It was almost 15 months ago that The New York Post published a full-page cover photo of Ron DeSantis with the headline “DeFUTURE.” His 19-point victory in the Florida governor’s race was one of the few bright spots of the 2022 elections for a weary Republican elite, which was desperately looking to move on from Donald Trump after his handpicked candidates cost the party key Senate seats.
A year later, as Mr. DeSantis’s presidential campaign stalled, at least a handful of G.O.P. megadonors found new hope in Nikki Haley, with the Koch network announcing millions of dollars in support of her presidential campaign.
It would be fair to say that the project has fallen flat: Mr. DeSantis suspended his presidential campaign on Jan. 21, and Ms. Haley’s hopes have now dwindled to a thin thread after her loss in New Hampshire.
By Donald Trump and his allies, this primary will be portrayed as a victory over a Republican establishment with which he had been at odds for years. But although Mr. Trump has routinely positioned himself as a political outsider, it is clear — now more than ever — that he has become the Republican establishment, and the party’s fate increasingly seems inextricably tied to his.
The former president now controls the Republican Party by virtually every conceivable measure. He has a commanding lead in fund-raising and polling. His policies are a beacon to which most conservative lawmakers orient themselves in affairs both foreign and domestic. His endorsement remains the single most coveted asset that any Republican could hope to brandish in a primary race, and he has already received support from an overwhelming majority of prominent elected Republicans.
This article definitely brings up an interesting question of where do Republicans go from here? If Trump is beaten again, it feels like the Republican party will not drift to far from the anchor point that is Trump. It feels like every election going forward will be a close call with the death of american democracy until the Republican platform changes to accepting the election and acknowledging that Trump is dangerous.
I think you may need to expand on what you mean by spend 100 years in the wilderness. From my prospective, it feels like MAGAts will feel very disenfranchised by the fact that the "bad guys" are winning politically. They will see things as, if the political system is corrupt, and favors democrats, then the political system should be done away with and corrected by other means (violence). Basically, MAGAts not winning will mean additional national turmoil until its addressed.