It’s doubtful they planned on him making it to 2024
Everyone knew he was an idiot, and he wasn’t going to win any legitimate free election. In the 1988 presidential cycle he was considered by all the usual suspects as a joke.
Nobody is laughing now, but this has to be by design, even if it is difficult to watch.
Always said he was a throw away candidiate. Then came Covid. And they used it to get rid of Trump.