“Winning big against a guy who isn’t running.”
I’m starting to agree with you, with now DeSantis below 20%. But the question becomes who rises up above the noise to take DeSantis’s place? Might even be someone, who, like Trump exactly 8 years ago, was not even being talked about.
DeSantis and the Republican infrastructure and the more knowledgeable insiders may be starting to conclude that 2024 is a lost cause. The media’s long gambit has paid off and Trump has monopolized attention with his antics for so long that there just may not be any other Republican with enough brand recognition. The only thing left to do is let Trump splash around again in a campaign dominated more by his tweeting and personal beefs rather than presenting a coherent unified noncult of personality based conservative vision as usual , get crushed as usual, have his fans cry fraud and do absolutely nothing else as usual. And prepare for 2028
The race hasn’t started yet. Trump is flailing at DeSantis like an angry drunk.