Trump’s takeover of GOP helped him to write the delegate rules. The number winner-take-all states has grown from seven to 17
I don’t think people have truly grasped what this means:
Republicans seeking to keep Donald Trump from becoming their party’s nominee will have to overcome rules even more favorable to the former president than the ones that helped him clinch the 2016 nomination.
In 2024, more states will award delegates through winner-take-all primaries — a system that helped Trump when opponents divided the vote, allowing him to be awarded all or most of the delegates with less than majority support.
Is it possible that the field will be cleared of everyone but DeSantis (or one of the other candidates) and they will win a majority and Trump will be defeated. But it is highly unlikely. Trump dominates the GOP primary electorate and will probably win a majority in most states even if they manage to clear the field. And, as we know, it matters where you win. If he takes the biggest states with large numbers of delegates, he wins again. And, needless to say, if it’s crowded field and he gets the most votes, even if it’s only 30%, he also wins.
It’s looking very good for candidate Trump.
No, the obvious play for the rest of them is to hope he drops dead on the golf course or the feds have him in custody (which might actually bond him even more deeply to the Primary voters) in which case they are the back-up. Short of that, I think he probably has this all wrapped up.