Let’s Stop Pretending Ron DeSantis Is Establishment

Jeff Charles reporting for RedState 

Former President Donald Trump has superpowers. That much was established when he first stepped onto the political scene in 2015 and demonstrated his uncanny ability to transform folks on the left into crazed caricatures of themselves just by giving an utterance. It seemed that anytime he so much as sneezed, it immediately caused those who are left of center to have a collective meltdown.

But now, he has revealed another superhuman talent: The ability to turn Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis into a Romneyesque neocon just by saying unkind words about him. That’s right. Ever since Trump took a few shots at the person believed to be his most formidable opponent for the Republican presidential nomination for 2024, folks have come out of the woodwork to convince the base that DeSantis, despite proving his America First bonafides time and time again, was secretly an establishment shill in disguise the whole time.

On Twitter, several have made this very contention:

To further perpetuate this questionable narrative, others have pointed to the Lincoln Project expressing their support for DeSantis as proof that he is nothing more than a tool of the establishment GOP.

As the situation continues, we will likely be treated to more folks trying to link the governor to the old guard. But this particular theory, as they say, does not hold water.

For starters, the fact that establishment leaders and the losers at the Lincoln Project support DeSantis means absolutely nothing. These folks base their entire existence on opposing the Orange Man What Is Bad™, so of course, they would support anyone who they believe could tear him down from his pedestal. It does not mean they like DeSantis any better – he just isn’t as odious to them as Trump.

Moreover, attempting to cast the governor as a Romneyesque figure is ridiculous on its face. Does anyone truly believe that if Mitt Romney were the governor of Florida, he would have governed the way DeSantis has?

Of course not. The very idea makes about as much sense as an in-depth conversation between John Fetterman and Joe Biden.

I also happen to know that as governor, DeSantis has battled the establishment in his own state. The old guard in cities like Jacksonville and others have worked to stymie his agenda. It is one of the reasons why the candidates he backed during the primary season were anti-establishment Republicans. The legacy folks were not too keen on his Trumpian ways. However, his battles with the establishment were waged behind the scenes and not in public, which might be why some might be susceptible to believing this false narrative.

The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh made an excellent point:

DeSantis went after Disney. He took on the trans agenda. He shipped illegals to Martha’s Vineyard. He defied Fauci. If you think he’s establishment then you truly have absolutely no idea what the establishment is, how it operates, or what it wants. You are just clueless.

It is worth pointing out that many in the establishment were either silent on these moves, or opposed them outright.

The bottom line is that there is nothing establishment about Gov. Ron DeSantis. The campaign to paint him as such bears some striking similarities to the lies certain folks told by Pennsylvania Senate candidate Kathy Barnette, who unsuccessfully ran against Dr. Oz and others during the primary to get the nomination. They made up a series of lies about her and even went so far as to doctor a video interview to make it appear as if she supports the Black Lives Matter organization.

This is no different.

But realistically, this narrative is not going to fool most of the base, who adores DeSantis about as much as Trump. They spent the past four years cheering him on as he took on the activist media and worked against the progressive agenda in his state. He is far from being in the same camp as Jeb Bush, Paul Ryan, or Mitch McConnell. If they are going to ensure he is not the GOP presidential nominee in 2024, they will have to try a different strategy. Perhaps they might consider explaining why Trump is the better candidate instead of resorting to deception.

New GOP Members Of Congress, It’s Your Job To Put America First And Restrain Ukraine Spending

Unrestrained spending on Ukraine and a U.S. energy policy that puts Europe first contribute to skyrocketing inflation and cost of living.

by Katherine Thompson for The Federalist

As the final results come in, the Republican Party will see at least a few new faces in Congress come January.

Voters took to the polls with inflation as the top issue on their minds. Approximately a third of voters rated it the most important issue, and as a result 7 in 10 of them cast votes for Republicans, Edison Research exit polls show. What is perhaps not clear to the average American is how unrestrained spending on Ukraine and a U.S. energy policy that puts Europe first contributed to skyrocketing inflation and the cost of living reaching unbearable levels for American families. As new Republican members enter the halls of Congress, it is time to turn the “America First” rhetoric into policies that push back against the establishment.

