Posted on 09/22/2022 1:29:44 PM PDT by Drew68
When Ron DeSantis is consulting renowned experts about whether or not to run for president in 2024, the man he is most likely to listen to is President Chris Christie. Well, not literally listen. He’ll instead learn from the potential prezzy who ended up presiding in network green rooms instead of the White House because he declined to run when he had his big – well, everything about him is big – chance in 2012. The Gov will also look to the lessons of President Mario Cuomo. These two guys hesitated and missed their window, just like there are some folks – Mitt Romney, John Kerry, Felonia Milhouse von Pantsuit – who never actually had a window at all yet still tried to dive through one and ended up defenestrating themselves.
Remember a decade ago when we had Christiemania, when he was a breath of fresh air blowing away lib pieties after an improbable New Jersey governor win? And instead of striking while the presidential iron was hot, he failed to go for it, and now he will never be president of anything except maybe the International Society to Prevent Cardio. Mario Cuomo similarly blew it in the 80s. He was the Dem candidate who sped up the Dems’ heartbeats with his unapologetic defense of liberal values. He had his shot, and played Hamlet, and never became president. Today, he’s remembered only for being the father of two big creeps.
The 2024 cycle is undoubtedly Ron DeSantis’s moment. He won a first election that everyone expected him to lose as the governor of the Free State of Florida. He will win a crushing victory over secret lizard-person Charlie Crist this November. And he has set about owning the libs hard not merely by humiliating them for their hypocrisy with awesome moves like sending illegals to Martha’s Vineyard but with substantive conservative policies that are sucking the remaining productive people out of hellscapes like New York and California.
He has governed like a conservative, and he has the receipts. Florida works. Its kids went back to school while blue state bosses were still sacrificing their own kids’ futures to the garbage teacher unions. He is fighting wokeness and its poisonous CRT ideology. He treats the media like what it is – a pack of flunkies. And when he picks fights, he wins them. The base loves him. The polls bode well, to the extent polls are not mere onanism.
If Donald Trump was not still in the picture, he would be the unquestioned frontrunner. But Donald Trump is in the picture.
And he has every right to be. Let’s cut the baloney the regime media keeps serving up. This was a great president who made huge substantive improvements to the country. By defeating Bill Clinton’s wizened baby oven – maybe – Trump literally saved the Constitution. And he would have done even more but for an indisputably questionable election and the unprecedented, fully-fascist attacks of the Establishment and their media and bureaucratic allies.
There are good reasons for Trump to run, and good reasons for him not to, and none of them matter because the decision is Trump’s. The smart money says he will go for it.
So, does Ron DeSantis step up to the 800-pound Gorilla Channel fan for a clash of the titans?
There are rumors that he has promised not to run if Trump does. Do not believe them. There is wishcasting to the effect that he would take the veep slot. It won’t happen.
The fact is that this is DeSantis’s time to score the Big Enchilada.
He is never going to be better positioned than right after his smashing reelection victory. He will have the momentum, he will have the excitement, and he will have the bully pulpit as governor of America’s most vibrant state.
He’s young (44) and he could wait, in theory. But why? Youth is part of his sell, and that applies both to the relatively youthful Trump and especially to crusty Grampa Badfinger should he run again (which he seems to want to do). And after getting the nomination, some Democrat is going to have to spend the campaign explaining how inflation, foreign defeat, and an open border are actually good things. With potential competition like Crusty, Kamala, or that supply chain superhero/scourge of “racist roads” Buttigieg, DeSantis would have to try to lose.
But most of all, he has to consider the fact that things can only go downhill for him from here. An economic downturn. A hurricane the regime media will blame on his personal carbon footprint. A terrible heath crisis (thankfully, his wife recently beat cancer and is back by his side). It could be anything. And it could change everything. Chance is a fickle and cruel dominatrix, just the way the Dispatch guys like ‘em.
The problem with being on top is that there is nowhere to go but down. That’s the position Ron DeSantis would find himself looking at in 2028.
Sure, Trump has the poll numbers right now, but right now the 2024 race is a hypothetical. Republicans generally like Trump, except for the Never Trump sissies no one cares about anyway. But the midterm flogging of the Dems is not even complete and no one being polled is thinking deeply about 2024 yet.
“Who do I like? Haven’t given it much thought. Trump, I guess. Now stop calling me during supper.”
But soon, they will have to think about it. They will have to start weighing the alternatives. The GOP base loves only one thing more than Donald Trump, and that’s winning. Ron DeSantis is a proven winner. Donald Trump has the entire axis of evil gunning for him. The GOP could very well offer The Donald a gold watch and a handshake once they think it over.
Or not.
