At the moment Trump owns the Republican Party lock, stock and barrel IMO.
Direct Headline: Trump's ire grows as DeSantis' popularity with Republicans takes off
And for months, billionaire Republican donors who bankrolled Trump have opened their checkbooks to boost DeSantis in his bid for a second term as Florida's governor....Former Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross donated $50,000 to DeSantis' campaign in April... Home Depot co-founder Bernie Marcus, who contributed $250,000 in March. Interactive Brokers Group chairman Thomas Peterffy, whose last six-figure donation to the Trump Victory fund occurred in September 2017, also gave $250,000 to DeSantis in April....DeSantis has raised $56 million so far this year through a political committee, and in a sign of his growing national stature, almost half of his 2021 haul has come from outside Florida...Some Trump foes have picked up on the former President's jealousy and are using it to advance their own objectives. Next week, Palm Beach televisions, perhaps including those in Mar-a-Lago, will once again air a commercial by the Lincoln Project intended to remind Trump that DeSantis is the new GOP "it" guy....Rick Wilson, one of the ex-Republicans behind the Lincoln Project, is hoping to provoke a very specific reaction from Trump..."We want Trump to kill his own babies," Wilson said. "We believe if we narrow the field and it's only Trump in 2024, it's an easy choice for Americans to say 'no.'"
By Gabby Orr and Steve Contorno, CNN 2:23 PM ET, Fri November 19, 2021
https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/19/politics/trump-desantis-relationship/index.html
Direct Headline:
Trump Campaign Could Run Out Of Money Before Election Day
“Go back to the Reagan campaign, George H. Bush against Dukakis, Clinton against George H. Bush, the Obama campaigns—the candidate that spent more money won,” said Bruce Newman, professor of marketing at DePaul University...“Politics is now being driven by marketing, as opposed to political party affiliation,” said Newman “In order to run a marketing campaign effectively, you need money. Without having the money to pay for the various activities to fall under the umbrella of marketing, it’s impossible to compete effectively.”
by Erik Sherman Oct 27, 2020,12:10am EDT
https://www.forbes.com/sites/zengernews/2020/10/27/trump-campaign-could-run-out-of-money-before-election-day/?sh=63d46914791d
Direct Headline:
Trump has gotten nearly $3 billion in ‘free’ advertising
Trump, who became the presumptive Republican presidential nominee ...has received the equivalent of more than $2.8 billion in free ads through April. That’s based on media coverage and the equivalent advertising rates....MarketWatch earlier this week wrote that Trump has spent the least amount of money per vote and per delegate of any candidate in either party — just $4.62 per vote.
By Robert Schroeder May 6, 2016 at 12:56 p.m. ET
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/trump-has-gotten-nearly-3-billion-in-free-advertising-2016-05-06
*****
Nothing you say has any basis in practical political reality. You need money to win elections and Trump actually ran out of money in the 2020 cycle. Based on a shortfall that couldn't be overcome, the strategy was to save most of what was left for the last month. That was a financial compromise but it was a mistake. Kellyanne Conway wouldn't have played it that way. And Trump needed her badly towards the end. One in ten voters waited until near the end of the cycle to cast their votes. Trump should have spent all he had earlier and tried to secure more votes sooner.
I'm not a huge fan of Ronna McDaniel at RNC HQ, but she's not dumb. Trump in 2024 makes Arizona a push, even with the collapsing Southern Border. I believe Team Blue can hold onto Georgia and Michigan. DeSantis would have a better shot than Trump at taking Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. Trump would struggle with suburban voters and DeSantis would have an easier time appealing to working class minorities and independents.
Here's what McDaniel will hold true and she would be right. Polling represents a snapshot in time. Trying to give predictive modeling three years from now and hope it unfolds that way is madness. The polling industry has proven it's cooked and has failed on many levels the last two cycles. No one knows how the pandemic will shape out, which will impact Gavin Newsom, the current best shot for the DNC right now. Trump is out of the spotlight, Biden is at his worst right now and lots of moderates, independents and undecideds haven't weighed in yet. Lots of Republicans, especially the moderates, don't talk to pollsters (Net effect of the cancel culture and threatening to put people on lists. Big Surprise) Once Trump gets back but is limited into the national daily media cycle, that ill will towards him that was somewhat dormant will come storming back. The polling numbers and turnout won't look so good then.
And Trump won't have the benefit of big money donors who abandoned him and will keep abandoning him for DeSantis and Nikki Haley and the activist complicit left leaning MSM will cut him off from all the "unpaid" media coverage he received before.
Trump carries the J6 baggage, COVID19 baggage, questions about his age timeline ( all the fears of geriatric Biden don't end with Biden, they start to edge in on Trump too), the risk of driving out the Never Trumper votes to storm the voting booths, will cause many Republicans to sit out the election, risks the suburban vote, won't have the same fundraising ( which wasn't enough last time), lost many of his key staffers that helped him win 2016, and will have active media suppression working against him to make sure he gets little to no practical coverage in the MSM and Big Social Media.
If Trump "owned" the Republican Party, many of the critical big money donors and special interests wouldn't have abandoned him for DeSantis and Haley. More importantly, Trump doesn't "own" the left leaning activist complicit MSM and Big Social Media, which can choke out his impact in the national daily media cycle.
Only low information voters and zealots see Republicans as some kind of monolithic hillbilly cult that blindly adheres to Trump. The makeup of the entire Party is actually very complex. Dehumanizing them is an easy but lazy dirty way to cheaply attack them.
So, go on, explain it. Explain how Trump has total control and "owns" the Republican Party. Give some actual cogent practical reasons based on real time functional political strategy to explain your position.
