Republicans damned either way

Michael Goodwin writes at the NY Post:

By the end of this week, there will be at least seven contestants in a race to see who gets to go head-to-head with Donald Trump for the GOP crown. 

But wait, there’s yet another obstacle for that lucky survivor. 

If he or she manages to defeat Trump for the nomination, there is a good chance Trump will take many of his supporters and run as a third-party candidate, or tell them to stay home, dooming the GOP nominee to defeat in the general. 

Oh, what fun. 

Just as it was when he first came down the escalator in 2015, everything in 2023 is still about Trump. 

And just as it was then, it’s damned if you do and damned if you don’t for Republicans. 

Those assumptions are why I have concluded that, as it stands, the GOP can’t win with Trump, and can’t win without him. 

This is sadly probably true. Biden and Harris are very beatable, but Trump showed in 2020 he can’t beat them, and any other candidate will face a fractured party as Trump will never endorse someone who beats him in the primary.