Why DeSantis Entering the Primaries Was a Big Mistake

“Let thy tongue tang arguments of state. Put thyself into the trick of singularity.” —Twelfth Night, Act II, Scene 5

In several earlier articles for PJ Media, I argued that Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) should avoid entering the Republican nominating process for presidential elections. He needed, I proposed, to serve out his term as governor in order to consolidate the extraordinary gains he had made in establishing the state as a supermajority Republican stronghold.

He was immensely popular and effective, showing how the Democrat Left and its outriders could be held at bay and gradually defeated, at any rate, at the state level. At only 44 years of age, he had only to wait until 2028 to activate his campaign for president which, given his stellar record, would very likely be successful, exceeding the margin of fraudulent Democrat ballots and burying the media in its own offal.

My argument generated considerable blowback from DeSantis sympathizers, who felt he would be a better 2024 presidential candidate than a prickly and controversial Donald Trump. But this pro-DeSantis, anti-Trump sentiment among many Republican voters failed to account for the obvious defects in proposing an early presidential run for the Florida governor.

Briefly:

• It was by no means clear that DeSantis would manage to displace a popular MAGA hero like Trump, who had no trouble drawing massive crowds of ardent supporters at his rallies. In 2020, Trump was an unstoppable train, unless the tracks had been sabotaged. Derailment (rapidly becoming an American phenomenon) was the only electoral expedient. There was no other way of stopping him. The multiple suspect indictments currently levied against Trump are plain evidence that the Democrat war machine considers him the most dangerous opponent in the Republican camp. The prosecution strategy against Trump, as PJM columnist Matt Margolis, a DeSantis supporter, points out in an article titled “Trump’s Enemies Need to Accept that He Can Win” “only adds to the perception that Trump is being targeted by a corrupt justice system.” This only strengthens Trump’s electoral prospects. “Trump can very much win in 2024,” Margolis concludes. The notion that many Democrats wish to increase Trump’s popularity because they regard him as beatable is an unanchored fantasy. The Democrats, like the infamous RINOs and Never Trumpers, desperately want him out of the race, which is why he should be at the starting gate.
• Recent polling data indicate that Trump enjoys a commanding lead over DeSantis. Polls are known to be unreliable, but even a DeSantis advocate like Stephen Kruiser admits that “Despite my personal distaste for political polling, it’s clear that DeSantis has some ground to make up if he is going to be the nominee.” “Some ground” is putting it mildly. More to the point, the inevitable divisiveness that will ensue among party loyalists, in some cases amounting to acrimony and insult — as I have learned to my cost — might hurt the conservative cause, perhaps decisively. Republican stalwarts need to present a unified front against a determined and unscrupulous opponent that will use any means, no matter how unprincipled, to win an election.
• In the event of DeSantis coming up short in his nomination bid, his reputation might be severely tarnished. Having nominally abandoned his state and then returning to resume his office, he would quite possibly have lost his political advantage and find his beneficial policies less persuasive to his constituents. He may become a lame-duck governor, even though Florida lawmakers revised the resign-to-run statute to allow DeSantis to return as governor should his primary quest falter.
• Should he win the nomination but lose the election, his renewed gubernatorial capital might be even more radically damaged. His impressive performance as governor will conceivably have shed its luster. Further, should a victorious Trump choose a formidable candidate like Kari Lake or Vivek Ramaswamy as his running mate and potential successor, DeSantis might no longer have skin in the presidential game, which would be a great misfortune.

These are serious considerations. There are occasions when unreflected enthusiasm should be tempered. The ideal scenario, all things being equal, would have a maverick-minded, donor-free (and thus uncompromised) Trump in 2024 and a young and accomplished DeSantis in 2028, to the manifest benefit of both the country and state. “All the moderating institutions,” writes David Horowitz in Final Battle: The Next Election Could Be the Last, “which were designed by the Founders to soften the edges of political conflict… are under siege by the Democrat Party and its supporters.” Trump, I believe, is fully capable of lifting the siege. The Party of Obama and Biden has been an unmitigated disaster for the nation; it demands a warrior like Trump and his MAGA “revolution” to bring much-needed relief.

Now wiser, politically seasoned, surely more skeptical of his entourage, less reluctant to use the full panoply of presidential powers, and prepared for battle, a bellicose Trump would finish or at least advance his militant operation against the Deep State and reignite the policies that made America energy independent, created jobs and entrepreneurial opportunities, stanched the flow of illegal immigration, restored national prosperity, rebuilt the armed forces, and established the U.S. as a feared and respected power in the international arena. The path would then be cleared for DeSantis to pursue the work that Trump will have done to rescue a declining nation. Meanwhile, Florida will have been more solidly entrenched as the most vigorous and successful state in the country, as, so to speak, America-in-little, or in DeSantis’ words, “a blueprint for the nation’s revival.” As they say, win-win.

Readers will know from my previous writings that I am a profound admirer of Ron DeSantis. His legislative resumé is spectacular as if he’d found Ponce de León’s Fountain of Youth that legend says may have been located in Florida. There is much partisan feeling for DeSantis among Republican voters who, while commiserating with Trump for the virulent media-and-political vendetta launched against him and grateful for his efforts on behalf of the country, feel that the baton should be passed to the next generation. I, too, am convinced that DeSantis would be an outstanding president — only not now. Timing and continuity are of the essence. It is Trump’s agenda to complete, and Trump is the man to do it.

My sense of the situation is that DeSantis must have been misled by his advisors — a common political failing — who convinced him that his moment had come, that greatness had been thrust upon him. Left to his own devices, he may have resisted the lure. I recall in this connection a passage from the Greek writer Nikos Kazantzakis’ Report to Greco, in which he recounts breathing upon a chrysalis to warm it during a cold spell and was rewarded by a premature, deformed, wingless butterfly. Patience may not always be a virtue, but it is often necessary in the daily practice of life, in politics, and in presidential runs. Substituting the wish for the reality, the program for the policy, can obviously lead to unhappy consequences. America is visibly teetering on the precipice. As Horowitz urges, this is a time for realpolitik, not for internecine conflicts among allies.

It is Trump’s nomination to win. There should be no confusion about this. The Rubicon should not be muddied. Regrettably, the die has already been cast. One can only hope for the best in a problematic situation that should never have been allowed to occur.