Trump's tantrums -- and telling admissions

There’s another point about Trump’s tirade that I haven’t seen discussed elsewhere. Trump said this:

Ron came to me in desperate shape in 2017 — he was politically dead, losing in a landslide to a very good Agriculture Commissioner, Adam Putnam, who was loaded up with cash and great poll numbers. Ron had low approval, bad polls, and no money, but he said that if I would Endorse him, he could win. I didn’t know Adam so I said, ‘Let’s give it a shot, Ron.’

Trump thus admits that he endorsed one GOP candidate over another — a “very good” state official — because he “didn’t know” the latter candidate. One might reasonably expect a GOP kingmaker to do a little outreach before choosing which of two good candidates to endorse for a position as important as Governor of Florida.

But it would be unreasonable to expect this from Trump. He goes by whom he knows, who is more of a celebrity and, of course, who has said something nice about him.

Is it any wonder that Trump endorsed losers in key races this year? More broadly, is it any wonder that Trump staffed his administration with so many underperforming officials, most of whom he became disillusioned with?

There are a number of good reasons to prefer Ron DeSantis over Donald Trump for the GOP nomination in 2024. As I’ve argued before, attention to detail and administrative competence rank high among them.