In the short term, the GOP base is very Trumpy. The problem for the party is as it ever was: that base is too small for a nat’l party. Weds. events provided visuals that have been missing the past 4 years. Every Dem ad now can put this on screen and say, “Is this what you want?”

And it seems like a very underrated part of Trumps political success is that he is a pop culture figure who is unavoidable and willing to be so outrageous. Hard to imagine some dude who went to Harvard Law and then to the State Assembly has that same kind of appeal to the base

And so in order to be a 2024 contender you need to hit all the Trumpy stations of the cross but will have less TV appeal *and* run up against an environmental where it’s bracingly clear to independents what Trumpism will wrought