Republican voters have been bashed over the head repeatedly with the message that Ron DeSantis is the more “electable,” new and improved version of Donald Trump. This was always a ridiculous talking point, as if an enigmatic figure such as Trump could be replicated, with all peculiar virtues retained and vices purged. But this shtick for DeSantis had life only so long as it remained an untested hypothesis. Under the pressure of a head-on collision with Trump, the careful ruse of “Trump without the baggage” is collapsing like a cardboard cutout.
DeSantis’ disastrous Twitter launch, rationalized as bold and forward thinking by his supporters, is just the tip of the iceberg. The problem is DeSantis is lacking quite a bit more than Trump’s “baggage.” Without his rival’s authenticity or charisma, DeSantis has relied on an annoyingly overbearing political operation to stay afloat. But sly maneuvering is precisely what Republican voters despise most in a politician today. Oddly enough, DeSantis appears to have even changed how he says his last name. One can imagine Trump having a field day with his understudy’s prevarications on the debate stage: “Tell us, Ron, Is it Duh-santis or DEE-santis?”
DeSantis’ surrogates want to talk about nothing but “policy,” perhaps as a distraction from the fact that he’s such an uninteresting character. It’s hard to trust a man who isn’t comfortable in his own skin. One could hardly lay such a charge against Trump. His supporters know that the chaos is part of a package deal that comes with a forceful and uncontrollable personality. With DeSantis, they get a boring, vacillating careerist pretending to be his more popular rival. The premise here was bound to end in failure once the rubber hit the road.
Although his crudely obvious shadow campaign has reached a merciful conclusion, now that it’s “official,” DeSantis’ candidacy feels like old news. The only difference is that the talking points voters have heard countless times already from Twitter pundits and Fox News and the editorial pages of the New York Post are coming from the governor’s own mouth. He ended his astroturfed Twitter launch by thanking apparently handpicked interlocutors for a “robust debate.” It was a strange way to summarize what had just transpired: listeners heard DeSantis read stale talking points for an hour as allies teed up softball questions on his favorite topics. Then he hopped over to Murdoch-owned Fox News to be flattered some more by the weirdly affected Trey Gowdy. Asked how he would handle the war in Ukraine, DeSantis appeared to blow a circuit and started talking about transgenders in the military. “There’s a new sheriff in town,” he declared. This is the serious, substantial candidate we’ve heard so much about?
DeSantis has thrived in isolation, and it shows. His rather holier than thou surrogates and sympathizers are in denial about his increasingly apparent weaknesses. They hector Trump “cultists” for failing to be awed by “Trump without the baggage” (who’s in a cult, again?) and disparage Trump supporters as rubes who just want to be entertained. But personality matters a lot in politics, not just for winning elections, but governing too.
America is in deep trouble. Rebuilding a declining country, if it is possible, will require leaders who can actually inspire people. Trump is the creator and leader of a historic popular movement. Not many people have that capability. DeSantis obviously doesn’t, which is why he has tried to co-opt MAGA for his own personal ambitions.
It is one thing to stab a man in the front, and quite another to borrow his personality and then stab him in the back. Being Trump’s shadow, “Ron DeSantis” could not delay forever a Shakespearean leap of hubris. Will his ambitions survive it? The polls suggest not. Intuition gives the same reply: “Trump without the baggage” is not equipped to replace his model and benefactor.
On the contrary, DeSantis is a characteristically effective manager. For those who have occupied such a role, it requires good judgement, ethical behavior, a dispassionate analysis of options when faced with decisions, and a preference for reason over emotion. Trump may be described by some as “an interesting character”. For those of us not inclined to support the candidacy of another aging (like Joe, he will celebrate the big 8-0 in office should he win the election), defensive, mediocre performer who had no permanent accomplishments, added $7 trillion to the national debt, got bamboozled by a lying public health bureaucrat, we’re not looking for a drama king. We’re electing a President. That role is as head of the executive branch, not a 24 hr. insult machine.
