Discussion Is DeSantis playing the long game?

[nakedfrog]

Have you seen the other GQP candidates besides Ron? If it's not Trump, then it's Death Santis. Sure his stock seems pretty low right now, but even if he loses in 2024 the "long game" means he'll be back in 4 years.

Obviously charisma matters to voters, but I'm not so sure that Trump is more "electable" than RDS in a general election. Trump owns the MAGAt base, but is likely to lose swing voters. Now you might say that Trump will sabotage the GOP if somehow he's not the nominee. But if not for that effect, I actually think RDS has much less "baggage" than Trump in a general election. Remember Trumpism has been pretty shitty at elections since 2016, whereas RDS ran away in Floriduh by 20 points in 2020.

The only thing he has to offer is his Woke War, and people seem to be getting tired of that. It's pretty easy to point out the ways FL has suffered from his... well, I guess technically it's called "leadership", but it's harder to point to actual accomplishments. No charisma, no accomplishments, visible weak points...

 

[SteveGrabowski]

Trump governed like a hard right fascist but his campaign in 2016 was actually the most moderate of all the Republican candidates. For example he jettisoned the hugely unpopular ideas of cutting social security and Medicare. In fact in 2016 he was viewed (incredibly) as more moderate than Hillary Clinton.

Now of course this was all lies but the split in the 2016 primary was not moderates vs. conservatives it was clownish race baiter vs. hard right ideologues.

And then of course Trump literally defunded Social Security once in power. Never understood why Romney didn't do the same when Obama was extremely vulnerable in 2012, but instead ran on I'm going to take your Medicare.

 

[SteveGrabowski]

He happened to do the right thing when under duress from the traitors and for that I give him credit.

Meh the right thing would have been removing Trump from office. Pence is a little bitch.

 

[HomerJS]

Caitlyn Jenner is shocked to discover that the leopards want to eat her face. Putting you in a camp is the LAST thing I want to do! But it's on the list...

https://twitter.com/x/status/1686394069352853504

Someone needs to remind her that Trump also thinks she’s a deviant, but she supported him so she’s allowed to use the women’s restroom in the lobby of his building.

Jenner is just now waking up to the Republican agenda?

 

[Gardener]

Jenner is just now waking up to the Republican agenda?

You know she rocked a mullet for 50 years, right?

 

[Franz316]

One thing he could do is in the case of a Trump guilty verdict is promise a pardon for him. With that, he'd probably win over the base, but he's completely incapable of winning over independents and anyone sane.

 

[hal2kilo]

If you are a candidate running against Trump you have to attack him, otherwise just go home. You can't work it both ways. Only Christie, Hutchison, Hurd, and now Pence have gone in that direction. There's actually no hope, really. Trump, his legal problems, suck out all of the available oxygen for anyone else to get traction. He is the target period. He's proved his "I could shoot someone on 5th avenue" statement to his cult. Good luck.

 

[manly]

One thing he could do is in the case of a Trump guilty verdict is promise a pardon for him. With that, he'd probably win over the base, but he's completely incapable of winning over independents and anyone sane.

He's already said he'd pardon a convicted Trump because tossing a criminal ex-President into prison isn't good for the country.
If Trump had a massive heart attack tomorrow, for all of Ron's warts, I think he would have the Trump base sewn up. Strategically, running on a Trumpian platform isn't working for Ron but I don't see how he can pivot or "reboot" to something better.

Besides, it's not like running a more aggressive and honest campaign like Will Hurd or Gov. Christie can upset the apple cart either. GOP low information voters don't want honesty or ethics, they want more Trump attacks.

 

[fskimospy]

He's already said he'd pardon a convicted Trump because tossing a criminal ex-President into prison isn't good for the country.
If Trump had a massive heart attack tomorrow, for all of Ron's warts, I think he would have the Trump base sewn up. Strategically, running on a Trumpian platform isn't working for Ron but I don't see how he can pivot or "reboot" to something better.

Besides, it's not like running a more aggressive and honest campaign like Will Hurd or Gov. Christie can upset the apple cart either. GOP low information voters don't want honesty or ethics, they want more Trump attacks.

This is such a dumb argument. If presidents know they can never go to prison no matter what they do that’s a great incentive to commit crimes.

