<!-- wp:html --><p>Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/Getty</p>
<p>Blame it on a normalcy bias, but many of my friends and colleagues still smugly tell me (off the record, of course) that <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/ron-desantis-says-trumps-a-loser-gop-voters-dont-agree?ref=author">Donald Trump can’t beat Joe Biden</a> in 2020. But this isn’t merely anecdotal; establishment Republicans <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/skip-the-reckoning-if-you-want-republicans-to-move-on-from-trump">who want to move past Trump</a> (yet are not willing to make the moral case that he is unfit to be president) keep publicly saying <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2023/06/28/trump-only-republican-lose-to-biden-paul-ryan.html">Trump isn’t electable</a>.</p>
<p>The trouble for them is, he <em>is</em>—and saying otherwise won’t make it so. It seems very likely that <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/free-advice-for-ron-desantis-dont-run-for-president">Trump will be the Republican nominee</a> for president. And as we’ve learned, once a major party nominates you, it’s a jump ball (in part because Trump can win the presidency and still lose the popular vote).</p>
<p>Trump’s miraculous 2016 victory isn’t the only data point to suggest Trump could do it again.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/trumps-2024-branding-is-all-about-his-criminal-indictments">Read more at The Daily Beast.</a></p><!-- /wp:html -->
Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/Getty
Blame it on a normalcy bias, but many of my friends and colleagues still smugly tell me (off the record, of course) that Donald Trump can’t beat Joe Biden in 2020. But this isn’t merely anecdotal; establishment Republicans who want to move past Trump (yet are not willing to make the moral case that he is unfit to be president) keep publicly saying Trump isn’t electable.
The trouble for them is, he is—and saying otherwise won’t make it so. It seems very likely that Trump will be the Republican nominee for president. And as we’ve learned, once a major party nominates you, it’s a jump ball (in part because Trump can win the presidency and still lose the popular vote).
Trump’s miraculous 2016 victory isn’t the only data point to suggest Trump could do it again.