It is no secret that the U.S. posture toward Ukraine has now evolved from arm’s length, emergency support to full-on alliance without a formal treaty. It seems every time more military aid goes out to Ukraine, there are calls from Ukraine for yet more, and establishment members of Congress are all too eager to cut seemingly endless checks. Total aid passed by Congress is now greater than $66 billion, making Ukraine the single greatest recipient of security assistance in a single year since the Vietnam era.

Blank-check diplomacy is already creating a clash between Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. McConnell has more or less led the charge on overzealous aid to Ukraine. McCarthy, who is looking to become House speaker should Republicans reclaim the chamber, rallied a vote against another $12.3 billion in military and economic aid for Ukraine. McCarthy tied his position back to the economic pressures that out-of-control spending has placed on the backs of the American people, saying, “I think people are gonna be sitting in a recession and they’re not going to write a blank check to Ukraine.” Big-name newly elected members agree with him. Eric Schmitt, the newly elected senator from Missouri, tweeted, “$40 billion to Ukraine but we can’t protect our own southern border? Americans have had enough of Washington’s America Last agenda.”

New Members Resist Establishment

Don’t expect the Republican establishment to let such pushback stand without a fight. Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., called McCarthy’s sentiment “disgraceful,” and former Vice President Mike Pence said, “We must continue to provide Ukraine with the resources to defend themselves.” Pence also said, “There can be no room in the conservative movement for apologists for Putin.” He’s right, and to clear the air, nothing in the sentiment of putting America’s national interests first includes making Russian President Vladimir Putin a pal. Claims to the contrary are pure fearmongering. To build on the vice president’s maxim, however, there should also be no room in the conservative movement for bystanders who allow Europe to free-ride on American security ad infinitum. To those incoming “America First” Republicans, get ready to fight.

To that end, why should new members care to embrace the fight? The answer is simple. America cannot effectively counterbalance China if it’s embroiled in a modern-day, insanely expensive Marshall Plan as a result of Ukraine. Don’t take my word for it. The head of U.S. Strategic Command warned earlier this month, “The big one (i.e., a conflict with China) is coming. And it isn’t going to be very long before we’re going to get tested in ways that we haven’t been tested in a long time. … We have to do some rapid, fundamental change(s) in the way we approach the defense of this nation.”

Fight for America First Foreign Policy

If new members want to make a splash in the foreign policy space, file a bill on day one that diverts appropriated funding from Ukraine to ensuring U.S. naval and air superiority against China or toward securing the southern border.

A fight for an America First foreign policy is not for the faint of heart. It will take legislative creativity, solid messaging to show the American people how much money is flowing overseas to protect European security at the expense of our own, and the courage not to crack under the pressure of the elite establishment and the military-industrial complex.

What is there to gain? The credit for righting the dysfunctional state of American security priorities, and most importantly the respect of the men and women who don a military uniform and are asked to go to the front lines. No more endless wars. No more American bloodshed overseas so defense companies can turn a profit. No more bailing out allies who can and should be leading their own security efforts. Ukraine will be the first test of the new Congress on just how far America First sentiment translates into action. Buckle up and dare to be bold, newcomers.    

X22, On the Fringe, and more- Nov 13

 

For those looking for encouragement to start this week off, I have some:

I heard today from a friend of mine that 3 crew members have been visiting Linda several times over the past 10 days. Between that, and knowing that they cleaned up some of her clothes from past Seasons a couple weeks ago, my gut is definitely telling me that she's getting ready to return to set! Another fact right now to support this instinct is the episode number that they're filming right now. The number is lining up with the episode numbers that the 2 part Vietnam rescue arc took place back in Season 9, and Daniela is directing number 14, and it starts filming in the next couple of weeks! (they take the week of Thanksgiving off).

Yes, this is all speculation, I know. But I really am feeling confident that either this week, or the next, or in the last few days of this month, I'll get to finally write that big announcement article that I've been wanting to write since this summer! Stay tuned.

Here's tonight's news:

Oh, the Humanity! Elon Triggers the Left With His Most Evil Twitter Move Yet

Nick Arama reporting for RedState 

It’s been hilarious watching the left have a meltdown about Elon Musk taking over Twitter and bringing in a lot of changes.

