In yet another weird smashing together of strange objects we are being treated to the sight of the political equivalent of what goes on in a particle accelerator. Smashing atoms against each other at virtual light speed, and waiting to see what happens. In this case we have onetime political allies turned bitter rivals Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis trying to politically kiss and make up. I know. Eeeeewww! But hell, such a “kiss and make up” situation warrants a healthy amount of disgust, revulsion and to put it more bluntly “yuck” factor reaction. Still, the fact is DeSantis made a trip to Mango Messiah Lago for “bury the hatchet” discussions. I wonder what the over/under is on how long it takes before they try to bury said hatchet in each other?
Still, this is news and outlets are talking about it including as in this article from The Independent. I call this whole thing weird because it IS strange when “impossible” and “inevitable” decide to hook up, and make a political baby. Yeah yeah, Eeeewww again! (Hey, this is a political blog and anyone who reads about politics should know to keep a cabinet well-stocked with Brain Bleach) So what exactly has taken place? Well, according to the linked article DeSantis and Trump met for several hours in Miami yesterday to try and figure out how to “work together” to elect Trump this fall:
The meeting was “set at the request of governor DeSantis”, whose hopes of winning the White House were dashed in the primaries, a Trump campaign official told The Washington Post. Steve Witkoff, a Florida-based real estate broker known to both parties, orchestrated the get-together in Miami, Politico reported.
Mr Trump and Mr DeSantis are believed to have sat for several hours to discuss how they could close the fundraising gap with President Joe Biden ahead of a 2024 election rematch in November. Mr Biden’s campaign has claimed it raised $90m in March, boasting that it was the “highest total amassed by any Democratic candidate in history”.
At first glance one would think forging a new working relationship simple wasn’t possible. Could never happen, especially given Trump’s lifelong obsession with getting back at those he believes have “wronged” him. It’s true Trump never forgets OR forgives, but when it suits his purposes he’s got a long history of holding off on destruction level retribution for a short period of time. This is one such instance. If you take a closer looked at what’s blocked out above the first and most important reason is money.
Trump needs campaign money and it’s just not coming in the way he needs. It’s one thing to bleed support of once easily persuadable Independent voters, and conservatives who held their noses to vote for him because they cared more about their effing tax cuts and less regulation than the long-term good of the country. Mega donors have been slow to kick up the kind a major money Presidential campaigns now require. Trump’s MAGAs are either getting tapped out financially or no longer sure he can win so while they are still sending him money reports are that it’s slacked off a noticeable amount.
On top of all that, the HUGE amount of free “advertising” he once got from all his rallies being carried live stopped years ago. In 2016 not just Fox, but other networks carried Trump live an awful lot. A LOT. Some estimates are that he got as much a a billion dollars in free advertising. He didn’t get that kind of wall-to-wall coverage in 2020 and he can’t even count on that now. Non Fox networks spend more time talking about his legal problems than they do airing clips from the now few rallies he does hold, or interviews he does give to his conservative media fluffers.
DeSantis can help with that. Remember, he was once the guy the mega donors were counting on to take over for Trump. Again, Trump will he’s convinced himself settle scores on THAT eventually but right now he needs their money. And DeSantis can he hopes help get them to come back and give money they thought they’d be spending right now to make DeSantis President on him instead. So there’s that.
There’s another issue. When DeSantis gave up his campaign and slithered back home to Florida it wasn’t to a hero’s welcome. In fact, the state was a mess. Some of his fellow Republicans were well aware of how DeSantis’ antics in setting himself up for a Presidential run made structural problems in Florida even worse. And have actually started standing up to him. GOP infighting in the state has created something that even a few months ago was unthinkable – Florida might, instead of being so solidly red that Trump wouldn’t have to worry about it might be in play this year!
