Right I understand that all. That’s why I think it’s evidence of this all being kabuki theatre and Trump at the beginning had no intention of going this far.
“....Trump at the beginning had no intention of going this far.”
That implies that Trump entered the race thinking that he’d lose. Do you really think there is even a small part of his mindset that plans to lose? At anything? Ever? He takes risks, and there’s always the risk of losing, but that’s never so far as I can tell, Trump’s intent.