But at the end of the day, being able to win a general election means literally everything.  Do you really think Trump can win a general election?  He’s more damaged now than he was in November 2020.  Right or wrong, it is what it is. I wouldn’t put $1 on a bet that Trump can get a fraction of the votes he got in 2020.  “Abandoning” (your term) Trump doesn’t mean not appreciating that he was the most conservative president in my lifetime. It means I believe with every bone in my body that he will never get more than the GOP base, or 1/3rd of the electorate. That’s not enough, so I can’t back his candidacy.

DeSantis appears to be the most Trump-like candidate out there. He’s not perfect, but no politician is.  But DeSantis has helped turn Florida from purple to red. He got 500,000+ more votes in 2022 than he did in 2018, and won with 60% of the vote. He is appealing to a lot of Floridians, with good reason.

I’m not buying into Lucifer’s pessimism that the GOP will never win another presidency. I think that’s defeatist, and I don’t counter quitters. I’ll quit when I’m dead, but not before.

DeSantis won Florida by the margins for one simple fact: He got ahead (as Governor) and got Florida's election process under control.   Fact. 

Had he done like most of the rest of the GOP (which was nothing) he wouldn’t be governor right now.

So, for sake of argument, how does DeSantis do this in PA, GA, AZ, MI and a few other states?  He will need those states to win.  How does he in 24 months go in, make the legislatures act responsible, get the Gov’s and SOS and state judges to back down and those legislatures to follow the actual laws?

How does he prevent the tidal wave of ballot dumping?

24 months isn’t enough time.  The GOP and RNC needed to fight this battle in 2020.  So far, nothing. 

If Trump runs again, the Republican party will go down in the biggest thrashing in American political history.  And I don't even want to think about what would happen if he runs as a third party candidate.

  Whoever runs against the democrats in 2024 presidential election is going to lose, period.   The election has already been decided.

 The republicans have done nothing to challenge the unconstitutional means that some battleground states have enshrined into voting laws.   State legislatures have been usurped by governors, secretaries of state and even state judges to tear apart voting laws and allow mass ballots to be sent out, no chain of custody, no signature validation, etc.

 This should have been the republicans number one priority back in 2020 after that election debacle.  After 2022 we had republicans saying "Gee, what happened?"    Well duh!   

  We are watching Arizona being stolen right in front of us, and the republicans aren't fighting.   The democrat communist now have their pathway to control the executive and the senate.   2024 they will take back the house as well.

  Wake up folks.