He’s not going to give up on what worked for him the first time, or take the chance someone else delivers the takedown blow.
And let’s be frank, you won’t catch as many eyeballs with a good strong attack by spokesman Bud Schmuckstein, as you will with anything however daft from the Donald himself.
It’s never wise to count out Trump.
(Link below from The Atlantic by Canadian David Frum. Although he is a conservative I respect, as a “Never Trumper” doubtless his influence is somewhat limited in the United States.)
The only case for DeSantis—or any alternative, be it Nikki Haley or Glenn Youngkin or Mike Pompeo or Mike Pence—is to acknowledge that it’s a problem that the past president stands criminally accused; to acknowledge that Trump is not a victim, but the author of his own legal trouble. Otherwise, who needs a replacement for the original? Why hire the tribute band?
Many prominent Republicans want Trump gone. But they are caught in a trap of their own bad faith: They want prosecutors to do for them the job they are too scared and broken to do for themselves. But they also, for their own crass political advantage, want to pretend to be on Trump’s side during the prosecution—while inwardly cheering on the prosecutors.
Bad faith is a coward’s method, and these bad-faith Republicans are earning the coward’s reward. They hope that the legal system will rescue them from their own humiliating submission, but they are acting to deliver the Republican nomination to Trump for a third time. If Trump does win the nomination, they’ll submit again.
When Trump ran for president in 2016, he at least paid lip service to issues Republican voters cared about: immigration, opioid addiction, trade disparities, and so on. The corruption, authoritarianism, and incitements to violence were present even then, of course. And they continued.
Thanks for bumping this thread, it’s fascinating to read what people thought back in 2019…it seems we were very sure he wouldn’t run again, and wouldn’t get the nomination if he did.
Then we had to come to terms with Jan 6th, Trump running again and Trump once again being the clear frontrunner…
Interesting times…