LogFAQs > #977203433

A lot of it boils down to the fact that "smart" people running campaigns like these are not smart at all and live in huge bubbles where they believe they'll somehow be the groundbreaking inheritor to either Trump's base or a backlash of Trump's base. A lot of Republicans running believe, absent any evidence, that Trump is a truly resisted force in the Republican party outside of a few rare exceptions.

It could be advisors/aides looking for money or the candidates trying to sell a book. A lot of them feel locked in: DeSantis and Haley are very much so now-or-never candidates who will be far past their prime in 2028. Haley hasn't totally self-destructed, but DeSantis has.

It's a lot of stupid people thinking they can outsmart the blunt reality that Trump is their idol and the guy who beat Clinton while all the other candidates are Bush-era ghouls known for losing to Democrats (or) are fraudsters trying to take up Trump's base even though Trump's running already. It gives his base the impression these guys (i.e. DeSantis) are somehow working to get Trump locked up or whatever.

Ramaswamy is the only candidate there who seems to be on stage to appeal to Trump directly but this is transparently a vying for future relevance or a cabinet position.

So there it is:

-Stupid people who run bad campaigns
-Complete delusion/cope
-Attention grabbers

It's all very ridiculous and it's the circus they deserve