From BUSINESS INSIDER this headline
story pitting Trump against DeSantis and shaming DeSantis with his MAGA base, or
so it seems:
“Ron DeSantis is trailing
Trump in the polls because ‘he hasn’t hit
him hard enough and isn’t a memorable personality,’ political experts
say”
This story follows (formatted to fit the blog) – interesting
info:
· Ron DeSantis hoped that Donald Trump's legal
woes would hurt his opponent.
· But the FL governor still trails Trump in the
polls.
· A USC political science professor says DeSantis
hasn't hit Trump hard enough.
DeSantis has privately hoped that Trump's mountain of legal
troubles would slow his opponent down, but polls continue to show DeSantis trailing far behind in second place (The NY Times).
With eight months until
the primaries, the public's opinion can still change — and so can Trump's legal
standing. But so far the GOP base has primarily stood behind the former
president despite his avalanche of legal woes.
The indictments haven't
impacted Trump as much as his opponents had hoped because he relies on an old
playbook that has so far worked for his supporters: Deny, deflect, and blame the Democrats.
For example, Trump
wrote, in all capitals, on his Truth Social page, after special counsel Jack
Smith notified the former president that he is a target of the DOJ's
January 6 investigation: “This witch
hunt is all about election interference and a complete and total ‘political weaponization’
of law enforcement.”
According to USC political science Professor Christian Grose, if Trump was to apologize and try to move past the issue, it could have hurt him more and went on to say: “What he's done (instead) is what he usually does as a strategy and just sort of denies, blames 'left-wing' media, etc. So I think his strategy of blaming others for the legal woes that are upon him — that seems to help him rally the Republican base (and) DeSantis hasn't quite hit him hard enough. DeSantis tends to avoid saying what Trump has done is wrong. He has even gone on the record sometimes saying that these are unfair cases against the former president.”
Grose went on to conclude:
“Notable attacks on Trump from DeSantis or
his campaign have
often been limited to hot-button culture war issues, such as: (1) Attempting to paint Trump as someone
sympathetic to LGBTQ groups, (2) the former president's handling of
COVID-19, and (3) attacking Trump through his legal troubles is a delicate
situation. But, voter opinion could change if any one of Trump's indictments
leads to a conviction, but there's a lot of in-between for that to happen. It's
a very tough line because so many of the voters DeSantis wants — they like
Trump. So it's more about: Do you vote for somebody you find more electable
even if you like Trump better?”
When Trump was indicted a second time on charges related to mishandling classified documents, DeSantis came to Trump's side, following the former president's characterization that the Biden Administration also had “weaponized the DOJ.”
After it was clear Trump was also a target
of the DOJ probe into the January 6 riot, DeSantis told CNN:
“I hope he doesn't get charged.”
DeSantis is not a “memorable
personality.” Cal Jillson, a political scientist at SMU, echoed this sentiment,
telling Insider: “… there was no
chance that DeSantis could prevail without going on the offense with Trump. However,
that transitioning from someone who has been light on Trump to a fierce
competitor would be difficult,” concluding:
“I think everybody does agree that a
reboot is necessary, both to save money and to retool the message, but how you
do that, particularly with a candidate that is not particularly verbally skilled,
is hard to figure out.”
Also, according to Jillson, the DeSantis campaign: “…is not a first-rate experienced national presidential campaign but an operation full of Florida cronies.”
Jillson
also said: “Beyond his weak stance on
Trump, DeSantis's problem is his lack of vigor, charm, and wit — basically, all the things that make
for a winning politician. He hasn't caught on nationally, because he is a
little awkward. He is often expressionless and obviously doesn't enjoy retail
campaigning, which is critical in places like IA and MH. So he doesn't have the
whole toolkit that a politician like a Ronald Reagan, or a Bill Clinton, or
even a Donald Trump has. He is not, fundamentally, a memorable personality. And
he doesn't have a second gear, apparently. He's not able to analyze his
shortcomings and deal with them effectively and move from there.”
Regardless, it appears like the DeSantis campaign is working
hard on its reboot. DeSantis recently fired 38 staffers
(Politico reported).
The move is meant to streamline operations and put Ron
DeSantis in the strongest position to win this primary, that according to a
statement released by DeSantis’ campaign manager.
A spokesperson for DeSantis's campaign did not respond to a request for
comment on this story.
My 2 Cents: This story pretty much stands on its own.
In short, Trump is a criminal
seeking a return to the W/H and DeSantis is nowhere close to beating or
replacing Trump for the W/H, either. At least in my assessment of this whole
messy affair in our national political history – which is a first for sure.
Thanks for stopping by.
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