EPR-radar posted...
There is no constituency for a semi-sane Republican. Trump has given the GOP base the red meat they have wanted for the last 50+ years, and now no substitute will be accepted.
Yup. The problem is any candidate the Republicans put up has to double-down on Trumpism to even have a shot (election fuckery notwithstanding). They can't close the lid on the monster they created and pretend like the last 10+ years of politics didn't happen; there is no return to "sanity" for them without losing a huge chunk of the base they galvanized.
But the thing is, so far, Trump himself is the only one who's been able to successfully pull off being Trump. MAGA doesn't even care about Trump's policies so much as they care about the idea, personality and branding of Trump. But it's also completely authentic to who he is. Anybody that tries to replicate it just comes across as a cheap imitation, as Ron DeSantis learned.