reduced sentencing for felons would destabilize the United States, arguing that "I saw this in Baghdad. We’ve seen it again in Afghanistan."[75]

Also virulently anti-immigrant and holds extreme far right views on every social issue you could think of.