It’s interesting that Ron DeSantis has chosen to say things in the last three weeks before the Iowa Caucus, that had he said them all along, he might actually have created a platform for himself. The only platform he did create was to play mealy mouth and try to placate both Donald Trump and MAGA, to no avail. He merely looked spineless and ridiculous.

Now, finally, at the 11th hour, DeSantis is saying that “Trump can’t win” in a rematch against Joe Biden. That DeSantis thinks that he can trounce Biden is comical, of course, but that’s the delusion that he’s running on. DeSantis really is buying this Republican Camelot mirage that his wife is selling. I hope being the next Ted Cruz is the legacy you were looking for Ron, because that’s the legacy that you have in fact created — if you manage even that much of a flash in the pan.

The Second Amendment comment is interesting. I would like to see that elaborated on. Trump has done everything he can from square one to court the gun crazies and I don’t see that changing. But it’s a point that, now that DeSantis has raised it, he’s going to have to justify. What is he saying, that Trump will take away MAGAs guns? I don’t know of a better way to start a battle pre-Iowa Caucus than this, and maybe that’s what DeSantis is looking to do.

If this were a normal world, this issue and many others, would have been hashed out over the course of four debates. That’s what that little on-stage dance was for, what it was supposed to be about. But Trump didn’t want to bother. He said he didn’t need to debate because everybody knew his policies. And that’s accurate, “Me First” last and always is Trump’s core principle. We are all familiar with that. Still and all, it would have been interesting for DeSantis or any of them to have presented Trump with a gun issue, or any issue, and see what would have actually happened.

Both Trump and DeSantis are in unreality. Trump posts poll after poll daily. That’s how he knows he’s alive, he’s got a poll telling him how he’s going to win bigly and everything will be fine. DeSantis lives in a world of a Twilight Zone twist ending, where something happens to Trump, he gets convicted, chokes on a cheeseburger, you name it, and then Ron DeSantis is there. Ron To The Rescue was his original campaign slogan. He and Casey believe that they’re going to save the GOP from itself.

The effect that this will have, when Trump responds to it and you know he will, is to ratchet up the vitriol in the GOP. Ted Cruz hasn’t endorsed Trump yet, but he will. DeSantis will get in his final licks between now and January 15, when the Iowa Caucus takes place and then who knows what will happen? DeSantis is slated to lose, and maybe he will lose and go quietly into that dark night.

Or, maybe a Twilight Zone twist will take place and DeSantis will take on Trump viciously. That could happen. And the entertainment value would be immense. Talk about the GOP writing the ads for the Democrats, that is what I am praying will happen.

Here’s the sad and ridiculous bottom line: if this was any kind of a normal election, the fact that one Republican contender was so far ahead of the rest of the pack would in effect crown that person the candidate. The other nominees would have folded by now. But because this is Trump, going at the White House for a third run, to gain a second term, there is a pretend primary going on.

All the polls show Trump getting the nomination and the pretend candidates lagging way behind. Yet somehow this is all supposed to reconcile in Ron DeSantis’ favor — he thinks. That’s the intriguing part of all of this.

DeSantis has to go into mortal combat with Trump at some point and that point may be now. It won’t do him any good. As a matter of fact, it would seal a solid GOP loss in November, 2024, but it’s the only card that DeSantis has to play.

And it looks like he’s playing it right now. He’s calling Trump out. Great. Let the games begin. Pass the popcorn. This is going to be some show.

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3 COMMENTS

  2. Only Christie and Hutchinson ran solely to get the GOP nomination. The rest? They either ran to set themselves up for 2028 or to be Trump’s VP or both, with a big helping of hope in the form that if somehow Trump got knocked out (died, got convicted) they could sweep in and as you say save the Party. I include DeSantis in that. Some, including you I think believe Ron (and Casey) truly thought that he could be the nominee this year including beating Trump in the primaries if need be. It’s a very defensible belief. I just don’t happen to subscribe to it. Regardless, he never had a chance. Trump or no Trump. He’s gotten away with his shit in FL because it’s FL and the Democratic Party down there rolled over like a dog that’s lost a fight and bared it’s throat in submission. His act is wearing thin even there however. He could win FL on endorsements and support from other GOP legislators to get the nomination and the election itself was a foregone conclusion. Lack of “presence” as a campaigner didn’t matter. However the Presidential spotlight is glaring and unforgiving and especially in the kind of “retail politics” needed in early primary states DeSantis is as appealing as a giant, smelly turd.

    Ron and Casey might have thought if Trump could pull it off so could he. However many a person has learned the hard way that for the most part only Trump can get away with being Trump. And it’s looking more and more like Trump is losing the ability to be Trump.

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