CNN
—
In recent months, Donald Trump has been itching to jump into the next presidential election. He finally scratched that itch on Tuesday night and officially declared his candidacy for the 2024 race.
And nobody could be happier than Ron DeSantis.
The governor of Florida is widely expected to run for the Republican presidential nomination. But at least on Wednesday, he showed no signs of rushing into the race now that Trump is in.
“I mean, seriously. We just had an election, as reported by CNN’s Steve Contorno,” DeSantis said. “This Georgia runoff is approaching. This is very important for Republicans to win the Georgia runoff.”
This is the perfect strategy for DeSantis to take, one that makes Trump look a) poor and b) more focused on himself than the GOP.
Think of all this from DeSantis’ point of view. He just entered his second term as Florida Governor and won by a staggering 19 points. Arguably a disappointing election for the Republican Party as a whole, and one of their best moments.
“It wasn’t as bright in many other parts of the country,” DeSantis said Wednesday. “It was a subpar performance given the dynamics at work.”
DeSantis is already nationally known, and last Tuesday’s victory only added to that profile.
In short, DeSantis is exactly where he wants to be. And he wants to enjoy it for a while.
Trump, on the other hand, looks a little desperate. Despite some supporters advising him to wait until after the runoff in Georgia on December 6 to start the campaign, Trump said he needed to get into the race immediately. I judged. Frankly, this seems a bit weak – especially considering Trump already faces a lot of responsibility for the Republican disappointment in the midterm elections.
Even before he officially entered the race, Trump was clearly very aware and apprehensive of DeSantis’ potential.
Trump said during his presidency, “I’d like to tell you something less flattering about him. I probably know him better than anyone but his wife. He also wants to be governor.” I call it “Ron Desanctimonias”.
Vintage playing cards, of course.
But the more DeSantis seems to be above the brawl, the more generous he seems. It looks like
that is Selection subject The 2016 Republican presidential primary allowed candidates to dictate the terms and pace to Trump, always reacting to his latest attacks.
DeSantis clearly learned a lesson from that race. On Tuesday, he dismissed Trump’s attacks as “noise” and urged people to “check the scoreboard last Tuesday night.”
This early operation suggests that DeSantis is looking to run a much different campaign than the Republicans who lost to Trump in the 2016 election. He won’t be rushed into the race by Mr. Trump and will do his best not to get bogged down with the former president, at least at first.
Given that past candidates have had little success in trying to beat Trump, it’s a worthwhile strategy.
