I’m having a brainstorm over this endorsement of Ron DeSantis by Jeb Bush. First of all, if DeSantis could decline it, I think he would. DeSantis’ followers, if we are to believe the folks at RedState, are not happy about this endorsement, not one bit. “The only less desirable endorsements would be from Mitch McConnell, Lindsey Graham, and Paul Ryan. Include Liz Cheney as well,” they say. Wow.
RedState also says about Jeb, “surely he knows he risks alienating potential DeSantis voters by associating himself with him in any form.” Isn’t it grand, this schism in the GOP? Where factions of the GOP despise one another, as much as and perhaps more, than the Democrats do?
Let’s see what Jeb said and then look at what might be the method in his madness. Because either Jeb is tone deaf beyond measure or he’s actually more of a Never DeSantis-er than a Never Trumper. Could that be possible? Dunno, but Jeb’s endorsement of DeSantis governance of Florida is intriguing. Stay with me now, this is going to get good.
Jeb Bush endorses Ron Desantis for president. pic.twitter.com/qBF0YGHcG4
— Ron Filipkowski 🇺🇦 (@RonFilipkowski) February 26, 2023
Johnathan Last at the Bulwark has an analysis which I think is spot on, about what Ron DeSantis must be regarding as the Endorsement From Hell, because this endorsement is actually going to help Trump more than it does DeSantis.
Ron DeSantis is in a pretty strong position. He’s locked up the support of Conservatism Inc. He’s been buying out the grifter class from underneath Trump. And he’s got the backing of large chunks of the Republican establishment. There’s a lot of electoral power in that triad.
Yes, there is, but there’s a narrative trap, the article goes on to say. DeSantis is the enemy of the establishment — and now the uber establishment, a member of the Bush dynasty just came out and endorsed him. What is he going to do about that? That’s not an endorsement, that’s an albatross thrown around his neck and that’s what right-wing media is already reacting to.
DeSantis is also the enemy of the mainstream media, God knows. He wants laws passed that will make it easier to sue journalists.
Only now, Last says
But we’re about to enter an environment when the establishment will be conservative media. And DeSantis is going to be championed by Fox and National Review and all the same people who were into George W. Bush once upon a time.
The Journal will be onboard with DeSantis. Jeb has endorsed him. All we need is for Mitch McConnell to hop on the D-train and we’ll have the entire Swamp Trifecta on his side.
Now here’s where it gets to the boon that this is to Donald Trump. Trump is supposed to be the great game changer. He’s the one that’s going to topple the establishment. He’s hamstrung right now in his 2024 bid, because it’s hard to be the insurgent when you’re the former president.
But the entire Republican / conservative establishment congealing around DeSantis solves that problem. It makes DeSantis—who otherwise might be a fresh face—into the establishment behemoth. And it makes Trump into the insurgent fighting to purify the rigged Republican party.
It even gives Trump a story to tell about why his next term would be different from his first. Trump can say:
The only thing I did wrong in my first term—which was tremendous and showed great strength and many people say was the best in history—was that I tried to work with the corrupt Republican party. But it turned out I was fighting against both the Democrats AND Old Crow Mitch. When I’m president again, I’m going to clean out both sides. I’ll have MY people around me.
That’s why all of these old Republicans like Jeb Bush are trying to help Ron. Because they know they own him, and he’ll bring them back, and everything will go back to like it was before Trump.
We’ve got to Make America Great Again. But first we have to Make Republicans Great Again.
We have now had 9 consecutive “change” elections, dating back to 2006. Clearly, voters think something is wrong and they want change. All the time.
Having Jeb Bush as part of #TeamDeSantis lets Trump take the mantle of change, versus more of the same.
It’s brilliant when you think about it. It gives Trump exactly the ammunition to do what he does best, which is demonize the establishment while claiming he’ll usher in some brave new world. It can’t get better than this for Trump.
Now here’s the Twilight Zone twist. Are you ready for this?
If Ron DeSantis’s governorship has been good for Florida, then why didn’t Jeb pass a “Don’t Say Gay” bill when he was governor? Why didn’t Jeb take over the New College of Florida to push a conservative agenda? Why didn’t Jeb offer a bill to outlaw the teaching of “theories” in undergraduate courses? Why didn’t Jeb spend taxpayer money to ship refugees to Martha’s Vineyard? Why didn’t Jeb move to take away Disney’s special zoning arrangement? Why didn’t Jeb appoint a vaccine skeptic as his state surgeon general?
After all, if these are good policies for the people of Florida, Governor Bush had the opportunity to enact them himself. Why didn’t he?
Jeb’s governorship was so radically different from DeSantis’s that there are only really three possibilities here:
(a) Jeb contemporaneously viewed his own record in office as a failure.
(b) Jeb once viewed his record as successful, but has since repudiated that view of his policies.
Or
(c) Jeb does not actually mean it when he now says he believes that DeSantis is a good governor who has made Florida a model for the rest of the country.
Does Jeb Bush have any idea what he’s saying or how it’s been interpreted? Much less, how it’s going to devolve to Donald Trump’s benefit?
Jeb just threw one hell of a monkey wrench into the GOP primary. And probably, using Occam’s Razor, the simplest explanation is the correct one. Probably Jeb thought he was helping the party move beyond Trump and helping out DeSantis. He could not have been more wrong. Jeb is playing into Trump’s hands.
I suspect the Bush family is secretly hoping for another term in the wilderness. That trump and desantis are the front runners shows that the business republican is still out of power and I suspect they are hoping one more big loss will bring them back. Romney and Cheney are in on it as well.
Yeah, the best thing that could happen is DeSantis throw his support behind Trump and run for president in 2028 that Would be the best way to put to put Republicans in the office for the next 12 years