One of the things that he seems intent on doing is making the company a more viable and efficient workplace. I wrote last month about how it was more like a spa at the headquarters than a work environment, where people could work remotely if they chose to but if they came in they had meditation rooms, yoga areas, free food, and red wine on tap.

That’s likely one of the reasons that the company wasn’t making money and was in trouble before Musk. How wild was their situation? Because anyone could work remotely, Musk had to check to make sure that alleged “employees” were truly real people.

But he had a condition. Before paying the bonuses, Mr. Musk insisted on a payroll audit to confirm that Twitter’s employees were “real humans.” He voiced concerns that “ghost employees” who should not receive the money lingered in Twitter’s systems.

Mr. Musk tapped Robert Kaiden, Twitter’s chief accounting officer, to conduct the audit. Mr. Kaiden asked managers to verify that they knew certain employees and could confirm that they were human, according to three people and an internal document seen by The Times.

Now, Musk has also slashed 50 percent of the employees of the 7500 employees. Those remaining were going to have to work.

Mr. Musk added that they would need to work strenuously to keep the company afloat. “Those who are able to go hard core and play to win, Twitter is a good place,” he said. “And those who are not, totally understand, but then Twitter is not for you.”

How evil was Musk? No more free lunch at the company. Literally. He was going to make people…gasp…pay for their lunches — like most of the rest of the country.

This was how some on the left took it: that Musk was evil “incarnate” who was now “starving” employees. It was such a window into how the left thinks.

Imagine thinking that you’re now entitled to a free lunch. This is the attitude of the left — it’s what they think in general about so many things — that they’re entitled to whatever they want because they want it. Bloated staff, all kinds of perks, free food and wine — is it any wonder the company wasn’t making any money? How dare that cheap pile of garbage want to keep the company afloat and the other 50 percent employed!

It also wasn’t like the employees were so poor they couldn’t buy their lunches — Twitter employees get a hefty salary, all the more so when you consider some worked from home and others didn’t seem to be working particularly hard.

The left freakout over this is hilarious.

But Musk’s moves already appear to be generated more user growth on the site, so it may already be making money, as he works to make it into the “town square.”

This Election Was an Unmitigated Disaster, and It's Time to Air Some Grievances

Bonchie reporting for RedState 

We now have a pretty clear picture of how the 2022 election went. Far from the overwhelming predictions of a red wave (by myself included, even if my predictions were criticized pre-election as being too understated), the end result is an unmitigated disaster for the Republican Party and the country.

Democrats have been handed a fresh mandate, holding the Senate and perhaps only losing the House by a vote or two. With those margins, it’ll be easy to peel off a few blue-state Republicans to pass objectionable bills. In short, not only has nothing changed but the left has been energized by a political outcome that makes them more likely to retain and retake power in 2024.

To be frank, I’m not here for the excuses, nor those insisting we double down on losing because of petty, pathetic tribal feuds within the party. So yeah, I’m about to air some grievances and get brutally honest. Buckle up and understand that my anger is about wanting to win, not pushing any specific politician or direction. My family matters more than protecting party leaders.

With that said, let’s talk about Mitch McConnell first. That’d be the same Mitch McConnell who decided to pass gun control, give Joe Biden his infrastructure bill, break his promise on the debt ceiling, and proclaim Ukraine the top issue for Americans while shoveling tens of billions in unaccountable money overseas.

If McConnell wanted to validate the attacks on him as leading a nefarious “establishment,” what would he have done differently? It is time for new leadership, and that includes replacing the 80-year-old, deeply disliked GOP Senate leader whose biggest brag was getting through conservative Supreme Court justices with a Republican Senate. My dog could have gotten that done, and he’s old and has arthritis, which is a good description of McConnell.

Then there’s Kevin McCarthy, who’s about as relevant as the Detroit Lions are in any given NFL season. I mean, I don’t even have much to say about him because he’s so worthless. How did that wet paper bag of a leader become first in line to be Speaker of the House? The answer is that self-dealing, including by Donald Trump, who endorsed McCarthy, has put the GOP in the position of having a completely ineffective person leading a bare-bones majority going forward. That shouldn’t be allowed to happen.

