This is what I don’t understand about the DeSantis supporters. Their logic (and DeSantis’) Logic does not make sense.
If he can not win the primary, he can not win the general election. And not just because of the mechanics of not being the nominee. It is because he doesn’t have the support and excitement to win.
His only chance of getting the nominee is if Trump drops out. But that isn’t really winning, is it? He can’t beat Trump. And if he gets the nomination by having it handed to him (Trump dropping out) no one is going to be excited about his candidacy.
I’m not saying that Trump isn’t going to face challenges winning the general election. But DeSantis is a complete non-starter.
Yep.
The “electability” argument is always the same old routine… when the voters aren’t doing what the establishment wants start this argument. Sometimes when you have low turnout primaries you do get candidates that have no chance.. it does happen, but more often than not it’s just attempts to scare the peons back onto the plantation.
However, even when you have that happen, the counter argument that if only you had supported X in the primary we could have won, is an impossible one to take seriously, especially when it’s clear the candidate they are telling you is more electable has the backing and funding of the establishment. If that candidate is so much better, why could they not manage to win the primary? It wasn’t from lack of funding or name recognition etc.. so if the party machine is behind them and they can’t win their primary it’s hard to argue they would win a general.
Desantis is a rather extreme example of this. Clearly the GOP establishment does not want Trump, they worked against him openly and nefariously in 2020. They have been trying to pump up Desantis for close to a year now as their alternative to him… and the voters just aren’t buying what they are selling. The more he is actually seen by the voters the lower he is polling. Their argument from the start has been to try to convince voters Desantis is more electable than Trump.. and that’s a pretty lousy campaign message, even without Desantis’ obvious weaknesses. •I’m just like the other guy, only “better”” is not a message that is going to resonate, especially when it’s clear you are not nearly as adept as the actual retail politicking part of the job.
Anyone who is honest with themselves can see Desantis is a very weak retail politician, especially compared to Trump, his presence on the podium is just lousy. It’s clear he’s owned by the establishment money men, and there is just no path forward for him this cycle and there never was. Once Trump named himself officially in the race, the GOP primary was effectively over. The establishment thinking has been as the political prosecutions and other things Mount, he would be forced out.. and someone else would get the nod… They just done understand the realities of the dynamic going on because they are and have been utterly out of touch with the electorate for decades now.
It is hard to see a scenario where Trump is not only the nominee, but where he would lose even a single state during the primaries. Sure the future isn’t set in stone, and some black swan event can always happen.. but the more the establishment attempts to destroy Trump, the stronger his support will become.. and it sure looks like they have every intention to keep trying to destroy him.
The electability argument is just a dead argument, because Trump is the only President to grow his support by the numbers he has since FDR.. and if he can’t win the general there sure as hell isn’t another Republican running who can. Arguing any of the also running including Desantis is a stronger general candidate is just a laughable proposition.
The People Trump has brought to the table are not simply a segment of the GOP base they are people who are not part of that base and people who are not going to show up for a traditional country club/establishment gop candidate. If Trump can’t win the general no Republican running this cycle can.
It makes sense because to win the primaries, you have to win the PARTY.
The General includes more than just the one party.
You can win the party and lose the whole thing.
Not to mention the point that one must win in each state, not the union as a whole. That is the way it works.
Do not forget Trump won the most states, however barely, in 2016, and thus won the electoral votes. Hitlery won the general “national” popular vote. It didn’t matter that she was polling better overall.
That is both an example that this is how the system works, and that Trump is not the huge popular guy everyone wants to fantasize he is. Not when you have to include every-day Dems in your voting and the “independents”.