Big girl

I voted for Trump twice.  If he secures the nomination this goround, I'll be (grudgingly) voting for him again.  I don't have TDS.  I've stated many times on here that I thought he did a decent job as president.  But I don't like him, and he's destroying the republican party to the advantage of the left, and yes, that bothers me a lot.  When Kari Lake was dumb enough to publicly say that she didn't want any "McCain Republicans" at her rallies, I wrote her off.  Apparently so did a lot of the McCain republicans.  You can't really protect some people from themselves, I guess.  It's just shocking to me that she insulted the most popular Arizona politician of the last several generations and his supporters, WHO'S VOTES SHE NEEDED TO WIN, and then she somehow lost.  But we all know the election was really stolen from her, I saw it on twitter.

It's the easiest fix in the world!  Quit nominating buffoons.  That's literally all it takes. When a moderate feels the left is too far left, and the right is too far right, you know what a great tiebreaker is??  Likability.  Again a post from you that places all the blame on everyone but the republicans, while complaining about how terrible the left is. Which makes MY point from earlier:  there's a prevalent attitude amongst certain conservatives that appear much more content to refuse change and gripe about how dumb and terrible the left is than to demand change from their own party to secure victories.  

Without a doubt there are a lot of stupid voters out there.  That said, I think there are a lot of folks like me, who have strong views that go both ways.  You and I closely align on some things, but are miles apart on others.  At this stage in my life, I feel that A) many of the social views I feel strongly about have been addressed, and B ) things like the economy, taxes, and gun rights are at the top of my list when it comes to importance.  
i only make this point because I believe that there are plenty of voters who can make an informed vote in either direction, depending on which issues are most important to them at the time.  And in that scenario, when given a candidate on one side or the other that they completely can’t stand, they’ll simply vote the other direction if they think both sides are addressing issues that they strongly believe in. The reversal of Roe vs. Wade was also a huge player in these midterms.  Many swing voters who were going to vote based on the economy suddenly had another issue that they felt very strongly about.  I would’ve liked for the right to have waited until after the midterms to address this issue, as I think it likely played an even bigger role in their struggles at the polls than Trump did.  Abortion was the 2nd biggest current issue behind the economy among those polled, and it wasn’t an issue for republicans at all, since they’re happy where it stands.  This means that the right created an issue that negatively affected them in a massive way just a couple of months before the elections. I understand that the right wanted it done as quickly as possible, but the best way to keep it that way is to gain as much political control as possible, which they failed to do.  

“Trump is a stupid man’s idea of a smart man, a poor man’s idea of a rich man, and a weak man’s idea of a strong man.” 
 
The guy that said this hit the nail on the head. 
 

What goods to they have?

I’ll throw out a wild prediction to entertain those conspiracy theorist.
The dems plan will be to continue slinging mud at Trump for the next two years that includes more criminal accusations with no intent to go to trial or convict. The goal will  be to make him look as bad as possible but keep him in the race because he will be easy to beat.
The GOP will quietly, behind the scenes start plotting a criminal case against Trump so he can be convicted and ineligible to run. It will appear to be the dem’s fault and open the door for a new nominee without getting blood on their hands.
You heard it here first.

Desantis appears to be smarter than Trump. I don't think he will have Twitter tantrums. I would prefer to have Desantis as the POTUS than Trump if the Democrats were to lose in 2024

I will not vote for Trump in the primaries.  Did I say only Trump can save us?  Not sure about your comprehension skills.  But, if boils down to Trump and any dip💩 Dimocrat, America really has no choice, if it wants to survive.

Whatever.

Your hero is unelectable.  He got his tail busted in 2020, and the events of 1/6 haven't earned him any votes.  All he stands to do by running is to either win the republican nomination and get destroyed in the general (again), or damage the other republican candidates and eventual nominee.... after which time the Trump supporters (not American patriots, conservatives, or republicans, but Trump supporters like yourself) will not turn out to vote for the eventual nominee because "the system is rigged against an outsider."  The average Trump supporter isn't very sophisticated.  That's indisputable. 
Trump didn't just screw us all in 2020, he's going to screw us again in 2024 because his supporters won't do the right thing and send him packing. 

I'll reiterate my position... It's not America first, it's not conservatism.  It's Trump, closely followed by Trump, then Trump and finally Trump as the first four priorities for Donald Trump.  He's just done a good job of convincing people that he's "that guy." You know, anti-abortion, fiscally conservative, America First, etc....
 
And I'll state once more for the record for anyone who wants to mark it down.  If Trump announces a run for President, the yet-to-be determined Democratic nominee will be elected in 2024.  There will be a bloodbath of destructiveness that's already started in the primary, plus you'll have all of the Trump votes staying home in the general if somebody else manages to get the Republican nomination. 
 
We'll revisit when the time comes. 

The Gateway Pundit.
Such a reliable source.
smh

yeah, republicans never, ever, ever do anything underhanded or crooked to win elections.  come on, man.  you're smarter than this.  that said, you can't honestly believe that if republicans could find away to endorse democratic candidates with low chances of winning that they wouldn't do it "out of fairness."  they'd jump all over it, and republicans everywhere would support it.  Just because you pretend it's not that way doesn't make it fact.  I've seen an overwhelming majority of politicians on both sides do anything they can get away with to win, and an overwhelming majority of their supporters let underhanded behavior slide on their side, while setting the other side on fire for doing the same things.

