Put August 23 in your datebook and buy a lot of popcorn. It’s going to be wild. In the clip you’re about to see, Ron DeSantis aka Top Guv, is attempting to register the human emotion of bravery. “From my military experience, I can tell you, when you’re over the target, that’s when you take flack.” Umm….weren’t you behind a desk, Ron? Not that we fault you for that, Draft Dodger Donnie didn’t even get that far and would have been as useless behind a desk as behind a gun, we’re all in agreement there. Now here’s the lay of the land. The Hill:
While still regarded as the most competitive GOP alternative to former President Trump, DeSantis has seen his numbers slip in some polls while other candidates, like businessman Vivek Ramaswamy and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R), have appeared to close the gap.
And with Trump signaling that he’s likely to skip the debate, DeSantis is staring down a critical moment in his campaign as he takes the stage with at least a half-dozen other candidates who want to knock him from his second-place perch.
“The debate should be an opportunity to take on the frontrunner, but if Trump doesn’t show, then Gov. DeSantis is the frontrunner on that stage,” said GOP donor Dan Eberhart. “He’s going to have to be prepared to fend off attacks from the rest of the field.”
“It’s a smart strategic move by Trump,” Eberhart added. “He knows Gov. DeSantis is his most serious challenger. This is a way to let others bruise DeSantis for him.”
Oh yes. That does make sense. But what will be totally hilarious is when DeSantis not only takes a lot of heat, but when he defends Trump as well — as he intends to do. That was in his leaked memo. And, consider this: assuming that DeSantis does debate Trump at some point, which is a reality that we need to entertain, then it is very likely that Trump will repeat back to DeSantis all the nice things that he said about Trump at that time.
And here is Top Guv talking about it.
OMG!!! He’s broken. Crushed. It’s over. Wow. I almost feel sorry for him. Not quite, but almost. pic.twitter.com/kZuQYQBlmL
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) August 20, 2023
I was trying to think of the last Republican who went into a presidential primary with healthy poll numbers and financial backing who imploded as rapidly and spectacularly as Desantis despite every possible metric favoring him and I got Rudy Giuliani in 2008.
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) August 20, 2023
Now there’s a hell of a comparison. The Scott Walker comparisons are plentiful as are the Bobby Jindal references — although let’s give DeSantis credit, he hasn’t talked about the earth only being 6,000 years old. Yet. But now he’s lumped in with Mr. Noun Verb Nine Eleven, as Joe Biden dubbed Giuliani, back in the day.
And you notice how swiftly DeSantis deflected from mention of the infamous memo.
DeSantis hasn’t read it, he says, but it told him to take a “sledgehammer” to Ramaswamy by calling him “Fake Vivek” or “Vivek the Fake.” That ought to crush him. And then what will be especially noteworthy is when the New Jersey boy takes on the Florida man. Anything Chris Christie directs at DeSantis should be pure comedy.
[Dan] Eberhart, a DeSantis donor, echoed the campaign and argued the memo was not out of the ordinary.
“I don’t think there’s anything that unique about the advice in the memo…” Eberhart said. “It’s pretty standard advice to stick to your message and don’t get dragged into the mud by a bunch of tier-three challengers trying to get a second of airtime.”
“The DeSantis team is concerned about every candidate in the field, as they should be,” he continued. “Trump may be in the lead right now, but Gov. DeSantis is clearly in second place and the candidate most likely to be the nominee. Everyone is going to be trying.”
The memo being leaked was extremely out of the ordinary. And the second runner taking the posture of blocking and tackling for the frontrunner is unheard of. But hope floats and we won’t say what other substance floats, but it’s also in the same position numerically as DeSantis is in this race. Until he goes down to number three, which has already happened in some polls.
DeathSentence couldn’t win a debate against Charlie Crist, who was a very weak candidate. If Chris Christie decides to “Marco Rubio” him, he’s politically dead after just one debate.
The Man Who Would Be King with Sean Connery and Michael Caine came to a tragic close when the natives realized Sean wasn’t a God. They led him to the middle of a hanging bridge crossing a gorge thousands of feet deep. They then cut the ropes and he tumbled down. I knew I’ve seen this fall somewhere.
That “smile” on DeSantis’ face while the reporter was asking questions was fun to watch because it was really a grimace. Like that of someone at a fancy party at some stately home on a small estate who’s deeply in love with their spouse and clueless about said spouse being in a torrid affair. And the host decides to invite folks up to the top floor to look out on the grounds from the terrace where they often eat meals outside to soak up the natural beauty of their oh so perfectly manicured little estate. The host waves his/her arm and says “take a look at that” and everyone looks out and sees the spouse and lover nekkid and f**king like rabbits! What’s a guy/gal to do? THIS is the kind of smile they’d give because they decided to save face as the “isn’t that YOUR wife/husband out there” by claiming they’re in an “open” marriage. And then offering up some b.s. to try and convince everyone that a) they aren’t humiliated and b) wondering how in the hell they will handle things when their cheating spouse comes back in pretending like nothing had happened, and worse being with them alone for the drive home!
As for your comment about the possibility of a DeSantis vs Trump debate being a possibility we need to entertain, I fear you have things mixed up. It would be “entertainment with almost no possibility of becoming a reality.”
How about:
“reality with almost no possibility of entertainment.”