But one thing is undeniable. Ron DeSantis is the best positioned to beat Trump of any Republican who might run. And, unlike Trump, he has no firm ceiling for votes in the general. If Trump wins it will be a squeaker – it’s just a function of how many losers hate him. DeSantis has no such baggage.
And DeSantis knows all this. He’s not dumb, and neither is Trump, who sees the governor of New Alligatoria as his only real competition. The libs are dumb, but even they see it. That’s why we are already getting the inevitable “Trump is literally Hitler, but DeSantis is literally Hitler²” articles and tweets.
The stars have aligned. All the pieces fit. The time is now. Ron DeSantis really has no choice but to run if he ever wants to be president – he will never have a better chance. Just ask ex-President Christie.
So true.
The pool is as big as DeSantis wants it to be.
Trump fatigue is a very real thing. People are tired of all the drama. Not in FreeRepublic of course though...
Oh thats hysterical. Trump not attack a political rival? He’s incapable of that.
That of course is the Dem/media strategy. to CREATE constant drama so people tire, and they do because it's human nature. Which is why they use it on their enemies.
The only way someone could argue that Biden got the votes he did was if there was unparalleled hatred for his opponent. If Desantis runs, he’ll get the Trump voters and a fair number of those that voted for Biden. He’d win easily, no matter who runs on the Democrat side - except maybe Tulsi Gabbard. She would pick up a lot of centrist voters.
Wait until 2028 so he can be out of office for two years and forgotten before running?
Sorry Kurt, if Trump runs then DeSantis waits or joins the ticket. They’re not going to try and primary each other.
Trump is in excellent health. His speeches, especially off the cuff remarks show he still has it mentally. DeSantis has all the time in the world to be a kick ass Gov. then take the brass ring in 2028.
There is no way in hell DeSantis would accept an offer to be Trumps VP. There is zero upside for him. He’s already a popular governor and could avoid the inevitable Trump baggage.
After DeSantis crushes Crist by 8+ points in November, he’s going to have a winner’s momentum and everyone in his political circle will be telling him to strike while the iron is hot and run. Everyone.
RINO circles? I love DeSantis, make no mistake but I feel President Trump deserves this second term since he was cheated in 2020 and you won’t change my mind about that. We need strong governors like DeSantis that leaves the left in the mud. He’s young and I feel his time will come in 2028. Just my opinion (I’m right)......snort
I came to this same realization a few days ago. 2024 is Desantis’ time to run, he is on the top now. He acts like he is running already.
So you get rid of the guy who resurrected and expanded a dying party and founded the MAGA movement. He received more votes than any sitting President in history in an election he really won. Trump’s supporters won’t turnout for DeSantis like they will for Trump.
DeSantis won election as Governor by the slimmest margins. Before we crown him as the new Trump, let’s see how he does this year in what should be an easy election.
DeSantis would be wise to wait until 2028. No one is going to beat Trump in the primary in 2024.
We need chemotherapy not a warm bath.
Yes, I'd like to see him serve another full term as Florida's governor, so as to solidify the gains and reforms he's made in the state. (Can you say Gillum?)
Baloney. DeSantis has a huge ceiling where it counts most: with electoral votes.
Trump was elected in 2016 by winning Rust Belt states that Republican candidates hadn’t won in decades.
If DeSantis runs in 2024 he won’t even win all the states that gave George W. Bush a narrow victory in 2004.
Trump’s VP, like Reagan’s Bush, will very likely be the next President of the US after Trump is done.
That is not a “worthless” position from which to launch.
That is why Trump’s VP choice is so very important. I knew Pence was wrong from the get-go. I love Trump but sometimes in choosing government personnel (vs. business personnel - big difference) he has difficulty distinguishing the good, from the bad, from the ugly.
Anyway his VP for 2024 is a very big deal.
I can’t see how he could possibly do worse.
On a scale of 1-10, while Trump’s Supreme Court nominees certainly aren’t 10’s, and I can’t begin to conceive of them as 9’s, but they are all higher than 4, which is better than Reagan or either Bush (all of whom did have at least a 9—Scalia, THomas, and Alito), but also had at least one clunker.
I could vote for the guy who promised to do a bunch of great stuff the first time around but instead surrounded himself with backstabbers, imbeciles and Deep State stooges before handing the country over to Fauci and Birx during his final year in office. But I'm told next time will be different. Next time he's really going to do all the stuff that he didn't do last time.
Or I could support the man who is doing all of this stuff now, and getting it done.
Don't get me wrong, if Trump EARNS the nomination, I'll vote for him (which is more than many Trump supporters on this forum will say about DeSantis) but he's got to earn it without my support because right now, I'm looking elsewhere.
I'm looking at actual accomplishments, not promises to get it right next time.
Trump also engaged the young suburban voters, something very few Republicans ever do.
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