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

News Snapshot:

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...