How to Play the Trump vs. DeSantis Battle
How to Play the Trump vs. DeSantis Battle
Be loyal to yourself and others
I’ve been thinking about this a lot today, and I bet you have, too.
Is it time for MAGA to bid Trump a fond farewell and embrace Ron DeSantis?
Or do we dance with the one that brung us?
Restrain Your Passions
Some loud MAGA voices today are yelling about Donald J. Trump. Regardless of one’s position vis a vis the 2024 election, turning against the man who invented MAGA is crap. Reflects poorly on one’s character.
A shining example: people who mocked liberals for whining about mean tweets are now whining about mean tweets. Do these people listen to themselves? For crying out loud, Republicans were kinder to Nixon after he resigned than some “principled conservatives” are toward Trump.
In short, if you’re former Trump supporter who finds himself parroting Paul Ryan, you might want to check your own Twitter feed from about October 2016. Or during the Russia Hoax hearings.
It’s one thing to conclude that our American interests are best advanced by someone other than Trump without hating the man who restored your political passion by refusing to back down.
Take the damn emotion out of it.
Trump Is Trump
You fell in love with Donald Trump because reduced everything to a street fight. And won. What the hell do you expect him to do now? Challenge DeSantis to a Lincoln-Douglass-style debate series?
Maybe you never knew Trump.
Trump is an outer-borough slugger who intimidates potential rivals by inviting them into a war of attrition in advance. He sees DeSantis as his next rival, and he’s sending a signal. That signal is, “Look, fella, you might beat me, but you’ll bleed out before your victory party.” It’s Rocky II.
Some say DeSantis is too smart and tough for Trump to damage. Really? Ted Cruz might have another opinion.
You say, “I won’t support a candidate who would destroy a fellow Republican just to win?” Did you not watch the Republican debates in 2015? You voted for Trump after he painted Cruz and Rand Paul as leftists.
You waited in line for rallies because of the very tactics you now call boorish? Of course, his tactic are boorish. They were boorish in 2015, too. Trump punches hard. He has no feelings, good or ill, for his rivals. They are his rivals, and he chooses to win every contest. That’s why we elected him in the first place.
Stop acting surprised that Trump acts like Trump. And don’t dare deny you cheered him in the Republican debates in 2015. That would be beneath you.
Never Trust the Establishment
The establishment told you to mask up, stay out of church, and shoot up your kids with poison. The establishment refused to investigate vote fraud in 2020. The establishment funded Democrats in Pennsylvania, Arizona, and Georgia. The Republican establish is as evil as any Democrat.
Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy would rather be minority leaders than majority backbenchers. They will sell you out for their own good. They refuse to accept fiduciary duties because they always put their pleasure and leisure before your life.
If you agree with the Republican McLeadership, you are the person you recently despised.
It’s Okay to Support DeSantis
Ron DeSantis is a good guy who would make a fine president. I’m not convinced he could be a Democrat for reasons I will explain in a future post. (Hint: no Republican can win without Perot voters.) Regardless, the Republicans would do well to nurture him for a future run, whether that’s 2024 or 2028.
I am loyal to President Trump for the same reason I am loyal to Eric Greitens. I don’t want to be seen as fickle. I want people to know that I won’t be easily shaken.
But if you decide you’re going to support DeSantis in 2024 (whether DeSantis chooses to run or not), I’m not your enemy. Though I often fail, I try hard to keep my passions out of politics. I try to limit my faculties to reason and will. I would be shocked if some of the people I respect and admire don’t throw in with DeSantis.
But there’s no guarantee DeSantis even wants to run for president in 2024. He was just re-elected governor of Florida. His wife just went through a frightening bout with cancer. He is young, and he knows a street fight with Trump will hurt him. Again, ask Ted Cruz. (Hillary would have cleaned Cruz’s clock, by the way.)
Avoid taking strong sides now. Avoid making statements for or against either man that you cannot withdraw without losing face. Stay out of Twitter fights with people who should be your friends. (A wise friend once advised me, “Bill, when your in a Twitter fight no one can tell which one the idiot is.)
You don’t have to be Trump to support Trump. Nor do you have to be DeSantis’s Trump imitator. Be yourself. Make your choice (as late as possible). Consider the loyalty you owe to the man who energized the right for six years. Decide how important a character trait loyalty is to you. Lose no friends or allies. Say nothing that you will regret.
As an old guy, I speak from experience. My mouth and my pen have cost me friends and family. Understand that emotions are deadly, and the deadliest is pride.
For the time being, I support President Trump. I believe he has earned a moral right to drain the swamp that interrupted his presidency.
At the same time, I’ve read the Bible and seen history. Moses didn’t get to enter the Promised Land. Reagan didn’t get to take a sledge hammer to the Berlin Wall.
The definition of drama is a story in which a hero, because of a flaw, suffers a downfall, wherein there is a catharsis. Great men often fail to realize the vision they strive for, but they take satisfaction when another achieves it for him.
Someone must punish the establishment of both parties and abolish the institutions that have become irreparably evil—the FBI, the CIA, the DOJ, much of the DOD. I won’t complain if that hero is Trump or DeSantis or Kari Lake. I just want the job done.
In short, don’t let our position become the enemy of your interest. Russ Vought reminded me (via Twitter) of something I wrote in 2014 concerning positions and interests. It’s useful now:
Neither Trump nor DeSantis is the enemy, and it’s not time to choose.
A good summation of how we should be looking at this silly 'infighting' as they call it. But I have a different view of it. What if President Trump and Governor DeSantis are working a Psyop together to bring out the RINOS who think that DeSantis could be bought and talked into running in 2024? It would bring all the RINOS our into our sight, and we and President Trump would know exactly who would stab him in the back.
It's a good way to get the SWAMP to crawl out and be seen. Some of these RINOS we know already, but some have been riding Trump's coat tails and hiding! They are the reason I would NOT DONATE to the GOP at all during this whole 2022 Election. There are soooo many that are just coasting along, demanding donations, talking about Making America Great Again, but they aren't pro MAGA they are PRO ESTABLISHMENT. Let's watch and see how many RINO's betray President Trump as they do this pretend fight. Once we hear them and see them, we can know exactly who to take out!