Modding: Let’s not make assassination jokes about current political figures.
DeSantis‘ strategy is simple; secretly hope the prosecutions against Trump derail Trump’s candidacy while at the same time crusading against these “politically influenced” prosecutions and setting himself up as Trump’s protector against the evil deep state as soon as he’s elected president. Trump is reduced to damsel in distress and DeSantis gets to be the knight in shining armor.
I figured there was about a 10% chance that Trump would announce DeSantis as his running mate last night.
Without, of course, having talked to DeSantis about it beforehand.
I think this is literally the only thing Mitt Romney could ever say that would get under Donald Trump’s skin
I’m sure Romney heard that “different pitcher” analogy a lot in the run up to the 2016 election.
I’d love to see it if DeSantis suddenly starts defending Trump against “charges” that haven’t even been suggested yet, just so that someone will start looking into them.
“And it’s purest nonsense to say that Donald Trump wozzled with malice aforethought! And he certainly didn’t do it in Seattle on May 23, 2012! Let no one suggest otherwise!”
Murdoch has spoken!
I can’t remember a Trump burn that likely hit any harder than this gem from Michael Bloomberg – 49 seconds:
The conventional wisdom is that this is the subject with The Most Sensitivity for TFG.
And how!
Wowsie! That is a burn! 
I think that will be what happens, a Trump DeSantis ticket. The democrats better be prepared for that instead of prematurely celebrating a GOP civil war that is not going to happen.
If the traditional R elders want to have a party after Trump gets done with them, they’d certainly push for something like Trump / DeSantis.
Whether DeSantis will play along is another matter. Especially after having seen how well Pence’s career has gone, DeSantis may well avoid the obviously poisoned chalice.
Sweet.
Biden’s response: Asked if he had any thoughts on Trump’s announcement, Joe said:
“Not really.”
Love it! The Coolidge approach.
I didn’t sleep well last night. I attributed it mainly to trying to stay up to watch Artemis take off, but by morning I knew it was the return of that awful pit in my belly that persisted from 2016 to 2020 (no joke).
But I will now try to take a cue from Zen Master Joe, and chill out. We gotta live our lives, right?
For those of us who block all that stuff, what did Bloomberg actually say?
Reporter: What do you think about two billionaires getting into a Twitter war?
Bloomberg: Who’s the second one?
Niiice. Thank you.
DeSantis’ move here: to downplay his image as a cruel, vindictive, petty would-be tyrant, he will campaign on a promise to pardon Trump, all Trumpies, j-6 convicts etc. on a compassionate, “heal-the-country” “put the past behind us” program that, of course, reminds the country that Trump is a thieving moron, even as Trump abuses him on an hourly basis. “Gosh, what a nice guy that DeSantis fellow is!”
IOW: “All the totalitarianism, none of the crazy.” Might sell well. Might not.
I suspect though that it would be what the RW audience actually wants policy-wise and results-wise, but would not be nearly as entertaining or emotionally satisfying as backing Trump. Since turnout is the key to winning and turnout is mostly based on emotionally-driven bandwagonning, not reasoning, I suspect that play won’t enable DeSantis to defeat Trump.