Okay, so Democrats have had such hopes in Texas and Arizona for ages only to see them dashed. And the fact is that while we might actually pick up a Senate seat in Texas (Cruz might finally have run out of luck) Biden isn’t going to win Texas. But Arizona has shifted to a light shade of purple. First one, then a second Senate Seat. Now a Democratic Governor, SecState and AG, even if the legislature remains gerrymandered to keep the GOP in control. For now. However the state went (albeit narrowly) for Biden last time and due to the abortion issue likely will again. And who would have dreamed that freaking GEORGIA would when all was said and done give us not just their electoral votes, but TWO Democratic Senators?
So yes, Florida’s GOP infighting is coming at a bad time. At the very least, since Biden will have the resources to do so he can make an effort there and force the GOP to spend time and money defending the state. Which takes time and money away from other states. Time and money that thanks to Trumps legal (and other – abortion again) baggage Trump and the GOP can’t afford to spare.
So that I think answers the question of why Trump is, for a brief moment willing to play nice with DeSantis. As for Ron it’s quite simple. He still has Presidential delusions of grandeur. Yes, it won’t come soon enough but someday there will be no more Trump. Trump might be a convicted felon and in prison or at least under house arrest wearing an ankle monitor. Or, given his age and clearly poor health might just up and die. Or suffer such a huge and humiliating loss and take so many other Republicans down with him they will finally have had enough.
Okay. Done laughing about that last one? GOPers might (and do) want to dump Trump but they won’t dare do so as long as he can draw breath. Or run his thumbs across his phone’s keyboard. But realistically Trump might not last that many more years. Someone will have to pick up the MAGA ball and DeSantis against all reason and common sense believes HE is that guy. He’s still relatively young after all.
Here’s where to watch out what happens and enjoy it as it unfolds. Every one-time harsh Trump critic who has come crawling back to Trump, most recently Bilirubin Barr has and will continue to undergo ritual humiliation by Trump. Hey, tormenting others has always given him great pleasure and these days it’s about the only one he has! Once DeSantis has passed the point of no return and makes a huge deal about supporting Trump you can bet the farm Trump will be giving him Jeff Sessions level public paddlings! We’re talking the political version of the initiation scene from Animal house, with Kevin Bacon’s character on all fours wearing a diaper, and with each resounding whack on the ass from Neidemeyer’s paddle saying “Thank you sir! May I have another?”
This will be fun. But more importantly Trump won’t be able to help himself, even if him engaging in such stuff contributes to making Florida a viable pickup opportunity for Biden and Democrats.
I don’t want to imagine the amount of groveling and downright butt kissing DeSantis engaged in yesterday. But just as happens when those streams of atoms collide in a particle accelerator create strange new particles and effects, so will this collision of Trump and DeSantis trying to smash together to create a new political partnership. If nothing else it should make for quite the (political) science show.
Maybe death sentence wants to be on dingle berry’s ticket as v.p. Surely even dingle berry has to know that effing rhymes with hunt from s.d. is a bad thing to have running with him. death sentence would be the one person that would make dingle look good when they are side-by-side.
For all the whining so many people do about the “evil” Electoral College, there does seem to be this willing blindness to understanding the mechanics of how it works. With Trump as the GOP Presidential candidate, DeSantis can’t be elected as Vice-President (not even Trump’s “Dream Supreme” Court could save this issue if it gets before them). The 12th Amendment (added decades before all the amendments that so many “original intent” supporters want to get rid of) clearly states that the electors from a specific state CANNOT vote for the Presidential and Vice-Presidential candidate if they both hail from that same state. So, Florida’s electors would have to decide if they want to vote for Trump as President OR DeSantis as VP. If they tried to vote for both candidates, it would be an egregious violation of the Constitution. Florida’s 30 electors would really only be off the hook with DeSantis if Trump wins at least 300 electoral votes and 270 of those are NOT from Florida (the 12th provides that a tie in the number of electoral votes for VP is determined by a majority vote in the Senate–voting as individuals, not by state as with the House in the event of an electoral tie for President). Florida’s electors would have to cast their votes for literally anyone as VP, except for a Floridian.
Diaper Don and Death Santa, a new and very small axis of evil.