Yes, but if people adjacent to Trump’s base see themselves on the Democratic ticket they’ll be less likely be alienated from the party.
I’ve lived in Trump country. For every Red Hat there’s five or six undecided guys who work/drink with them. If they see a guy who could also be pounding Rolling Rocks with them on the Democratic ticket it will help a little bit. And when there’s 10,000 votes between us and fascism we need all the help we can get.
To repeat: Stop assuming humans will be rational.
So, first of all, I don’t think ANYONE assumes magas will be rational.
Second, at least half of Republicans are magas at this point, probably more. So it’s more like for every red hat there’s 1 that might be on the fence, but very few of them would vote blue. But the Dems spend a shit ton of time and money trying to sway them… Mostly without success. Meanwhile millennials and zoomers are overwhelmingly progressive, and now make up about half the voters in the country. They aren’t on the fence between Trump and not Trump, they’re on the fence between voting Dem or not showing up (or voting 3rd party, which is the same as not showing up). All they need to show up and vote is for someone who actually represents them to run… Someone they can vote FOR. Dems are by and large almost there… They’ve already got the social stuff, they just need to embrace progressive economics, and they’ll never lose again. People who are undecided between fascism and not fascism are not people who’s votes we need anymore… They can slowly become irrelevant as the boomers die and life gets better under progressive policies.