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I'm still debating to myself whether or not he'll get the Dubya treatment. Leaning towards not, but it's not that clear cut.
How can he not? The dynamic seems less driven by re-evaluation and calming down and more due to needing to paint the current opponent as the end of the world. Whoever the 2028 republican candidate is will need to be portrayed as the worst yet, which necessitates “Trump wasn’t actually so bad.” It’s inevitable I think.
Name your odds, I'd put $200 up right now. Trump really comes off a uniquely bad for many reasons.
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I think that he's enough of an outsider that they may want to hold onto making him an example. The temptation to paint the next person as even worse than Trump will be strong, but Trump has a unique disgust factor for these people. Again, I'm not sure where it lands.
I suppose it will depend on the next candidate’s relationship to Trump and his relationship to the party. If someone who disavows Trump can get to the general maybe it won’t work. Otherwise it seems an easy enough attack.
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Bush also had a unique disgust factor, as did Romney, as did Reagan.
I am not persuaded that there is anything in the Blue response to Trump other than outrage over explicit resistance to their agenda. He was not the polite loser increasingly-extremist Blues expect from their Republican opposition.
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Nah, it's been prophecy for years that one day Morning Joe will be telling us to vote for Eric Trump to protect the country from genetically modified Blake Masters.
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