“As a result he allowed the Left to continue perpetuating the lie that MAGA is somehow an appeal to white supremacy.”
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Trump doesn’t really have the gift of giving a reasoned response to such attacks, he tends to stumble off into the weeds.
This was how the “he said both sides are fine people” attacks were birthed, you toss out quick throwaway answers without stressing what you want to say and the media/your polit enemies will run with it.
DeSantis won’t fare any better enemy-wise - they are vile people. But he might be better suited to articulate the issues and address solutions.
We’ll see. There may even yet be a dark horse out there, life can be surprising.
You seem to be prone to misunderstanding things.