The GOP had better make it a two-person race if Trump runs

What needs to be done is everything possible to ensure that voters have a clear, head-to-head choice between Trump and a candidate whose stance on issues and approach to governance can be acceptable to a decisive number of long-time Trump voters. So long as he is willing and able to step up to the task, the obvious choice is Ron DeSantis. DeSantis may not be everybody’s cup of tea, but if you think DeSantis would be an improvement over Trump, you have an obligation to use whatever power and influence you have to offer that choice to the voters. If a majority of them, in state after state, prefer Trump anyway even at age 78, that at least will be their choice.

One immediate way that party leaders and elites can do this is by persuading one another to settle on a single alternative. Big donors in particular can be influential in this process. Another is to persuade and pressure people to stay out of the field if they would be in the way. Consider Tom Cotton. Cotton is a serious guy, and an entirely plausible but unexciting presidential prospect. He’d be a good running mate for the right candidate, and it is possible to picture him winning the nomination in a weak field. But he’d get trampled on a stage with Trump and DeSantis. Cotton has been openly mulling a 2024 presidential bid, but he announced just before the midterms that he has decided to pass on one. Maybe that was solely a decision he made with his family, but it would not be surprising if he got the message from donors or Senate colleagues that it would be counterproductive to have him in the race. After Trump went after DeSantis and Glenn Youngkin, Cotton tweeted this morning, “Look at @GovRonDeSantis and @BrianKempGA ‘s huge victories—when Republicans are focused on success and delivering for the American people, we win.” He didn’t even have to mention Trump — whom Cotton has backed enthusiastically for years — to send the obvious signal. Whether or not others had that conversation with Cotton, there needs to be a similar conversation with Youngkin, Mike Pompeo, Nikki Haley, Larry Hogan, Chris Christie, and a number of others who may be pondering vanity campaigns. (For now, I exempt from that Mike Pence, who might be able to do unique damage to Trump if he runs a kamikaze campaign; but he, too, will at some point need to get out of the way.)