And with that mention, we’ll talk about Trump, obviously the most contentious topic in all this. When you look across the political ruins of the GOP’s once great hope of the 2022 cycle, the common denominator is clear. Really Trump-centered candidates got blasted.

Right now, Joe Kent, who I like as a person, is on pace to lose in WA-03, which is a district that the GOP won by 13 points last time. That’s inexcusable. Lauren Boebert turned a heavily Republican district into a recount. Never mind the blowout losses of Doug Mastriano, Blake Masters, Don Bolduc, Tudor Dixon, Dan Cox, and a slew of other “stop the steal” candidates across the country. In fact, of all the major candidates who fit that mold, only Kari Lake might win, and as I’ve long said in praise of her, she’s just uniquely good as a politician.

The retort to some of that will be that McConnell didn’t support Blake Masters. That’s true, and it’s also pointless whining. Masters pledged to oppose McConnell. Was the expectation really that McConnell would then turn around and fund his campaign? Does Donald Trump fund the campaigns of people who pledge to not support him? I’m all for bucking the establishment, but when a candidate does so, there better be a plan in place to subvert said establishment. Instead, the heads of the MAGA movement and its cash-flush financial arms left Masters out to dry. That is what’s inexcusable, not McConnell doing what he was obviously going to do.

In fact, Trump gave more money to David freaking Perdue in a primary to lose to Brian Kemp than he gave to Blake Masters. That says a lot about the former president’s priorities, and none of it is good. What should matter is winning, and it’s obvious that the voters deciding elections do not like what the current face of the Republican Party is selling. We can either change course or keep losing, and I’m sick of losing. That there are viable alternatives out there who have shown the ability to garner massive coalitions while being highly conservative (and populist, for that matter) only hardens my opinion.

Here’s some advice going forward. Look around at those who push certain political figures and ask yourself how they stand to benefit. Would they be relevant if Trump left the stage? Would they be relevant if McConnell left the stage? If the answer is no, then you can assume that they don’t have your best interests at heart. Instead, they just want the gravy train to keep rolling. Personally, I’m sick of people who are content with losing as long as they personally benefit.

“But Bonchie, you are a political writer. What makes you different?” What makes me different is that I see politicians as tools. If that tool isn’t producing the desired result, I’ll throw it in the trash without a second thought. That may cost me readers  (probably not, because you guys are smart), but I don’t care. The downfall of the country is too important of an issue to keep ignoring in favor of cults of personality, and yes, they exist on both sides of the GOP divide.

Of course, the usual suspects are already shouting about how taking such a position means you want Mitt Romney in charge. Those grifters can take a long walk off a short pier. There’s a lot of ground between the current losing strategy we are executing and going back to the Bush-Romney era. In fact, to do so would be disastrous. Using old bogeymen to justify the present losing strategy only results in more losing.

There should be no loyalty in politics because it’s not the politicians that matter. It’s you and those you love that matter. You should be the priority, and whatever delivers for you should be the direction the party goes, and that starts with actually winning elections. The entire top of the GOP has to go, including McConnell, McCarthy, Trump, and anyone else who refuses to adapt in the face of continual failure. If that happens, maybe, and I mean just maybe, the Republican Party might stand a chance in 2024.

To alter a quote from Shawshank Redemption, we can get busy trying or we can get busy dying.

What Happens Now When Politicians Openly Represent Corporations, Not People

For his weekly monologue Neil Oliver outlines the reality of the British government no longer pretending to represent the people of the United Kingdom, but openly represents corporations and the interests of multinationals.

While the general topic of a disconnected governing body is referenced toward how the U.K. government is disregarding the opinion of the British citizens, the overarching theme outlined by Oliver also applies to the United States.  WATCH:

(Transcript)

The GOP Consultant Class Has a Choice to Make

Bonchie reporting for RedState 

It’s been another bad day of political news for Republicans. On Saturday evening, Trump-endorsed Joe Kent lost WA-03, a district that the GOP won by 13 points last go around. That puts the House in further peril, with a best-case scenario being somewhere between 221-219 seats for the Republican Party. That’s smaller than the margin Nancy Pelosi currently enjoys.

