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"John F. Kennedy said, "first, you gotta win."

So the question for us and most Republicans is can Trump win or must we go with DeSantis? Steve Bannon does not really address the question whether Trump can win, rather he argues that Trump deserves to win because he delivered four years of peace and prosperity. I agree that he did that and more, but politics, to paraphrase Mae West, ain't got nothing to do with deserving -nor should it.

The party does not owe Donald Trump another run if he cannot win, full stop. The Republican party does not need a William Jennings Bryan or another Harold Stassen.

So we ask ourselves the question, is the risk of Trump losing great? Can that risk be eliminated or significantly reduced if we nominate DeSantis? Some will argue that we can have Trump's policies without Trump's baggage by nominating DeSantis. True supporters of Trump will argue that you can't have Trump's policies without Trump.

Trump supporters will say, since you can't have Trump's policies without Trump, the speculation that DeSantis has a better chance of winning is irrelevant because without Trump there is no victory. DeSantis supporters will say, Trump can't win so we must assume that DeSantis will deliver the goods if elected because we know his record in Florida and we know what Democrats would deliver-and we might never recover.

In deciding whom to support in the primary there is only one question for me, can Trump win? If he can win, and will win despite his baggage, he is the man. If he cannot win because of his baggage and because of the forces allied against him, DeSantis is the rational alternative.

Answer that question and we have picked our man.

Re: 16 - Easily the best post on this topic.

Then once a candidate is elected at the Republican Convention, there will be a decision to be made by those who have stated they will only vote for President Trump or only vote for DeSantis. On FR, Jim Robinson has always been clear on what he will accept as appropriate conduct once the Republican nominee is set. It’s reasonable to believe that will be the case again, no matter what he decides.

In the larger community and ultimately the country, people who claim “Nobody but //insert candidate name//!” will be faced with a choice.

In deciding whom to support in the primary there is only one question for me, can Trump win?

That question is unclear. Win which of the two elections?

If you ask whether he can win the primary, he will have had to enjoy your vote. You state:
[If Trump] cannot win...DeSantis is the rational alternative.
Trump clearly holds the stronger credentials on the national and global political record. Note that DeSantis will be "our" alternative only in the primary but will be the alternative chosen in the general by the forces against Trump.

If you ask whether he can win the general election, the numbers strongly suggest he can. The Dems have no one on the bench that has a record anywhere near Trump's record (and they know it.)

He can certainly win both elections but, perhaps, only if he outplays the Dems, the Left, the RINO's, the MSM, every other anti-MAGA element and all their assets, to say nothing of the assistance of foreign nations.

That assortment would pay a very high price to keep Trump off the ballot. They effectively, albeit clumsily, corrupted the recent presidential elections; the next one could be just as easy.

Maybe you can answer this.

What can DeSantis bring to the national table, in ways that succeed where Trump could not?

Can he clean house with the deep staters?
Can he shut down Big Tech for colluding, censoring, manipulating data, news, etc?
Can he lower taxes and get people to want to go back to work, inspiring patriotism by pointing to his governing in Florida?

I don’t know how his governance of Florida will translate successfully to a national arena - without violent antifa protests, more BLM, rioting, constantly being embattled with the radical left - Trump actually bowed and caved in to particular ideas and pushback — will DeSantis do that? Will he work middle of the aisle like he does now, in his home state? etc etc.

It’s hard to envision what he would bring to the table that would be more successful than Trump.

Please advise!

Good to hear from you NB. My choice for me is simple: the one who declares fentanyl a weapon of mass destruction, and according the same status to drug cartels as we do to ISIS terrorists, that's who gets my vote.

IMO, that's just the starting point to putting this country back on a path to prosperity. It signals to the country a seriousness behind solving our problems.

If Trump wins the nomination, he gets my vote. His main foil right now is DeSantis, who seems to be weathering the storm.

There is no room for Greg Abbott. Had he started busing illegals to sanctuary cities several months earlier, he could have been a viable candidate. Unfortunately, he's too slow on the draw when it comes to taking action. Our next President has to be decisive in decision making, and "decisive" is not an adjective I use with the Texas governor.

In deciding whom to support in the primary there is only one question for me, can Trump win?

And I will pose a simple question for you to ponder, rather than giving a direct answer, so that you can have part ownership in the answer.

What has Trump done, to secure elections, or reach out to voters he lost, in the 4-5 swing states that cost him the last election?

And if you want another question to go with it, how did Trump's major endorsed candidates do in those states in the midterm?