I think you're forgetting what already happened with Ron DeSantis. Without the real Trump to shut them down, his potential successors will come out of the woodwork drooling at the sight of his empty throne.

[–] Adderbox76@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 months ago

Ron DeSantis

You can be a monster with charisma. Or you can be a caring person with a less than social personality

You can't be a monster with no charisma. That's the problem with everyone else in potential GOP leadership. It why they had little success until Trump came along. His monster came cloaked in charisma.

In short, Trump is the only GOP leader whose followers don't actually hate his guts. Boebert, DeSantis, MTG don't have people who actually like them, even on their own side.