I just had a heated argument with my brother about illegal immigration. He believes they're all asylum seekers, not illegals. By the end of the conversation, he was defending Democrats and blaming Republicans, which confirmed something I’ve been thinking: Trump’s biggest mistake was treating politics like a business.

Trump essentially executed a "hostile takeover" of the Republican party, rebranding it into something new. But the issue is, many people still associate him with the old Republican establishment figures like Mitch McConnell.

My brother, for example, doesn't see MAGA as distinct from Bush-era Republicans simply because they share the same "R" label. To him, it's all the same. And that’s the real problem—many "normies" can’t differentiate between Trump and figures like Lindsey Graham, especially when Trump publicly aligns with them from time to time.

This is a branding issue. A lot of people don't see MAGA as different from George H.W. Bush. So, whenever Trump speaks, they immediately fall back into the "Democrat vs. Republican" tribal mentality.