""Banished" by Trump? Trump doesn't have that kind of power to "banish" anyone" - Dumbass Dope

Trump has made it so that Tillis, Coryrn, Massie, Kinzinger, and Cheney can never run as Republicans and win. They have been banished from the party. That is going to be the next GOP candidate's problem. It is no longer the GOP. It is the MAGA GOP.

"People too closely associated with DJT will be somewhat politically radioactive, though." - Dumbass Dope

You are finally correct for once but you are still underselling it. Delete the word "somewhat" from your statement. They are all very radioactive. Even you has to laugh at JD Vance, he has flipped flopped so much. He called Trump a modern day Hitler, then became his best bud and right hand man. Then when he realized how radioactive it is to be that close to Trump he cannot run away fast enough.

"-DeSantis. Wildly successful governor of Florida. Will be an immediate front runner and has already all but announced he's in.
-Rubio. Has had a very good run as SecState and National Security Advisor and isn't tied to the hip.
-Glenn Youngkin. Former Governor of Virginia. Popular former Governor - can he raise enough money?

Vance I think is done. He's widely known as the architect of the Iran MOU that many blame for the war dragging on and it too closely tied to Trump.

Other people who will run are Ted Cruz (3rd or 4th time's the charm), maybe Tim Scott, maybe some other Senator." - Dumbass Dope

Rubio is just as toxic as JD Vance. As Sec State and NSA, the Iran war, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and tariffs are literally right in his swim lane. Those directly fall into the portfolio of someone who is SEC State and NSA and those have been Trump's biggest fuck ups that made him so radioactive.

As for the others such as DeSantis, you forgot one thing. The only reason he isn't so radioactive as the others is that Trump really doesn't like him so he was never in the Trump administration. Can DeSantis win the 2028 Republican primary with Trump constantly attacking him? For as bad as Trump's record is for picking winners in the general election. He has a very good record for picking winners in the GOP primary. The MAGA GOP supports his picks in primaries. Now some of Trump's power over the GOP will wane, but not all of it. The winner of the 2028 GOP primary will be someone who is at least friendly to Trump.

And that brings us to the biggest problem for the GOP in 2028 general election. They have to stay friendly to Trump to maintain the MAGA support, but they will also have to distance themselves as far as possible from Trump in order to attract non-MAGA voters. They cannot run in two lanes at once.

Furthermore, I predict that there is going to be a kooky third party candidate in the general election that is going to attract a lot of the craziest of the crazies at the far fringes of both parties. Think Ross Perot only kookier. It is that candidate that will get the Steve Bannons and Tucker Carlson and Laura Loomer support and other MAGA crazies thereby stealing it from the GOP candidate.