Dem
51
GOP
49
Needless to say, if the Republican Party is going to bet its chips on Ron DeSantis, he has to be a declared candidate. He isn't yet, and is unlikely to be one until the Florida legislative session is over in late spring. So, he is an active participant in the Party's twisting in the wind, something that may ultimately be to his detriment.
And in addition to being undeclared, DeSantis refuses to engage directly with Donald Trump. That is to say, Trump says nasty things about "Ron DeSanctimonious" or "Ron the Meatball," and the governor ignores them or, more commonly, says something nasty about a non-Trump third party. DeSantis was even asked about this in an interview with Fox, and he said: "Look, it's silly season. You know how some of this stuff goes, and obviously he does his thing and that's kind of who he is."
And yet, the Governor is a master of passive aggression. And so, while he's not willing to butt horns with Trump directly, DeSantis is willing to do things that poke Trump supporters in the eyes. For example, the Governor is on a book tour right now, and he appeared at a book signing in Leesburg, FL. A gaggle of Trump supporters showed up in Trump gear, and DeSantis... had them removed by event security. We don't know how much good that did DeSantis '24; to us, it comes off as petulant and petty.
Unlike Trump, DeSantis is a professional politician. And so, it's not surprising that DeSantis is proceeding exactly as a professional politician would (well, except the book store stunt, perhaps). However, the Governor might want to ask Jeb! or Hillary how well the professional politician's playbook works up against someone like Trump (Answer: not so well).
The first problem, which is actually a pretty standard thing, is that DeSantis risks allowing Trump to define him for the GOP base. The former president absolutely wrecked Marco Rubio with the small hands stuff, Jeb! with the low energy stuff, and Ted Cruz with the "Lyin' Ted" stuff. Thus far, Trump has not managed to land any body blows on DeSantis, but there's a lot of time, and The Donald is pretty good at this.
The second problem, which is more particular to modern Republican politics, is that the base loves Trump because he's unfiltered and because they think he's tough and Manly™. If DeSantis does not defend himself, and if he keeps pulling petty stunts like what happened at the book store, then he is going to have enormous difficulty convincing voters he needs that he's the sort of man they can get behind.
Yes, DeSantis is a successful politician and we are not. So, maybe he knows what he's doing. That said, the road to the White House is littered with the carcasses of successful politicians who chose the wrong battle plan (Yes, Rudy, we're looking at you), and figured that out far too late to change course. (Z)