I don’t think that they wanted to run on it. As it’s completely toxic, just appealing to a few nuts. I think it was almost supposed to be a secret game plan for after the election. But the authors couldn’t keep their mouths shut about it.
I’d love to believe that he and his supporters would just vanish. But I don’t see them going quietly. It seems like his “first” term was a learning experience for him. With him being more prepared for a second term. He really had no clue about how to do an administration change in 2016 and was back tracking from policies immediately as soon as he won the election. Going from “Lock her up”, to it was just a campaign slogan in a couple of hours. If he loses this time. It really is the end for him and perhaps the Republicans. So they’ll be better prepared for a January 6th like event. With the Supreme Court being in his pocket.
The difference being that the contents were only publicly espoused by a small number of people. But Project 2025 looks like the official gameplan for the Trump Presidency. Which is far more frightening.