Tucker Carlson doesn't see himself as a professional buffoon

Oh yes he does.

DeSantis probably won't win the GOP nomination, btw.

Paul Blart Mall Cop is fucking over the minute the public views him unfiltered, without the fawning press and edits created by the bothsides teach-the-controversyism of the professional punditry. Dude makes Jeb Bush look like The Fonz.

All that said, you used to think Trump would've lost much more of his support by now, right?

What support are we talking about, exactly? You linked this yourself - CPAC has gone from this heralded anointing at the heart of half a season of Succession to a John Birch Society sideshow.

At no point in my college career could I cross the quad and not be heckled by LaRouche cultists. Once a failure has been canonized he will lock in some supporters for life. It didn't matter that LaRouche hadn't been relevant for ten years, there were eager young dewy-eyed dipshits who wanted to tell you about America's Best Socialism every fuckin' day of the week.

Trump will be with us for the foreseeable future? But he's become a wedge issue, not a threat.