 

[Thump553]

So far all DeSantis has accomplished is a faster meltdown of support than even Jeb Bush had in 2016. Given that he couples extremist and vindictive politics with an extremely off-putting personality, hopefully he will soon vanish into the ether.

 

[soundforbjt]

DeSantis is done, heard that repub billionaires gave a dinner for Youngkin last week and my guess is he’s their man if trump ends up getting found guilty.

 

[Stokely]

So far all DeSantis has accomplished is a faster meltdown of support than even Jeb Bush had in 2016. Given that he couples extremist and vindictive politics with an extremely off-putting personality, hopefully he will soon vanish into the ether.

Yeah well, unfortunately he'll be "vanishing" back here to where I am. Him being gone hasn't slowed down his craptastic FL state government from passing law after law though so it hardly matters, other than having a bit less stench around.

 

[nakedfrog]

Yeah well, unfortunately he'll be "vanishing" back here to where I am. Him being gone hasn't slowed down his craptastic FL state government from passing law after law though so it hardly matters, other than having a bit less stench around.

Maybe he'll shrug and move onto the grift circuit after his term is done.

 

[fskimospy]

DeSantis is done, heard that repub billionaires gave a dinner for Youngkin last week and my guess is he’s their man if trump ends up getting found guilty.

Yes, there is a very active campaign in Republican donor circles to find the ‘not Trump’ for the reason I’ve always said - they think Trump will lose.

This was a catastrophic mistake by DeSantis. His like from day 1 should have been ‘Trump is great but he lost, and he will lose again. I want to win.’

 

[soundforbjt]

Yes, there is a very active campaign in Republican donor circles to find the ‘not Trump’ for the reason I’ve always said - they think Trump will lose.

This was a catastrophic mistake by DeSantis. His like from day 1 should have been ‘Trump is great but he lost, and he will lose again. I want to win.’

Youngkin getting in is my worst fear for dems election chances, he beats Biden in Virginia which Biden won in 2020.

 

[Stokely]

Someone above is arguing that Trump is/was seen as "moderate"? WTF? maybe if you looked at some economic scale or something, but Trump is as wannabe an authoritarian as we've had in American politics. In every way possible, he wants a government like his pal Putin has, with his whim as law. He's expressed admiration for the powers of dictators the world over, and hates the fact that he has to play with any rules at all. Fortunately he lacked the focus to make it happen, and unlike GWB didn't have a strong team of advisors to push forward a shitty agenda (of course the idea that GWB was actually in charge is quaint.)

If Trump gets in again, I expect he'll do a better job at making himself emperor as he desires. He's had years to stew over all the people that stopped him and revenge is on his mind.

 

[APU_Fusion]

Someone above is arguing that Trump is/was seen as "moderate"? WTF? maybe if you looked at some economic scale or something, but Trump is as wannabe an authoritarian as we've had in American politics. In every way possible, he wants a government like his pal Putin has, with his whim as law. He's expressed admiration for the powers of dictators the world over, and hates the fact that he has to play with any rules at all. Fortunately he lacked the focus to make it happen, and unlike GWB didn't have a strong team of advisors to push forward a shitty agenda (of course the idea that GWB was actually in charge is quaint.)

If Trump gets in again, I expect he'll do a better job at making himself emperor as he desires. He's had years to stew over all the people that stopped him and revenge is on his mind.

Trump a moderate? Lmfao. And Mussolini was a misunderstood woke liberal. Lord on a crutch

 

[woolfe9998]

Trump has upcoming trial dates, in March for the NY hush money case, and in May for the docs case. Meaning Trump could in theory be in jail for the general election, making it difficult for him to campaign except through surrogates. Maybe DeSantis thinks this will be a big advantage for him. But it won't. My bet is Trump being in jail will only increase his popularity among the base.

 

[Stokely]

Trump a moderate? Lmfao. And Mussolini was a misunderstood woke liberal. Lord on a crutch

And he hardly campaigned as one either. He did an interview with the Miami Herald where he said it was ok that Americans (or anyone) accused of terrorism to be tried overseas in military tribunals. IOW, who needs the 6th amendment. Those people would be "cluttering up the court system" or some dreck. How much more authoritarian can you get. Nobody noticed this interview I think because it came out right near the "grab em by the pussy" statement, but it caught my eye.