As recently as the autumn of 2022, anti–Donald Trump (or at least non-Trump) Republicanism was alive and well in a good part of the country. Plenty of Republican politicians had deplored his conduct after losing the 2020 election and lived to tell the tale. Many blamed the former president for damaging the party’s prospects in the 2022 midterm elections with ill-advised interventions in GOP primaries. Twelve significant rivals decided to take on Trump for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, with one of them ( Ron DeSantis ) actually becoming the early front-runner.

By the time he completed his audacious comeback , Trump had crushed his national GOP opponents and consolidated the party behind him. His MAGA base was not only larger than ever; it held him in what could b

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