As I wrote in my election post-mortem, this entire ordeal has been an unmitigated disaster, and there’s plenty of blame to go around, which I’ll choose not to rehash here.

With that said, there is a looming battle that’s about to take place, and it’s an important one. Namely, who will be in GOP leadership going forward? Is Kevin McCarthy going to be the Speaker of the House? Will Mitch McConnell once again reprise his role as the Senate Minority Leader?

If you ask the GOP consultant class, they will answer in the affirmative to both those questions. Despite the fact that we just had the worst mid-term failure in decades, beltway-dwelling Republicans are just fine with keeping the same failed leadership in positions of power. Why wouldn’t they? After all, Mitch McConnell is supposedly a genius. I mean, it took real skill to pass gun control and to give Joe Biden his infrastructure bill last term.

I’m assured that no one else can possibly do the job. Certainly, it couldn’t be a Republican who might have favorable ratings that aren’t in the low-20s. I mean, who cares if the vast majority of Americans hate the second most powerful Republican in the country, a man who also happens to be 80 years old? Better that we keep him in power as a divisive, controversial figure until he completely ages out. Someone has to keep Lisa Murkowski in line. Of course, getting rid of Murkowski would have been a better solution, but McConnell decided to bankroll her against another Republican instead.

Ironically, many of the same people who insist Donald Trump is too old and polarizing to run in 2024 are just fine with McConnell slogging along, offering no vision or path forward for the Republican caucus he leads. Weird, right?

I’m always going to offer honesty. As I’ve expressed, I do think Trump is too old and the cake is too baked on his unpopularity with the American people for him to be the 2024 nominee. It’s not a matter of whether I “like” Trump or not. It’s a matter of what I think the reality of the situation is. My opinion is bolstered by the fact that we have younger, highly conservative, and very effective alternatives with far higher favorable ratings waiting in the wings.

Yet, I’d be a hypocrite if I thought that and then let McConnell and McCarthy off the hook. Both men are deeply disliked and have proven to be terrible leaders of men. I’m not doubting that McConnell knows the rules of the US Senate. That’s not enough to keep him in power indefinitely, though. Besides, McConnell could easily still advise on parliamentarian matters while letting someone else step to the forefront.

There’s another factor at play here as well. If the consultant class really wants to “move on” from Trump, they are going to have to earn the trust of voters (at least those that are persuadable). The first step in doing that would be supporting a fresh slate of leaders at the top of the party. That includes Congressional leadership, but it also includes Ronna McDaniel at the RNC, whose mid-term strategy was so disastrous that she should have immediately resigned in shame.

Doing so would at least signal that the “establishment” is willing to take the concerns of its voters seriously. Rubber-stamping McConnell and McCarthy while making no changes at the RNC would signal the opposite. The consultant class has a choice to make. Do they want to hang onto their sacred cows? Or do they want to do what it takes to try to unify the party on all fronts? I think we know the answer to that, unfortunately.

Here's the Big Thing That Must Change in 2024 for Republicans to Win

Bonchie reporting for RedState 

The post-mortems continue after Republicans severely underperformed in the 2022 election. You’d have to go back to 1998 to find a comparable situation, but this year is objectively worse given the history involving first-term mid-terms and the horrible fundamentals.

There’s plenty of blame to go around, especially among those who lead the GOP, but there’s another factor that must be dealt with if Republicans are ever to win another election. Namely, how Democrats use early voting and vote-by-mail.

Ironically, prior to 2020, it was Republicans who used to prefer those ways of voting. In fact, Donald Trump’s 2016 election was helped by a large number of ballots that arrived before election day. That all changed after many Republican politicians began to suggest those ways of voting are unsafe. That created a situation where Democrats have been handed an entire month to mobilize voters and bank ballots while Republicans have largely been left with relying on a single day to run up their own turnout.

Mollie Hemingway provided the solution recently on Fox News.

I actually made a point to say that same thing prior to the election because even though I felt Republicans would have a good night (whiffed on that one), I wanted to get it out there that I felt our strategy of mobilizing voters was flawed.

As Hemingway notes, you play the game with the rules that exist. I hate no-excuse mail-in voting. I think it’s a blight on our elections. I also despise early voting, at least to the extent that it runs for more than a week prior to an election. There is too much that can change to have people voting a month before election day.

