Is it?
Beloiw is a piece on the Republican Florida Governor, an ex-Navy SEAL lawyer, and remote politican that some call ‘Trump with a brain’…..A guy who realised that there was little to being in the middle of the GOP after Donbald Trump showed up and stole the show for 4 years….A gvuy who is young and impatient …..
DeSantis’s approach to the pandemic gave rise to an entire governing strategy, in which he regularly denounced some outrage, invariably perpetrated by the left, and proclaimed that he was the only one brave enough to stop it. He laced his speeches and press conferences with anger; when he walked, he thrust out his chest like a soldier on parade. He became a regular on Fox News, second only to Donald Trump as a figure of admiration. His aggressive defense of minimal state action, and his denunciations of anyone who disagreed with him, made him a conservative folk hero.
DeSantis faces reëlection later this year, but his ascent has been so dramatic that in a few polls he comes out ahead of Trump in the race for the Republican Presidential nomination; without Trump, he commands a big lead. Both men claim to channel the rage of an electorate that feels sneered at and dismissed by liberal institutions. But while Trump, with his lazy, Barnumesque persona, projects a fundamental lack of seriousness, DeSantis has an intense work ethic, a formidable intelligence, and a granular understanding of policy. Articulate and fast on his feet, he has been described as Trump with a brain….
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Many of DeSantis’s colleagues remember him as remote. A former member of the Florida delegation told me, “He always had his earbuds in, to keep people away.” Others, like Jolly, had a more temperate view. “He’s a little reclusive, a bit of an odd duck,” Jolly said, “but he’s just incredibly disciplined.”
For decades, the Democratic Party had commanded a majority of Florida’s registered voters. But the state was changing, as Trump’s election helped energize a shift in political affinities. The Republican Party’s rank and file became increasingly radical, and G.O.P. leaders appeared only too happy to follow them. “There was always an element of the Republican Party that was batshit crazy,” Mac Stipanovich, the chief of staff to Governor Bob Martinez, a moderate Republican, told me. “They had lots of different names—they were John Birchers, they were ‘movement conservatives,’ they were the religious right. And we did what every other Republican candidate did: we exploited them. We got them to the polls. We talked about abortion. We promised—and we did nothing. They could grumble, but their choices were limited.
“So what happened?” Stipanovich continued. “Trump opened Pandora’s box and let them out. And all the nasty stuff that was in the underbelly of American politics got a voice. What was thirty-five per cent of the Republican Party is now eighty-five per cent. And it’s too late to turn back.”…
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The thing that grated most was that, as Trump considered running in 2024, DeSantis did not rule out a campaign of his own. The more plausible DeSantis has become as a nominee, the more people have speculated that he might decide to take on Trump.
Trump told me that he was “very close to making a decision” about whether to run. “I don’t know if Ron is running, and I don’t ask him,” he said. “It’s his prerogative. I think I would win.” In nearly every poll of likely Republican contenders, Trump still has a solid advantage: DeSantis’s constituency was Trump’s first. Trump seems to want to keep it that way. A consultant who has worked for several Republican candidates said that the former President had talked with confidants about ways to stop DeSantis: “Trump World is working overtime to find ways to burn DeSantis down. They really hate him.”…
Hey Donald?
Ur support IS leaking around the edges…..
A co-founder of Women for Trump and organizer of the Jan. 6, 2021, “Stop the Steal” rally spoke out against former President Trump following Rep. Mo Brooks’s (R-Ala.) loss to Katie Britt in the Alabama GOP Senate primary Tuesday.
Trump, who initially endorsed Brooks in the race, announced earlier this month that he would transfer his support to Britt after withdrawing his support from the Alabama congressman three months earlier. The race proved to be divisive within the GOP, with several prominent Republicans, including Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas), continuing to support Brooks even after Trump announced he would back Britt.
“Donald Trump is disconnected from the base,” Amy Kremer, chairwoman of Women for America First, told Politico. “It’s time for those of us in the movement to get back to basics, back to our first principles … We were here long before President Trump came along, and we’re going to be here long afterward.”….
More…
Nate Silver
@NateSilver538
It’s still something of an open question whether Trump would have won the GOP nomination in 2016 had the opposition not been so fragmented, so the fact that *one* clear alternative has already emerged for the next nomination, DeSantis, potentially makes 2024 a different story.