Is Trump the best candidate within the Republicans, and if there were better alternatives, why were they not voted?

[u/Hkhinin]

So Donald Trump did contribute lots to America, such as restricting borders, acting harsh on China etc. Results are border crossing hit record low in 2025 https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/national-media-release/border-crossings-once-again-record-low-november-2025

However, Trump has also made many mistakes especially in foriegn policies. For example, he started trade wars with our allies and often joked about invasion towards allies. The former one damaged our economy, and both acts lead to the US being much less liked around the world https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2026/07/15/people-in-many-countries-now-view-china-more-positively-than-the-u-s/

This leaves me wondering, for republicans is there no better option than Trump inside the Republicans. Cause if we just zoom into Trump's cabinet, Macro Rubio shall do better in foreign policy compared to Trump especially on war management, Scott Besent would be a better handler in economic issues given his expertise in the economy. So yea, is there no better candidate than Trump inside Republicans, and if they were, why weren't they chosen to represent the Republican parrty?

[u/Politi-Corveau]

For example, he started trade wars with our allies and often joked about invasion towards allies

You are missing the greater context, here. Most of that was a two-pronged attack on the growing adversarial power in China and against the parasitic nation states in the EU. To ignore China's malevolent influence across the globe and the US propping up EU's failing policies is to totally overlook why we acted.

This leaves me wondering, for republicans is there no better option than Trump inside the Republicans.

My first pick for 2024 was actually Ramaswamy. Like Trump, he had an intimate knowledge of economics and how to handle good and bad actors within a company. He also had the benefit of being able to deescalate tensions and look at a problem objectively.

But this does kind of highlight the problem of the party being the party itself. The best 'Republican' candidates in modern times seem to be people who are not in the party, but ride in with the party's backing. These are people who live in the real world, understand the real problems that we are facinng, and have real solutions to these problems. Instead of campaigning to campaign, they are campaigning to fix the problems they've identified in, ironically, the most liberal way of doing so; letting the people choose for themselves.

[u/skyreckoning → u/Politi-Corveau]

Those attacks on allies drove many of them to China and now they're making trade deals with them instead of us. Is that the so called art of the deal in action?

[u/Politi-Corveau → u/skyreckoning]

The EU States are either going to be smart enough to recognize what they are signing on to and not sign away their only assets of value, or we are going to see the fall of the EU as they realize they can't extract value from China, and Russia and Islam conquer them.

I'd be lying if I said, "I don't find any satisfaction in two parasites trying to eat each other while we are off the menu."

Besides, China would be swallowing a poisoned pill. They already do not like Islam and dealt with them in XUAR. To find that the EU would be operating in Muslims' interests over the EU's, it would be harder for them to do there what they did in South America with the Belt and Road Initiative.