Please remember one thing. Hillary was a great help in getting Trump elected. Had Biden run, it would have been a real problem. The problem for us would have been, among all the MOR voters, no one “hated” Joe.
I agree, the Trump choice is still operative for most Republicans. But remember, the base does not decide elections. The MOR voters do.... and they are unhappy and afraid. The RCP at 38%, a negative 16, even after the Korea bump, is not good. With an assumed base of 30 to 35, that gives him only a 3 to 8 among the MOR.
I hate these facts, but facts are facts.
This can be fixed, but it will not fix itself.
Correct that Biden would have been in SOME ways tougher.
But in many other ways, far weaker. He would have the “white male” thing against him. He wouldn’t have the “Clinton aura” with him. He wouldn’t have the “he got screwed in 08” thing for him.
No, you can play these games all day, but the fact is Trump was a mere 560,000 votes from winning an ADDITIONAL 40-50 electoral votes in seven states (NH, MN, NM, NV, VA, ME, and CO). That’s shocking really. It means that without the sextape, Trump would have had an utter blowout.