48 Comments

For all his virtues, he was easily bullied into running against the most popular Republican candidate. Not someone you want in charge

Expand full comment

I think it was his own hubris that did it in the end. He was encouraged, sure, but he ultimately *believed* it.

Expand full comment

In my circle of post alt-right people who were very enthusiastic about Trump and had a wonderful time during the 2015-16 campaigns, we were all willing to give desantis a chance. His Florida leadership was impressive and his counter attacks against the DEI system using his state power, hell just the use of any state power to aggressively push your political goals, are sorely lacking by the Republican elected leadership at all levels. We took a “wait and watch, may the better politician prevail” stance. Well, it only took a few weeks to realize that Desantis’s campaign was DOA. For all his faults, we’re back onboard the Trump Train, full speed ahead. Yeah he’s a fat orange retard, but he’s MY fat orange retard!

Expand full comment

Except that he's not a fat, orange, retard (Hate that word). Your back handed "compliment" flies in the face of genuine accomplishment both in business and politics. Stunning accomplishment, really. Glad to have you back on board as we watch Ron DeSantis become yet another notch on Trump's belt.

Expand full comment

Who does still believe that Trump would ever do anything that might help anybody but him?

He's not your pos or anybody's, just his own. Just saying.

Expand full comment

The use of Paradise Lost was inspired!

Expand full comment

I think the solution is Pedro Gonzalez getting deported it will fix all of this

Expand full comment

You’re right to have pointed out the Ukraine fiasco as the beginning of the end for DeSantis. If you can’t break uniparty orthodoxy on that issue, one of the most obvious foreign policy debacles in modern American history (stiff competition!), the odds you can defend the interests of your constituents on more politically-risky issues are approximately zero.

Expand full comment

There were two incidents that happened in 2019 that I still think about. The first was when he was doing some ribbon cutting ceremony in Louisiana on a new highway. Trump is talking and trying to pronounce the name of the road, he fumbles over it a couple of times, purses his lips the way he does and says: 'Look, I'm from Queens. I have no idea how to pronounce the name of this road, but you are all from here and do'. The second was when he had a press conference regarding placing tariffs on French wine. Trump is talking about how much better Americans wines are than French, when one of the reporters asks how he would know since he does not drink. Trump says: 'I like the way our bottles look. Much better than the French ones'. They were simultaneously very funny, but also very genuine. He knows he is a city guy, so he did not brush up on Cajun speech. He does not drink and knows nothing about wine, except that the ones here are preferred over all else. That's why I like him.

Expand full comment

The best part of this primary is knowing that Trump doesn't even have to be in the same room as any of these clowns to just suck all the energy away from them. DeSantis is the sort of effective manager you want *behind* a charismatic leader, offering up the practical legalistic insight necessary to manage policy day to day. The narrow margin he won the governorship by should have tipped people off to his lack of charisma, not just to widespread Establishment-backed fraud.

Expand full comment

I wish desantoids would read this

Expand full comment

Careful, take out the hype and the OP basically amounts praising Trump for being good at manipulating voters.

Expand full comment

What do you think Democracy is built upon?

Expand full comment

Just wait until the next debate dude, DeSantis has DeMomentum!

Expand full comment

The primary is over. The lawfare waged against Trump, which only helped him, is stumbling. The War on Woke has kicked into high gear. The public comments being made about Biden and Trump by Dimon and others at Davos is telling. There has definitely been an energy shift in 2024.

Expand full comment

Last spring I met DeSantis at a private event and told him to wait to run for president until 2028. He just awkwardly laughed but he should have listened...

Expand full comment

This quote struck me, "Most concerning is the idea that DeSantis probably did know his limitations. He seems to be a very reluctant candidate and is obviously miserable while engaging in retail politics. I’ve read rumors that it was DeSantis’s wife Casey, who has taken a major role as a surrogate, who pushed him into making the final decision. If it wasn’t her who pressured him into this situation, it was one of the many sycophants who slowly fell into DeSantis’s orbit over the last few years. Whoever the architect of this disaster was, it doesn’t seem like DeSantis was steering the ship on his own campaign."

I never thought about the observation very deeply, but since his campaign announcement he has carried a strong sense of reluctancy and hesitancy in his body language. It seems like Vivek is willing to work with Trump while DeSantis' hubris will lead him to alienate himself from the Trump base.

Expand full comment

very good take on this whole mess, but now we live in the light of the trump campaign again. TRUMP RALLY TRUMP RALLY AWWWOOOMENT!

Expand full comment

"“Declaring WAR on WOKE,” clopping around in his little boots, to try and boost his sagging poll numbers while Trump is simply flowing with the universe at his own pace, creating impromptu standup comedy that rivals anything you’d see on TV."

Beautiful and brutal. Great analysis - thanks for this one!

Expand full comment

DeSantis, to his credit, recently re-affirmed that he will endorse Trump once he's the nominee since he signed the pledge to do so (which at least puts him above Christie, who was just a total liar and signed the pledge only to refuse to endorse).

Expand full comment

I'm of the mind that DeSantis was always an op, going back to 2018. It's very curious that his rise as a "MAGA Republican" happened only after Trump left office.

Expand full comment

> I'm of the mind that DeSantis was always an op,

The same could be said about Trump. He talks so tough, you don't notice how much he actually concedes to the left. As the OP even admits:

> For all the hysteria about Trump’s supposed extremism on immigration and criminal justice and foreign policy, he has never been anything other than a Moderate Centrist

Expand full comment

If Trump was an op they wouldn't be turning over the country to try and stop him. A man they tried to impeach twice is not an op.

They've admitted the lawsuits are there to tarnish him. It's not working.

Expand full comment