I don’t have to convince myself.  The red wave turning into the red ripple convinced me. 

right.  the republicans shouldn't do what it takes to get the votes.  just blame the voters and talk about how stupid they are.  it's a brilliant concept, and seems to be working phenomenally well.

If republicans used the same strategies successfully the majority of the posters in this thread would be high fiving and celebrating.  That's not an opinion, it's a fact.  And speaking of facts, it's hard to be mad about democrats finding success by endorsing republicans who echo Trump's election claims. I don't really think it should be considered a dirty trick at all.  If Trump didn't have so much support from the right for his claims and behavior, there wouldn't be a scourge of candidates acting the same way (losing elections).  

and that is my point. The Red needs to hitch to another candidate to right this wrong.
There's just too much against Trump to win an election.

Are you talking about the ones that vote D or the ones that vote Trump?  Because there's really not a difference.  A vote cast for an opponent that can't win is a wasted vote. 
I think that I'm just saying what a lot of people think... and it sounds like a lot of people who have been Trump since day one might be coming around on the idea.  The buffoonery just got old. 
He's literally that guy from high school that was kinda funny and always had a nickname for people that stuck.... and then we all got extra homework because of him. 

Trump supporters love him because he's the jerk that they don't have the balls to be in real life.....then they cry that he's a "scapegoat" when the consequences of his actions come around to bite him in the butt.  And for what it's worth, Trump is the biggest face-spitter that our country has ever seen.  
It's so comical that you believe that he "can't be bought" when literally everything he has is for sale for the right price.  Want some nuclear codes?  Pay me.  Need a place to house my secret service agents?  Pay me.  
You're right... he's not for sale.  He's all about Trump, and does it by tricking people into believing that he's America First, Pro-Life, Christian, etc.... And his fanboys just keep lapping it up.  

Gee, I thought there was an answer in there somewhere. I haven’t seen where election denial was a requirement for Trump backing. The whole thing is, people will research which candidates lose that were Trump backed and totally ignore who lost with elite democrat backing. I have no trouble seeing where you stand. Trump is everyone’s scapegoat. Running both parties the wrong way is what I like about him anyway. He can’t be bought and that means everything to me. Everyone else will sell this country to the highest bidder and spit in your face while doing it

Bottom line, there was no tsunami and most of the blame is at Trump's feet.
The red side need's to dump Trump and hitch their wagon to a better candidate.
Too many voters are voting against and not for. That's the problem.

None.  Because you don't even realize what happened.
Traditionally the Party (and more importantly the "figurehead" of the party" don't endorse any candidates during the primary process... that's where the parties are deciding who their candidate will be in the general election against the "other" party.  
Trump made it a point to endorse politicians in the PRIMARY process, and all you had to do was deny the election results and pledge your honor to his Trumpness and in return he'd get his red-hatted fools to vote for you. It worked out all over the place.  Trump's hand-picked candidates secured the nomination of the Republican Party, but then performed poorly in the general election.  
 

it's a different situation completely. across the country republicans ran out a string of less-qualified, more extremist candidates that were backed by trump solely because they fed into his election denial.  The majority of the candidates he endorsed that were involved in tight races lost, whereas many of those races would've gone to the right had a traditional republican candidate been on the ballot.  if you choose not to understand that, then that's fine.  but ignoring the obvious is what cost us the red wave in the first place.

Republicans need to dump Trump.  Him celebrating Republican losses last night of those that didn’t go along with him is not a good look.  

The Republican Party is, like it or not, the Trump Party to the general public and a lot of people love him…. But even more people hate him. 
 
Don’t get me wrong, any reasonable person would look around and vote for change… but people have biases and prejudices and unfortunately, they come into play when people vote. It’s an intangible thing, but it’s real. I think that the damage that’s been done over the last six years to conservatism and the Republican brand will take years to overcome. 
 
If you stood around in 2020 and said “I don’t see how this happened” and are standing around today saying “i don’t see how this happened”…. guess what? It’s not that everybody else is just stupid. If you’ve been dumbfounded twice in a row, you might be the one who’s missing something obvious. 
 
The abortion argument didn’t win this election cycle. The bad economy/inflation didn’t cost the Dems this cycle. The Rs have a perception problem and it’s costing them bigly. 

At a certain point the Rs are going to have to look in the mirror and ask “how can we keep being the right answer, but still losing? What are we doing to keep costing ourselves elections that we should be winning on paper?”  The Democrats should  deservedly be getting smashed everywhere for their performance.  But they’re not. 
 
Long story made short, voters don’t like us. My feeling is that we’ve laid down with a guy who went out of his way to be unlikable and it’s all just working against us now.  We are the party of the red-hatted, hateful, mean-spirited bullies who assaulted the Capitol. It’s not hard to see when you look at the big picture. 
 
I’ll repeat… 2024 will be a bloodbath for Rs if Trump even announces again. If your instinct is to say “Trump wasn’t even on the ballot! That’s just your TDS talking” you’re probably not capable of a big picture conversation.