I don't love his impertinant and impulsive tongue.
That's been the pivot point since the 2016 primary. It has turned off a meaningful segment of the Republican base, along with triggering the Democrat wine moms in the suburbs and motivating them to vote in droves, which is not great, but on the other hand the negative affect pulls in a significant number of disafected base voters as well. The usual party calculation would be to ask "does he help the R's more than he hurts?" But I would submit that is not the correct question. It's more along the lines of "is there ANY other person who is able and willing to take on the uniparty, so that there's a meaningful difference between the R's and the D's?
Folks are making a big deal this morning of a handful of Trump endorsed candidates getting Democrat help in the primaries, and then losing in the general. So, from the GOPe perspective, that could be pitched as a loss for the Trump wing of the party. I respectfully disagree. There is simply no point any longer in advancing establishment hacks like Paul Ryan, Dan Crenshaw, and Kevin McCarthy, and Trump is the only bona fide opposition on the horizon. Could DeSantis demonstrate that he's a viable option? Sure, he's been great so far, but he's suspiciosly heavy in the credentials of the enemy class, we have no idea of his foreign policy (we already have plenty of war mongering globalists in power), and even better, as long as Trump remains as a lighting rod, he'll be insulated from the worst of the character assasination and lies that will enevitably attach to whoever is the GOP heir apparant.
Does Trump have hoof in mouth disease? Of course, he always has, nothing's changed. Is he still the best person to publicly advocate for the America First populism that his campaign and administration boosted? Yes, at this point I think he is.
A reasoned, balanced post.