Because I do not wish to be TOTALLY IRRELEVANT by staying on the sidelines or vote for a 3rd party. Even Trump realizes that. He wants to run as a republican because he is smart enough to know if he runs as 3rd party, he will lose bigger than in 2020.
I disagree that the ‘split the party’ argument still applies.
And I ONLY say this because of Trump.
Trump got 81 million (real, actual) votes. The current GOP party membership is 32 million people. That means he draws from all other parties and independents.
Would YOU stay loyal to the GOP party over Trump?
If only HALF his voters left to join him in a new party, they would be the biggest party