Trump’s extremely poor judgement with regard to personnel, especially where his Leviathan ego precluded any reading of people’s motivations, failure to grasp real threats to his agenda and mitigate them, is a cautionary tale to the Republican base. Who needs the baggage that comes with him? His slimy, special Ed son-in-law and avaricious, social-climbing-over-everyone daughter installed in important advisory positions? Remember when Trump told us he was only going to hire “The Best!” Yeah, whateva! Next!
Trump created no movement. He rebranded and recalibrated the TEA Party. The “movement” as you call it, existed and has existed since the Revolutionary War and the cry for independence from Great Britain. A man who couldn’t make a marriage work, let alone three (from the National Enquirer scuttlebutt), is not in any position to lead the country out of this present crisis. Most telling about his character: his lack of support for J6 political prisoners when it mattered. In that respect at least, he resembles other Republicans and they as a group have my lasting enmity - the cowardly bastards! My belief is that Democrats WANT Trump to be the nominee. He won’t win a general. In fact, they will triple their ballot harvesting, among other methods for winning. Trump galvanizes the opposition, not the base. He’s lost suburban women. I support Vivek Ramaswamy, and even though his chances are slim, at least he focuses on ideas, on policies that will address what ails us, and does not engage in a constant stream of insults which accomplish nothing. Face it: character is what makes a man. Trump’s is decidedly weak. America is in trouble, and some of that trouble is due to the decisions Donald Trump made while President. I am not inclined to grant him another opportunity to strengthen and solidify the opposition!
This is the 2024 election cycle - not the 2016 election cycle. I now prioritize effective leadership over a mere oratorical disruptor. After Trump’s performance in his first term, I question whether he is the effective leader that is now needed. Therefore, I will evaluate the candidates and make my own decision on which one to support in the primary. That does not mean that I won’t support Trump. It just means that I choose not to limit my options at this time in the hope that there exists a better option for 2024.
The Tea Party was a grass roots movement of libertarians pissed off at the GOP for not opposing Democrat insanity with its traditional libertarianism. MAGA is a rebellion that seeks to put working class interests and social conservatives into the driver’s seat of the GOP. There is little overlap.
As to wanting a manager just remember they’re great for maintaining the status quo. The status quo sucks.
You didn’t read my post. As I stated, DeSantis is not my favorite. I want a leader, not a manager, but to discount the importance of effective management in the executive branch, is to nullify the importance of the executive branch itself.
I disagree with your conclusions about the TEA Party versus MAGA. There is plenty of overlap. Call it America First, MAGA, anything you want. The issues have not changed. Only the urgency with which the issues need to be addressed.
While I agree with you, all this horse-race handicapping of the 2024 presidential race is much ado about nothing. As 2020 and 2022 proved, the left can–and will–steal elections with impunity. And they will steal the 2024 election and dare anyone to object. (see the J6 protesters to see how that turned out).
But even if lightning struck again and Trump was somehow miraculously elected, the establishment / Ruling Class / Deep State would never accept his victory. If we thought the summer of 2020 riots was bad, a Trump victory would cause the left to erupt in hellish fury and would make the Summer of 2020 seem like a day at Disneyland by comparison.
Moreover, its an almost certainty that Trump would NOT get his nominees for Attorney General, FBI Director, CIA Director and ODNI approved. That ain’t happening.
And then of course, there would be an immediate third and likely successful impeachment of Trump as RINOs crossed the aisle in the Senate to once and for all rid themselves of Trump. There would be just enough RINOs join Democrats in the House to get a majority vote.
In 2020, there was a coup d’état that overthrew the re-election of President Donald Trump. Since then, most Americans have been in denial of that fact. So its likely that further demonstrations of tyranny and despotism by the DC Junta and its enablers and supporters will be met with yawns of normalcy bias by a spoiled and weak American public.