“Him or me, him or me, him or me, what’s it gonna be?” — Paul Revere and the Raiders
You have seen Roger Stone attack Ron DeSantis and threaten to run against him for governor on the Libertarian ticket. This has been presumed to be Stone acting as Donald Trump’s proxy. Now we know what’s going on. Politico Playbook:
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DONALD TRUMP has been complaining to members and guests at Mar-a-Lago that Florida Gov. RON DESANTIS still hasn’t joined the other 2024 hopefuls in pronouncing that he won’t run for president if Trump runs. One guest suspects that Trump’s gripes are so frequent because he is planting them in hopes that they’ll get back to DeSantis. Trump has told his advisers that DeSantis privately assured him that he won’t run if Trump does, but that’s not enough for the former president — he wants DeSantis to say it in public. Trump has even suggested that DeSantis shouldn’t underestimate his Democratic challenger CHARLIE CRIST, calling him a “killer.”
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Now, as DeSantis crisscrosses the country to raise money for his 2022 reelection, Trump aides are starting to feel pressure to pick sides. Trump has made it known that he didn’t appreciate that former White House chief of staff MARK MEADOWS traveled to Beverly Hills for a DeSantis fundraiser in June (also in attendance: Trump pal and casino magnate STEVE WYNN and former Treasury Secretary STEVE MNUCHIN) and then went on to Orange County, where he introduced DeSantis to other deep-pocketed donors. In a statement to Playbook, a spokesperson for Trump called this reporting “fake news.”
Now isn’t that an interesting tidbit? Mark Meadows took it upon himself to introduce DeSantis to well heeled donors. That would seem to be an indication that Meadows is looking beyond Trump and wants the GOP to do so as well. The fact that Trump’s people are denying that this is happening is also curious.
If you put all these elements together, it’s pretty easy to connect the dots: DeSantis evidently believes he has a really good shot at the GOP nomination in 2024 and considering Trump’s legal woes, he is most probably right. So DeSantis is playing that angle and so is Meadows and so is Mnuchin. And Trump is pissed.
Although, if you think about it, DeSantis might as well announce publicly he’ll step aside if Trump runs. Trump almost assuredly will run in 2024 unless he is unable to do so because of legal complications. Trump basically has to run if he wants money to keep coming in because his hotels are not cutting it like they used to, so he needs to monetize politics. That’s what his six-eight emails a day are about, “giving away” autographed footballs and selling Christmas ornaments.
DeSantis has nothing to lose if he humors Trump. If Trump doesn’t run for any reason, DeSantis steps forward and does. This is not difficult to figure out. So it makes you wonder why DeSantis isn’t doing it. What are we missing here? Could it be that DeSantis has simply decided that Trump is through and he’s now the new GOP standard bearer and he’ll be go to hell if he defers to Trump? That may well be it. It makes sense. And that’s why Trump is livid with DeSantis, because he won’t bend the knee. And that’s why Roger Stone is playing attack purse poodle. It all makes sense.
And on another note, it further underscores that there is no way in hell Mark Meadows is going to go to prison for Trump.
One fatal flaw in all the above: it assumes Deathsantis is actually that smart. That thesis contradicts the available evidence. Look for a massive blowup before it’s over.
As I mentioned elsewhere every dollar raised for someone else’s needs/goals is a dollar not going to Trump and that both pisses him off and scares him. DeSantis’ linking up with major GOP fundraisers is a huge red flag for Trump. I also said in that lengthy comment that (despite his normal routine/actions) sometimes Trump’s core con man personae takes over his mind and he is realizing that he doesn’t have the old guard establishment GOP as cowed as he thinks. And worse that in the end they were as transactional as he is and used HIM as much as he used them, but unlike him they know how to think and plan long-term instead of simply getting through a given day/week. When his inner con man dominates his thought process he fears these people are smarter than him (which they are) and in the case of rich donors on far sounder financial ground than he’s ever been in his life.
They might not just be hedging their bets, but laying the groundwork to take him out as in cripple his ability to mount a campaign in 2024. They got plenty from him but like Putin they might well be now of the mind he’s no longer going to be useful. And like Putin, they might be thinking it’s time to accept the enormous gains they got and move on before the hand grenade we know as Donald Trump blows up in their hand.
That, and DeathSantis isn’t in line to be dead before 2028.