Donald Trump vs. Ron DeSantis, disloyalty edition

Right now, Donald Trump is the only declared presidential candidate in either party. Apparently, he misses a crowded field because he's already sniping at Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Yesterday, he talked with CNN and Politico. In that interview, Trump "lashed out against Florida governor Ron DeSantis and called him 'disloyal' as the governor weighs whether to run for the 2024 Republican nomination against his former political benefactor."

That isn't close to the truth. The definition of disloyal is "false to one's obligations or allegiances; not loyal; faithless; treacherous." What obligation does Gov. DeSantis have to President Trump in terms of not running for president? I'd argue that Gov. DeSantis doesn't have any obligations to President Trump, or anyone else, about running for president or any office.

Trump also said that DeSantis wouldn't be Florida's governor if not for Trump's endorsement. That's quite possibly true but it's definitely irrelevant. If Gov. DeSantis runs for president, he'll have to run on his record. Like Trump, DeSantis has a lengthy list of impressive accomplishments.

Republicans feel great going into this presidential election cycle because a) they get to run against serial plagiarist Joe Biden and because they've got 2 top-tier presidential candidates in Trump and DeSantis.

The more he talks away from the rallies, the more President Trump sounds like he should be coronated the next GOP presidential nominee. That isn't how this should work. When asked, what will Trump say about his accomplishments in supporting parents in their fight against school board? The Florida school board revolution was all about Gov. DeSantis. It's also Gov. DeSantis who took on Woke Inc.:

The Florida school board fight is a big thing, especially in winning the suburban vote and the female vote. In his 2 presidential runs, Trump lost both of those cohorts. In 2022, DeSantis won both cohorts, then won the Hispanic vote outright in Florida.

In addition, Mr Trump criticised Mr DeSantis for his record during the Covid pandemic. Mr DeSantis received plaudits from Republicans across the country for reopening Florida earlier than most other states, even though he did close the state briefly.
Here's the truth:
In March 2020, the Florida governor issued an executive order closing bars and nightclubs, urging people to follow US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines to limit gatherings on beaches to no more than 10 people. By that September, DeSantis signed an order clearing restaurants and bars to fully open, which drew criticism from public health officials due to the Covid-19 spike that fall.
There's no question that Gov. DeSantis didn't pay attention to 'the experts', especially Dr. Fauci. Likewise, there's no question whether Florida did an excellent job in protecting the at-risk communities from COVID. If Trump wants to challenge Gov. DeSantis on that issue, he'd better bring a big lunch box because Trump will be there a while for that fight.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Is Joe Biden our Grifter-in-Chief?

Image
Apparently, Joe Biden doesn't care about the law or Supreme Court rulings. When asked about the ruling on his student loan bailout, Biden said that the Supreme Court misinterpreted the Constitution. He knows they didn't. That's just what he said to preserve the opportunity to introduce his next unconstitutional plan that will get rejected by the Supreme Court. This isn't about whether it's constitutional. It's about whether he can con enough young people into voting for him in 2024. Biden must've anticipated this ruling. Within an hour of the ruling, the Administration was out with this detailed fact sheet to replace the plan that he knew would fail. It opens with the same partisan attack as Democrats have mouthed. The fact sheet opens by saying "No President has fought harder for student debt relief than President Biden, and he’s not done yet. President Biden and Vice President Harris will not let Republican elected officials succeed in denying hard
Read more

Tim Walz's Confederate Flag Fiasco

Image
After Minnesota's Democrats shoved the most controversial progressive legislation down Minnesotans' throats, gossip started popping up about Gov. Walz being interested in running for president . That's died off but Gov. Walz is still making headlines, this time for all the wrong reasons. First, Gov. Walz isn't the brightest bulb in the chandelier. Still, Gov. Walz is fighting against Minnesota's history. This Alpha News article quotes David Hann, the chairman of Minnesota's Republican Party, as saying " The flag the DFL has eliminated was a version of the historic flag our regiments fought under during the Civil War. Minnesota was the first state to offer troops to the Union cause in 1861 , beginning a long tradition of leading the nation in confronting injustice. The DFL quest to erase our history is repugnant and should be rejected." Gov. Walz, though, sees things differently. He's quoted as saying "Minnesota is a diverse state, it continue
Read more

Maria Bartiromo's interrogation of Gov. Ron DeSantis

Image
Yesterday, Maria Bartiromo interrogated Gov. Ron DeSantis on Sunday Morning Futures. The first half of the interview, Bartiromo asked policy questions. Gov. DeSantis showed his understanding of the issues and presented his solutions on everything from China, inflation and growing the economy. The first reply he had was to cut spending. His next reply was to open energy production. Third, he talked about the importance of increasing productivity, which he correctly said is the best way to eliminate inflation. A little over half the way through the interview, though, it turned into an attack. Bartiromo asked "I'm wondering what's going on with your campaign. There was a lot of optimism about you running for president earlier in the year but here's this weekend's headline from the Politico Playbook: Failure to launch. Gov. Ron DeSantis's campaign to topple Donald Trump has stalled. We are way behind says a top DeSantis PAC official. What happened? Despite that bad
Read more