Right now we’re about a month out from the first GOP primary debate, and already I can tell this isn’t going to have a happy ending. Because you can’t put on a production of Annie if the adorable redheaded orphan doesn’t show up.
Right now the burning question for the GOP, especially the RNC is Will he or won’t he? Trump is already throwing around 10 gallon hints that he plans on skipping at least the first debate, and using the time slot to do something different, like a rally or a town hall. And a GOP debate, especially the first one without Traitor Tot on the stage would be like The Rolling Stones performing a concert on a night when Mick Jagger goes out drinking with friends instead.
And right now at least, there’s no good reason on God’s green earth for Trump to show up. At the moment Trump is anywhere between 20-30 points ahead of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, his closest opponent, and Trump is so tired of punching down that his punches at DeSantis are more like a mother laying a distracted slap on her precocious toddlers diaper to get him away rom the stove. With the exception of former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who is hammering at him, nobody else on the stage even wants to mention his name. Why would Trump want to show up and get into a 90 minute pissing contest with Christie, risking everybody else piling on, when Christie is polling at 2%?
And mark my words, if El Pendejo Presidente doesn’t show up on that stage, an Albuquerque teenager could get better viewing numbers blasting out a show from his Moms basement on the local PBS station than the GOP debate will get. Especially if Trump schedules a competing town hall on a lap poodle network like CNN or FUX News.
And here’s the bonus jackpot for His Lowness. If he stays off of the stage, then the other 10 nobodies and has beens will all join up to pile on the only guy on the stage in double digits, Ron DeathSantis. And considering the fact that DeSantis has the spine of a jellyfish, the personality of Charles Manson, and the temperament of a colicky two year old, everybody else on the stage is going to feel like Hulk Hogan by the time the night is over. Especially Chris Christie. If any of you saw Christie completely disassemble Marco Rubio and put him back in the shipping box on a debate stage in 2016, just wait until he gets his hooks into DeSantis.
And speaking of the Dinky Despot from Florida, make sure you tune in to see him on the stage, because it may be the last time. We’re about a month away from debate day, and the latest poll I just saw has him mired at 19%. Two months ago, before he left Florida and opened his filthy mouth, he was within striking distance at 34%. As I wrote previously, to know Ron DeSantis is to not want to know Ron DeSantis.
Even this early in, I can see the right turn signal blinking on the DeSantis bus. And unless DeSantis spends the net month pulling a 1969 Miracle Mets comeback, then I predict that that first debate next month is the off ramp for the DeSantis campaign. His own chief strategist, former hard core Trombie Steve Cortes said on Sunday, Right now the campaign is in a spiral. And if Trump gets onto that debate, then he beats DeSantis. And this is one of DeSantis’s closest advisor.
And when DeSantis is gone, he’s gone for good, just like pint sized 2016 presidential contender Scott Walker, whom I previously compared DeSantis to. You never get a second chance to make a first impression. After Walker’s pathetic primary campaign in 2016, he went on to lose his run for a 3rd term as Governor to Democrat Tony Ever. And as DeSantis has flailed around, the more racist, homophobic, and transphobic he has become, trying to get to Trump’s right. And there isn’t a PR firm on earth that can pull DeSantis out of that deep a hole. Hell, Pope Francis himself couldn’t pull DeSantis out of a hole like that.
So there ya go. These GOP primary debates are going to be a nothing burger served on a whole grain nothing bun. In fact, considering the fact that unless Trump is convicted or disabled he’s the chosen one, I may not even bother to tune into the debate myself. I’ve heard that that kid in Albuquerque has some pretty good stuff.
I agree that DeSantis is toast. However, he’s got ONE shot at salvaging a small bit of self-respect and simultaneously not being as big (or small depending on how you look at it) joke as Walker. Have a chat with Christie before the debate, perhaps in the green room even. What would he say? Something along the lines of hey, I know you’re going to come after me and I’m going to take some big hits. Maybe even fatal ones. BUT, I went all in and tried to take over and once elected take care of Trump. I’d have given him a pass on EVERYTHING. He knows it, and you know it too. We BOTH know he should have stepped back. But he didn’t and he’s going to destroy the whole Party, or what’s left of it. Neither of us wants that. So take your shots at me if you feel the need, but keep in mind I’M not the real enemy – Trump is! I’ll lead off and prove a willingness to mock him, to be blunt and call him a coward for not showing up! I’ll even squawk like a chicken! If you do the same, and tear into him like the prosecutor you once were and along with me call him out over and over as a coward his ego will cause him to show up for the next debate. I might still be around or might not. But YOU will be, and then you can cut that sumbitch off at the knees, gut him like a fish, and yank out his still beating heart and hand it to him. Even though neither of us will get the nomination we can work together to clear the decks for someone that might be able to beat Biden. And provide each other some cover in the aftermath.
Now, whether DeSantis would do something like that is at best pretty unlikely. But what the hell, he might as well go down swinging and if he forms an uneasy alliance with Christie the whole stage will either join in or take themselves out of the race for not having the guts to finally take Trump down.
De Santis doing something for the greater good of the party instead of himself short-term?
Very long odds.