The DeSantis Strategy
Ron D Is Running By Not Running
Donald Trump rekindled his bumpy campaign with a number of moves that make one scratch his head. His minions went to the Republican National Committee meeting and whipped votes for Ronna McDaniel – I watched it happen – even though he was formally neutral in the race. People took notice. And they also took notice when he went to South Carolina to talk about draining the Swamp with Lindsey Graham by his side.
And he launched more attacks on Ron DeSantis. He insists Ron DeSantis owes him his election and that the Florida governor is disloyal for considering running. I find the idea of demanding loyalty baffling. It looks weak.
Trump’s attacks on DeSantis (supported by his Twitter minions) for being some sort of pandemic fanatic – though the media was calling him “DeathSantis” for not being enough of a fanatic – are kind of bizarre since Trump is all-in on the vaxx. His fans need a vaccine for cognitive dissonance.
And what does DeSantis do? Ignores it and kicks booty in Florida.
His strategy is clearly to let Donald Trump flail at him while he notches achievement after achievement on concealed carry, CRT busting, academia reform and the rest. What this does is encourage Trump’s worst instincts – his inability to be quiet. Now we are seeing his Truth Social posts sounding positively unhinged and coming fast and furious. In one, he labeled DeStantis a “globalist” and also took credit for his career, which is not the own he thinks it is.
It's no longer 2016, and it remains to be seen whether people are still interested in the same kind of smashmouth social media stuff he used to do effectively seven years ago. The problem for him is that this was the stuff many people hated from Trump. He’s reminding people of what they don’t like. And now he has a track record to defend. Some of it is great, but some of it – like his personnel choices – stinks. That’s a problem, too.
Why should DeSantis jump in the ring now? He shouldn’t. He can build his record as Trump punches himself out. Anyone else who gets in is going to get pummeled by Trump, but none have DeSantis’s record, so that’s a fringe benefit of waiting.
And Ron saying nothing is only going to spin Don up. This primary season is going to be lit.
Idaho
I visited the Stelter homeland last weekend. It was cold but nice. Too many Californians, though. They have a small wine country, and the wine was often good, putting the lie to the classic Muppet Movie line from Steve Martin. Good food too.
It’s a red state, but apparently, it has the red state problem that causes red state GOP organizations to be soft. There’s no real Democrat competition, so everyone calls himself a Republican. But a portion of them should be Democrats. The lack of competition allows squishes to survive and thrive. You see it a lot. Texas, for instance, is known as deep red, but it’s hardly super-conservative. Florida, which was recently purple, is much harder-core. If you have to fight, you toughen up. Just an observation!
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