This. They will crawl back under their rocks. Remains to be seen who might try and bring them back out again.
It's both laughable and pathetic that guys like Ted Cruz, Hawley, and Pompeo think they can pander enough to collect the hardcore Trumpsters for their own Presidential run. For the most part, the MAGA-gear loyalists detest guys like this almost as much as the do the dems. They are part and parcel of "the swamp" that Trump famously (and falsely) promised to drain.
The blind Republican partisans like those on this board are going to vote for whomever the party decides to endorse. None of the fools named above have to pander to attract those votes. Trump loyalists who don't fall into the "blind partisan" category don't give a shit for career politicians. They were attracted to Trump because he promised them he would burn Washington to the ground (they were of course disappointed that he meant figuratively rather than literally, but they gave it a hell of a go a couple of weeks ago). They aren't going to attach themselves to anyone who has actual political acumen. They want a rabble rouser who can incite frothing fury and amplify their grievances. They don't care if it's 100% ignorant bullshit (obviously - see the last 5 years as proof), but it has to be the bullshit of a true outsider. They love Trump - not conservatism, not Republicanism. They aren't going to war for Cruz, Hawley, Pompeo, Nunes, Gaetz, or any of the other posers steeped in DC politics.
Unless it's Don Jr. or Ivanka or some celebrity charlatan from Fox who can trigger them via the magic box, my guess is that their interest in politics will wane. They want a cartoon action hero to lead them and make them feel loved. Trump was able to sustain the lie that he loved them, and they loved him back. It was like a teenage fantasy for them that they would capture his attention and he would take them into his inner circle the way 13 year-old girls dreamed about becoming Justin Beiber's girlfriend. Same mentality, same fantasy (only with more guns).
If somebody want to scoop up that crowd for 2024, their best bet might be to dress in the costume of some comic book superhero (not Black Panther though) or pretend to be the real Walker, Texas Ranger. They fell for the ruse in 2016, it might work again. But it isn't likely to be some smarmy insider. Even the gullible dummies who love '45 know those bastards are imposters.
