Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis in better times in Florida on Nov. 26, 2019. | Source: SOPA Images / Getty
Here’s a question: Why are Republican opponents of Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential primary so reluctant to say negative things about Donald Trump?
Yes, the answer is fairly obvious. The GOP has created a situation where the MAGA messiah has gained so much popularity with a Republican voter base—which is as ignorant, inherently bigoted and prone to baseless conspiracy as Trump is—that it’s given Trump a stranglehold over the party. So, no matter how embattled Trump is, and no matter how ridiculous his antics continue to get, being the least bit critical of the ex-president can only hurt the political chances of candidates on the far-right.
Still, it’s strange, isn’t it? The candidate who is, by a yuge margin, the frontrunner in the Republican primary is currently indicted under multiple federal and state charges including a RICO indictment, and none of his opponents are willing to use that against him or speak against him at all for that matter.
Now, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has been somewhat different—but not really. In June, he noted on the campaign trail that “as a naval officer, if I would have taken classified [documents] to my apartment, I would have been court-martialed in a New York minute,” but that was only after he defended Trump after he was indicted for his alleged mishandling of classified documents in the first place, as CBS News reported.
Last month, DeSantis took things a little further and said he “didn’t think even before all this that the president, the former president, should have run again,” and that “the chance of getting elected after being convicted of a felony is as close to zero as you can get.” DeSantis also noted that Trump “added almost $8 trillion to the debt in four years. He ran saying he was going to eliminate the national debt.”
But maybe DeSantis ultimately realized that he was getting a little too bold for a candidate whose poll numbers are in free-fall to the point where he might even be getting less popular in Florida. Perhaps that’s the reason why during a recent press conference, DeSantis decided that instead of even entertaining speculation concerning Trump’s federal indictment, he would deflect to the “failures” of President Joe Biden because that’s how Republicans “will win.”
“If it’s about what piece of paper or document was left at the toilet of Mar-a-Lago, or all these other things on January 6—if that’s what the election’s about, then it’s going to allow Biden to be in his basement and they are going to be able to do it again.”
Setting aside the fact that DeSantis, like most Republicans, supposedly loves this country so much that he doesn’t mind a little MAGA terrorism at the nation’s Capitol building while America’s electoral process was being carried out, one can only wonder if these people understand that it’s not Biden that they’ll be running against during their primaries.
It’s reminiscent of when Republican candidate Larry Elder—who isn’t even doing well enough in the race to earn him a spot on the GOP debate stage—sat down with fellow sunken place Blacky-lackey Jason Whitlock to promote his candidacy, but also took the time to criticize those who “don’t like Trump,” while Whitlock spent a good chunk of the discussion lauding the former president while interviewing his opponent. It’s almost as if there’s some weird MAGA-induced cognitive dissonance that every GOP presidential hopeful not named Donald Trump is setting themselves up to lose.
“That’s an allegation. It remains to be seen. Obviously, if it’s proven, that’d be a different thing,” DeSantis said when asked if he was concerned that Trump “revealed war plans to invade Iran—military attacks against Iran—to people who didn’t have classified ability to see those documents.”
And yet, Republicans like DeSantis routinely jump all over any “allegation” against Biden, his administration and his family, regardless of how thin and flimsy most of those allegations are.
But, hey, that’s politics—except when it comes to Trump, apparently.
SEE ALSO:
Ron DeSantis Ally Hosts Online Debate That Considered Supporting White Nationalists In Power
