Why are so many Republicans running for the Presidential nomination when everyone knows that Trump will trounce them all? Okay maybe DeSantis has been so puffed up by the national media that he actually thinks he can beat Trump in the primaries. (Those puff pieces can go to someone's head, no matter what the polls say). But what about all those others who don't even have the fawning coverage pretending they have the chance that DeSantis gets? What about Nikki Haley, Mike Pence, Asa Hutchinson, Vivek Ramaswamy, Tim Scott, Doug Burgum, and Chris Christie? Do any of them honestly believe they can beat Trump in the Republican primary?
Politicians can be delusional about their own electoral chances. But it takes a lot of delusion for say, Doug Burgum (who I bet 99.5% of all voters have never heard of), or Chris Christie (who people have heard of but is phenomenally unpopular--he had a 15% approval rating when he was governor of NJ), to think that they can beat Trump among the die-hard Republicans who turn out to vote in the primaries. The only reason this makes sense is if they think that Trump won't actually run. Trump has already declared he is running so that really means they are hoping for Trump to not run despite the fact that is all he talks about.
So basically they are hoping he is in prison, dies, or is otherwise incapacitated. Actually, does anyone doubt that Trump would still try to run from prison? If Eugene Debs can do it, why can't Trump? So really they are hoping that he dies or has a stroke or something that makes it physically impossible to stay on the ballot. Trump doesn't seem super-healthy, but it is a weird thing to hang your entire presidential aspirations on! (Also if Trump was suddenly incapacitated by a health crisis, I bet DeSantis would immediately dominate the field in a similar way.)
