Why are so many Republican candidates jumping into the presidential race? | Osita Nwanevu

Trump's long-shot competitors had to have known that their entry into the race would only make his renomination more likely

Already in this early stretch of the Republican presidential primary campaign, there are nearly as many candidates in the field as there were in 2016, when Donald Trump bested a slew of the Republican party's most prominent figures on his way to the White House. But unlike 2016, of course, Trump has been the race's perhaps prohibitive favorite from the jump - over the last three months, Trump has moved from plurality to outright majority support from the Republican electorate in the polls.

Far from damaging his candidacy, his two indictments have, if anything, encouraged more and more Republican voters to rally to his side. And, unfortunately for those hoping he loses the nomination, the sheer size of the field will make it difficult for any one of his rivals to consolidate enough of the non-Trump vote to mount a real challenge to his candidacy. Each of his long-shot competitors had to have known that their entry into the race would only make his renomination likelier. Yet they jumped in anyway. Why?

Osita Nwanevu is a Guardian US columnist