Posted on 11/07/2022 5:35:18 AM PST by Timber Rattler
I have made no secret of the fact that I think Ron DeSantis is an extraordinary politician. I prefer him to any of the potential candidates for President, and am willing to explain to anybody why that is. This, though, is not that column.
I also am no Never-Trumper, and would vote for him over any Democrat in a heartbeat. Trump has a lot to be proud of, and without his leadership the Republicans would still be captured by the Establishment™.
Now that I have put my biases on the table, let me give you my analysis of what I believe to be Trump’s huge own goal.
My most objective take possible, given my acknowledged preferences, is that President Trump made a big unforced error attacking DeSantis at his rally the other day.
Not just because he did so just before an election day on which the Republicans simply must destroy the Democrats–after all, Governor DeSantis doesn’t need Trump’s support to win. If Trump went into full attack mode it wouldn’t dent DeSantis’ reputation one little bit.
So Trump’s attack is electorally irrelevant (which in itself is an unforced error, as it shows Trump to be weaker than he wants to look against a political rival).
Trump’s attack was a mistake because he opened up an old wound that could be Trump’s Achilles’ Heel: his huge mistakes dealing with COVID. Mistakes that DeSantis saw early and rejected quickly.
(Excerpt) Read more at hotair.com ...
WOW!! Not a Democrat but still THICK THINKER!!! That is NOT easy to do!!
Sigh. We do have a few, no doubt.
He's gearing up to sow dissension on FR before 2024.
I personally think he's deliberately damaging the forum to "get back at MAGA".
LOL! Never happened! Do you see any bans or time-outs in my posting history? I just took a five-year break "for the duration," which was the deal offered in 2016. I lived up to my end of it, Trump's out of office, and so here I am.
It's a free country, and Free Republic after all, right?
Noted!!
Thx for that reminder ;-)
Explains the lame attempt in its 1st post, upthread.
“He’s gearing up to sow dissension on FR before 2024.”
Timber Rattler is one of the leaders of the “neocons for DeSantis” faction, which makes me even more leery of DeSantis than I was before.
Our overriding conservative mission on Free Republic is to defend God, family, country!
Sooo...
1) Was Hillary/Bernie defeated?
2) Is Trump still in office?
3) Is Trump a declared candidate or nominee for ANYTHING right now?
4) Is it now a written part of Free Republic's Terms of Service that ALL members and posters MUST support Trump, and Trump only, within the Conservative universe?
5) Are free Republic posters ONLY allowed to post news stories and articles that support TRUMP, or purports to support Trump (whatever his position is on a given day), to the exclusion of all others within the Conservative community, including DeSantis and/or Lake, both of whom may or may not run for President in 2024?
Inquiring minds would like to know, since you seem to think that a necro thread from 2016 is relevant for today's issues, six years later.
TOTALLY not weird, nosirree.
That's what I've been told at least...
Could be a problem for DeSantis if he’s outed as just another neocon/globalist. I doubt most Americans are interested in p*ssing away another couple of trillion into the Ukraine debacle. But in any event he’s no threat to Trump, DeSantis is more of a vulture waiting on the sidelines to see if the deep state manages to take down Trump for him, and then he jumps in to fill the void.
Everyone has a “pet” topic.
Sometimes it is Ukraine.
Sometimse it is NeverTrump.
Sometimes it is Electric Vehicles.
Sometimes it is trains.
Sometimes it is Pit Bulls.
We all got somethin’!
I agree DeSantis is the better candidate. Trump is yesterday’s news. He’s still fighting yesterday’s battles and we need someone who can face down the problems of today. Trump’s silly name calling is really getting old. He should grow up.
Calling someone who voted for Trump twice a “neverTrumper” is simply deliberate lying, isn’t that obvious? Do you lie because you simply have no better argument to make?
Trump did a very excellent job as President for 3 years. The only reason I wouldn’t use the word “great” is due to his numerous personnel failures. During his 4th year in office Trump was defeated by Dr Fauci, which I deeply regret but can’t forget. For Trump’s diplomatic achievements I would use the word “legendary”, and have often expressed the opinion that the Nobel Peace Prize should be renamed in Trump’s honor.
Now it’s almost time to think about choosing a Republican candidate for 2024, and in my opinion Desantis has a much better chance of winning than Trump. I personally know people who will never vote for Trump because of his personality, but would vote for Desantis. You can say that they are foolish until you are blue in the face, but it won’t change the way they vote.
It is understandable that Trump wants to get even for having his job stolen in 2020, but the good of the country should take precedence over Trump’s desires. Once we elect President Desantis and a Republican Congress, the design and creation of a suitable memorial to thank President Trump for his work should be high on the agenda.
I agree strongly with that assessment. I support trump strongly because I fundamentally agree with a lot, if not most of his actual policies and positions. I think these policies were undermined greatly by some of the people he appointed, but by no means all. Personally, I think it is way premature for him to be saying anything negative about DeSantis, who I also like. I think they complement each other from an actual policy standpoint. I'd like to see that more emphasized. That's not going to happen though, given the nature of the press as it exists in this former republic. They simply are not going to report widely on kittens and hugs.
For '24, I support Trump, DeSantis and Paul, though not necessarily in that order. Any of the 3 would be really strong America First candidates. Lake needs some time in the saddle before more is done with her IMO, even as vice.
Personally, I'm not going to take any personality issues between the candidates seriously at this point. I'd like to see them working in concert, but understand why that may not work for them.
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