@Veeger Trump had name recognition, which got him on the stage as an "outsider". And he then quickly hit the illegal immigration hot button which catapulted him to frontrunner status.

I think the compromise position will be the base will consider non-DC politicians as outsiders. I can think of one of them right now in an elected office, who should he run, will draw crowds larger than Trump. Exceptionally gifted speaker, minus Trump's ego. But he won't be ready to run in 2024.

Another curveball in the mix will be the apparent shift of Hispanics over to the GOP. There is a ton of both hard (election results) and soft (polls) evidence of this happening, and it is occurring at breakneck speed. Of course, one counter to that is the commanding victory Newsom recently had in California. If that movement is for real, unless the GOP does something really stupid like start a war, the Dem party is done at the national level.

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