Ron DeSantis Should Do Nothing About Trump’s Indictment – Over the weekend, former President Donald J. Trump ginned up the mainstream media into giving him free airtime by stating on his social media company, Truth Social, that he was set to be indicted on Tuesday.
The charges are related to his purported hush money payments to Stormy Daniels (a pornographic actress to who Trump had previously paid $130,000 in hush money to). Daniels and Trump are believed to have had a torrid affair several years ago—something that Donald Trump vehemently denies.
In keeping with Donald Trump’s grievance politics, he has stated that the Deep State is trying to get “the people” by getting him and if he is removed from being able to run for office, America will never be the same.
It’s a Trap: DeSantis Should Say Nothing About Trump
There are many on social media who are demanding that all Republicans rally to defend former President Trump. These voices insist that, as a potential candidate in the 2024 Republican Party midterms—and since he would likely be at least in second place, Ron DeSantis must speak out against the egregious violations that the Democrats are putting the forty-fifth prison through.
Ron DeSantis must ignore these calls. These are not from allies of DeSantis. Such calls are designed to undermine and weaken DeSantis’ bid.
The fact that Donald Trump himself revealed that he was set to be arrested on Tuesday for charges surrounding his alleged hush money payments to the pornographic actress, Stormy Daniels, is telling. It indicates that Trump has a larger strategy afoot. Remember, he revealed to the press in the run-up to the 2022 Midterm Elections that the FBI had raided Mar-a-Lago looking for classified documents.
That, too, was part of a bizarre election strategy to galvanize the “MAGA” voters just before the election. Of course, it proved insufficient to generate the number of votes the Republicans needed last year to overcome the Democrats (and the most “MAGA” affiliated candidates lost their elections, too).
Trump is sucking the oxygen out of the GOP primary heading in 2024. DeSantis is cornered. If he comments on the pending arrest of Trump, he cedes the point to Trump that the former president is being abused by a corrupt Manhattan District Attorney, Alvin Bragg, a man who was put into that office by George Soros’ “eff you” money.
By commenting in favor of Trump’s position, DeSantis subordinates himself to Trump and aligns his brand—which he wants to be seen as more disciplined and refined than Trump’s chaotic brand—with Trump, making it easier for DeSantis to be pigeonholed.
Then again, if DeSantis does nothing, the Republican base will immediately buy into the false claims that Trump and his surrogates have been making about how DeSantis is actually a secret servant of George Soros and his globalist cabal.
DeSantis is the Real Deal (But Can He Convince Republican Voters of That?)
Of course, DeSantis’ actions as governor completely disprove this lie put forward by the former president’s representatives in the press. But, should DeSantis say or do nothing to show his support for Trump then his image as some kind of milquetoast Republican beholden to the very same Deep State pursuing Trump will be solidified in the eyes of many irate Republican voters.
It’s a classic lose-lose proposition that DeSantis has been handed. The question is: does DeSantis want to lose little or bigly?
Losing bigly is wading into the mess between the feds and Trump and siding with Trump. He loses all agency and independence. People will start questioning why he’s even thinking about running if all he’s going to do is cede issues to, and side, with his opponent. Yes, the Democrats are abusing their power in treating a misdemeanor like a felony. Still, DeSantis does not need to immediately condemn or comment on any of these matters—especially because nothing has officially been stated or happened.
Trump Lays His Trap
Trump has set a trap for his enemies. The social media post about the pending arrest of Trump by Trump himself was his attempt to secure the Republican nomination. With everyone on the Right believing that Trump is yet again the victim of a Deep State run amuck, that is intent on reelecting President Joe Biden in 2024, the forty-fifth president believes he will have solidified enough votes in 2024 to challenge Biden. DeSantis must avoid this trap. There’s no upside for DeSantis rushing into the fight until we know what officially is happening.
At the same time, DeSantis has appeared gun-shy to throw punches at Trump who is a notoriously effective counterpuncher. Yet, if DeSantis does not figure out soon how to respond to Trump’s provocations without being led by the nose by Trump, he’ll never get his campaign off-the-ground. DeSantis should be flooding the media with his various successes in waging the culture war in Florida against radical Leftist elements. As governor, he should find the next target in his ongoing war—and use that as a means of stealing some of the limelight from the aggrieved Trump.
But Trump’s greatest strength is his sense of grievance, and the Democrats have (purposely) given him that because they think they can beat him in 2024. As the campaign wears on, DeSantis’ window of opportunity to strike hard against Trump closes. If he doesn’t get in some key hits soon, Trump will be the nominee.
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Brandon J. Weichert is a former Congressional staffer and geopolitical analyst who serves as a Senior Editor for 19FortyFive.com. Weichert is a contributor at The Washington Times, as well as a contributing editor at American Greatness and the Asia Times. He is the author of Winning Space: How America Remains a Superpower(Republic Book Publishers), The Shadow War: Iran’s Quest for Supremacy (March 28), and Biohacked: China’s Race to Control Life (May 16). Weichert can be followed via Twitter @WeTheBrandon.
