DeSantis would be wasted in President Trump's VP position in 2024. If President Trump wanted a VP who won't be a threat to DeSantis in 2028, he should run with Texas Governor Greg Abbott as his VP instead.
Sure, Abbott won't be needed to bring Texas, but he is already strong on border issues with trying to have Texas build its own wall, and for changing the immigration narrative by sending illegal aliens to Washington, DC. Abbott might bring more Hispanic voters to Trump. He's also disabled, so he might bring Americans with disabilities, too. He would look good sitting in his wheelchair at typical ceremonial VP events, showing that even disable people can rise to the highest levels of government.
I think DeSantis would be better placed as Attorney General in a Trump administration first. Let DeSantis finish his second term as Governor of Florida and then become Trump's AG in 2026. Then, DeSantis can run for President in 2028.
I'm suggesting that President Trump nominate someone to hold the Attorney General seat for two years until DeSantis is ready to move over. That person could be Texas Senator Ted Cruz. Cruz would be a strong, assertive AG, giving him some executive branch leadership experience. Then he can run for Governor of Texas in 2026 to vacate the Cabinet position for DeSantis. Cruz as governor of Texas would be a strong move to hold off a blue encroachment within the state.
Right now, DeSantis is "earning his chops" as Governor of Florida, a seat he won by barely beating charismatic black Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum, who was later discovered intoxicated in a hotel room containing crystal meth, a gay prostitute, and an overdose victim. I hope that he's winning over more residents of Florida since taking office, and that he improves his turnout in 2022.
The lesson that DeSantis needs to learn now is the story of George Allen of Virginia. In law school, Allen was chairman of the "Young Virginians for Ronald Reagan," and his father was the famed NFL coach of the Los Angeles Rams and later the Washington Redskins. Virginians voted for Allen once for the House of Representatives, twice for Governor, and then a third time for the Senate.
After President Bush beat John Kerry in 2004 due to the so-called "values voter," Allen was seen as the next up-and-coming talent for 2008 and beyond. This made Allen the prime target for political kneecapping by Democrats when he ran for reelection for the Virginia Senate seat in 2006. Democrats hired hecklers to attend Allen rallies to try to goad him into making gaffes that they would record to use against him. One day, he retorted to a heckler "Macaca," his made-up word to essentially yell "Nonsense" back to the heckler.
The Washington Post went on a search-and-destroy mission against Allen, using the word "macaca" to gin up story after story, for nearly three months, alleging racism, claiming that "macaca" referred to a Portuguese word for "monkey" (the heckler was an American of Indian descent). They even found references to Belgian slurs of African Congolese in the early 20th century colonial period. This all led to The Post successfully ending the Allen campaign and any chances of an Allen presidency, and struck a mortal blow to the rise of "values voters" as a faction until it reemerged as the Tea Party in 2010. The people of Virginia knew all about Georg Allen, but they let the Washington Post manipulate them anyway. They chose that goof James Webb instead, and then threw Webb out for Tim Kaine in 2012 (who then ran as Hillary Clinton's VP in 2016).
DeSantis needs to focus on his 2022 reelection as Florida Governor first. If DeSantis thought he was getting a bad rap during the COVID-19 lockdowns, and then again with the "Don't Say Gay" slurs, just wait until after the 2022 mid-terms when the Democrats turn their full force on DeSantis to try to clear the field for California's Gavin Newsom. You can bet that DeSantis will get the George Allen treatment x 100.
The Allen campaign was a dry run by the LAAP-dog media for their agitprop gaslighting psyops that they run all the time now. They tried it with the Dan Rather "fake but accurate" Texas Air National Guard story about President Bush in 2004, but it failed. This "macaca" story about Allen worked in 2006. Then it was "Palin is stupid and uneducated" in 2008, Romney hated dogs and had "binders of women" in 2012, Trump/Russia in 2016, and Trump/COVID-19/Ukraine/impeachment in 2020.
In my opinion, DeSantis can't be looking to a presidential run in 2024, he's going to have too much of a target on his back to take him out before then. DeSantis needs to be a successful Florida Governor first, a Trump supporter second to deliver Florida to Trump, and then a future presidential candidate third. DeSantis should be looking to 2028, meaning he should be looking for a position in the Trump administration for 2026. He can then leverage that position to refine his own political machine as the foundation for his presidential run in 2028.
-PJ
Trump should hire you as a consultant.
You are dead on in your strategery.