The Florida governor’s hold my beer moment sets a standard that may last for eternity, so to speak. And it’s tempting to laugh. But after his 19% margin win on Tuesday over Democrat Charlie Crist, DeSantis may in fact be the Republican Party’s savior. Somebody needs to deliver the GOP from Trump, and from that victory margin to his polling ahead of the former president, signs point to DeSantis as The One.
Some conservatives are fed up with Trump and how he destroyed their electoral fortunes by endorsing and promoting a uniquely terrible collection of 2022 candidates. The cheeky right-aligned New York Post on Wednesday ran a “DeFuture” cover of the DeSantis family (“Young GOP star DeSantis romps to victory in Florida”). On Thursday the tabloid featured Trump as Trumpty-Dumpty and said, “Don (who couldn’t build a wall) had a great fall.”
The backlash and back-to-back insults were enough to kick-start the 2024 campaign, or at least Trump’s personal campaign to keep DeSantis out of the race. Trump versus DeSantis is a fight between two men with messiah complexes who want us to believe each is the leader America needs. Neither is, and if we’re lucky, the battle that their outsize egos unleash will ruin them both long before Election Day 2024.
[Funny, we said that about the Obama-Clinton fight in 2007-8, too. And we also said it a couple of years ago when we thought the progressives would burn down Biden and give Trump a second term. Be careful what you wish for. — Ed]
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