But you know what? Those things aren’t going away unless Republicans actually start winning elections again, and they can’t win elections if they keep purposely putting themselves at a disadvantage. Think about it. If you have to get something done and you have three weeks to do it, aren’t you more likely to get it done vs. having just one day?

When Republicans put all their eggs into the election day turnout basket, they are giving up on lower-propensity voters that may have otherwise voted had they been pushed to do so over during the early voting period. Like it or not, there are people who simply won’t drive to a polling place to stand in line for three hours on election day.

There are also environmental and technological factors at play. What if it rains heavily and people don’t want to wait in the rain? What if it snows and people can’t physically get to the polls? What if a person’s car breaks down, they get called into work, or they have a family emergency? What if voting machines malfunction, not because of fraud, but because they just malfunction, causing people to get out of line because they have to be somewhere later? What if there’s an October surprise? Democrats have already banked their votes while we give the squishes an opportunity to bail. All those lost votes add up, and they swing elections.

Further, the idea that mail-in voting or early voting is inherently unsafe makes no sense given Democrats keep winning elections with it. In fact, if you think cheating is happening, it is easier to cheat by having Republicans all vote on a single day where they can be more easily targeted.

Anyone tampering with mail-in ballots will invalidate Democrat ballots as well, which is why it’s not much of a concern. The reality is that sealed ballots are sealed ballots. Tabulators do not know who voted for who until the counting starts on election night (or some days before as in Florida), and by that time, election monitors are there to oversee what’s happening. The point is simple. Republicans have to use every tool at their disposal to win. They can’t keep punting on one of the best ways to run up vote tallies prior to election day.

Republican politicians need to cool it with some of their rhetoric and embrace an “all of the above” strategy to turn out voters. We need to be harvesting ballots where it’s legal because Democrats are going to do it regardless. We need to spend big money on driving people to early vote. We need to be working to get low-propensity voters to vote by mail where possible. Be cutthroat and leave no stone unturned. Then, once power is retaken, systems can be changed.

Watching Trump implode

It’s disappointing to see Donald Trump 

turn into a corncob over Ron DeSantis.

posted by Dianny at Patriot Retort

Watching Trump implode over Governor Ron DeSantis this week leads me to suspect Trump truly believed his nomination in 2024 was a fait accompli.

Just another way Donald Trump is devolving into Hillary Clinton.

Trump’s preemptive meltdown went over like a lead balloon among a heck of a lot of Trump supporters. Not all of them to be sure. The ForeverTrumpers were tickled by it. They think Ron DeSantis is some RINO “Bushie” sent by the Establishment “Uniparty” to tank Trump’s glorious return to the White House.

But for the Trump voters who don’t get their “news” from The Gateway Pundit or fall for Steve Bannon’s every prediction, Trump’s preemptive strike on DeSantis was petulant, defensive, and reeked of panicked desperation.

I voted for the guy twice and went to bat for him countless times during his term in office. Watching him turn into a corncob before our eyes is disappointing, to put it mildly.

On Thursday, Trump released an angry, somewhat unhinged statement attacking Fox News, the Wall Street Journal, and the New York Post for daring to suggest that Ron DeSantis may be the future of the Republican Party.

Or as the Post cover put it: “DeFuture.”

Come to think of it, I said much the same thing on Wednesday.

After attacking the Murdoch papers, Trump directed his impotent rage at Ron DeSantis himself.

A panicked Trump declared the Republican firebrand who racked up win after win during his first term in office and won reelection in a landslide “an average Republican governor” who only won Florida because Republicans from blue states wanted to move somewhere sunny.

Ah, I see. They just wanted to live somewhere sunny. Then why aren’t they moving to California? Plenty of sun there. Or, perhaps they chose Florida because they like how that Ron DeSantis guy governs.

I admit, that claim made me laugh out loud, but not as much as Trump accusing DeSantis of lacking “loyalty and class.”

If it was a sin to lack “loyalty and class,” Trump will be spending an eternity in hell.

Most of Trump’s tantrum, released on his official “Save America” letterhead, was a diatribe “explaining” that Ron DeSantis only won the 2018 election in the first place thanks to Trump.

Trump’s support may have helped Ron DeSantis eke out a win by less than 1 point in 2018. But DeSantis winning in a 20-point landslide in 2022 is all due to Ron DeSantis.

But it is that landslide victory (not to mention the statewide Red Wave from the down-ballot Republicans riding on Ron’s massive coattails) that prompted Donald Trump to publicly implode by releasing this ludicrous statement.

Trump even claimed that he “sent the FBI and the U.S. Attorneys” to Broward County to stop “ballot theft.” That claim was quickly debunked by the Broward County Supervisor of Elections Office which released a statement saying there was no federal law enforcement presence in Broward during the 2018 election.

In short, Trump believes if DeSantis had any loyalty and class, he would remember how much he owes Trump, bend the knee, and officially proclaim that he will not challenge Trump for the nomination.

Keep in mind, Ron DeSantis hasn’t uttered a single word of criticism about Donald Trump, not before the midterms or since. So this statement isn’t an example of Trump’s infamous “punching back,” which is why it stinks of envy and sour grapes.

I’m guessing that Donald Trump spent the last two years believing that Republican voters would never even look at another Republican the way they once looked at him.

Seeing the groundswell of enthusiasm and excitement over Ron DeSantis must have been a cold slap of reality to him.

Trump presumed we all would greet the news of his November 15 official announcement like he was Jesus entering Jerusalem, with us tossing palm fronds at his feet and shouting, “Hosanna in the highest! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.”

Then Ron DeSantis stole his thunder.

You can understand why someone with an ego like Trump’s would melt down in a very public way.

I followed the reactions to his statement on Twitter Thursday evening, scrolling along on my iPad and seeing the stunned disbelief and anger from people who voted for and supported Trump both in 2016 and 2020.

After someone posted the statement on Twitter, Jesse Kelly observed:

I was genuinely excited to see a primary fight between these two. I think that’s what would be best for the country.

But apparently Trump is going to just embarrass himself and go down in flames and I’ll be honest, it saddens me a little. Not how the Trump era should end.

When someone replied to Jesse’s tweet noting that this would only be the beginning, and the primary fight “has barely started,” Jesse responded:

No it hasn’t. If Trump is dumb enough to attack the guy EVERY Republican in America is currently happy with, this primary is already over. He’s gonna lose at least half his support to DeSantis overnight.

Kelly followed up by noting that Ron DeSantis won’t say anything in response to this meltdown, adding:

He doesn’t have to. Apparently Trump is just gonna implode overnight. Freaking sucks. Didn’t want it to end like this.

Dave Reaboi shared Jesse’s opinion, saying on Twitter:

Don’t forget—DeSantis has ignored Trump successfully for 2 years, barreling ahead with victory after victory. Absolutely no reason to change, and he won’t.

Traditionally, Donald Trump gets pleasure from feeding off the angry responses from the targets of his attacks. So being ignored by DeSantis will only hasten Trump’s implosion.

For the last two years, the Trump-supporting Republicans who would tell reporters that it was time to move on from Donald Trump would only do so off the record.

But after his behavior this week which included celebrating the losses of Republican Senate candidates he deemed insufficiently loyal to him and attacking popular Republican Governors like DeSantis and Virginia’s Glen Youngkin, some Republicans are no longer afraid to go on the record, including Virginia’s Lt. Governor Winsome Sears:

Unsurprisingly, the ForeverTrumpers have labeled Sears a “traitor” because to them, it isn’t America First; it’s Trump First.

This was not the outcome Trump was hoping for just days before he announced his Triumphal Entry into the 2024 race, which may be why it was reported that some of Trump’s advisers are urging him to postpone at least until after the December 6 Senate runoff in Georgia.

Going through with his announcement less than a week after pissing off all the voters who like and admire Governor DeSantis does seem like a bad idea. At the same time, postponing it would only feed the speculation that Trump is vulnerable. And there is no way in hell Donald Trump would want that speculation taking root.

In short, Trump set himself up for a “damned if he does, damned if he doesn’t” scenario, and he has nobody to blame but himself. And maybe the reason we’re watching Trump implode is that deep down, he knows it.