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Donald Trump Is Weak

Despite Trump’s endless braggadocio, DeSantis is a real competitor. He may need to get better at swinging punches at the raging Trump—and he does, big time—but the Florida governor has some maneuvering room.

President of the United States Donald Trump speaking at the 2017 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Maryland. Image by Gage Skidmore.
President of the United States Donald Trump speaking at the 2017 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Maryland. Image by Gage Skidmore.

Ron DeSantis Leads Trump in Key Battleground States – A recent poll of battleground states shows that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis leads former President Donald J. Trump among likely Republican voters in those states. According to the firm, Public Opinion Strategies, which conducted the poll last week, DeSantis enjoys almost a ten-point lead over Trump in Iowa whereas DeSantis is tied with Trump in New Hampshire. 

Insiders knew this poll was coming down the pike. That is likely why, quite suddenly, Trumpworld has been waging a horrific assault upon a popular governor who is, for all intents-and-purposes the heir to Trump’s “MAGA” movement. 

Clearly, the Trump Campaign is fearful of what this portends. 

Trump’s Self-Destructive Streak

Shortly before the poll was released, Trump stated that anyone who dared to work for DeSantis during the 2024 election cycle would not work for his White House. What appalling elitism from the man who claimed to be the representative of populism.

He is now resorting to the same tactics the Republican National Committee (RNC) used on his unlikely campaign in 2016. The forty-fifth president then added that he had “learned from” the mistakes of his first term in office. You see, Trump’s biggest failure (outside of his massive character flaws) as president was the fact that he hired all the wrong people to run his administration. 

A friend of mine who had been billeted over to the Trump National Security Council in 2018 phoned me one evening and was apoplectic. It was his first day on the job. His dream was to be there. As I soon found out in what I thought would be a celebratory call, he wanted to leave after his first day. I tried to reassure him. It couldn’t be that bad, I said calmly, trying to work out what, precisely, was his problem (it being an open line, he couldn’t get into too much detail). Trump wasn’t like the other politicians, I had said to him. He campaigned to drain the place of its corrupt elements. Help him, I urged. He was not like George W. Bush. 

That set my friend off.

“You don’t understand!” He said in an exasperated tone. “Everyone I am reporting to here are all Bushies!” My friend was referring to the fact that, despite having run hard against the awful legacy of former President George W. Bush; calling Bush’s Iraq War a “big, fat mistake”, once in power, Trump hired everyone from the Bush era to run his foreign policy team. We went back-and-forth for a bit, but I could tell that my old friend was not going to be reassured. 

My friend ended the call by shouting angrily that, “For God’s sake, ‘Bombs Away’ Bolton is my boss!” 

After four years of that mess, it was abundantly clear that whatever failures caused by the Democratic Party’s resistance, the corruption of the media that was almost universally opposed to Trump’s presidency, and the weaponization of the administrative state to stunt any progress that Trump might have enjoyed at the policy level, Trump himself was to blame for his first term’s failures. Personnel is policy, and Trump hired most of the wrong people—the people that Trump said he would fire. 

The forty-fifth president went into office promising to drain the Swamp. Instead, the Swamp consumed him.

Trump happily hired Bushies to destroy his presidency like a cancer from within. Yet, Trump won’t even countenance possibly hiring DeSantis staff—should, of course, DeSantis officially declare that he’s running for president in 2024 and should DeSantis lose. Trump hasn’t learned anything from his past disasters. He needs the full force of the GOP behind him. Why not encourage DeSantis’ team to not lose hope for the future; that even if they challenged him, their input would be valued and welcomed to ensure a lasting potential victory in 2024 for the Right? Why not stay amicable with DeSantis, who is heir of the MAGA movement and a protégé of Trump’s? 

Trump is Weak

It’s true that Trump being the last Republican president with a strong base of support within the GOP voting bloc is a more nationally popular figure than DeSantis. Polls showing that don’t get to the nub of the matter. 

All politics, as the old saw goes, is local. 

What matters more than anything is how the candidates are resonating at the local and state level among potential GOP primary voters in those early battleground states. After all, nothing generates victory like momentum. The last thing any presidential candidate wants to do is open the first round of voting and lose. DeSantis’ leading edge in Iowa and his tie in New Hampshire should worry the Trump team.

It shows us that DeSantis has staying power. 

That, despite Trump’s endless braggadocio, DeSantis is a real competitor. He may need to get better at swinging punches at the raging Trump—and he does, big time—but the Florida governor has some maneuvering room. All this talk about how Trump’s victory is inevitable; about how DeSantis is a traitor to Trump, it’s all hogwash. It was Trump who started attacking DeSantis. What’s more, Trump has never been this weak and vulnerable to DeSantis’ slow-rolling move against him. DeSantis needs to spring into action now to prevent Trump from solidifying his hold on the party from such a weakened position. 

Can Trump Win the General Election in 2024? 

Consider this: for all the talk about Trump’s strength nationally, as my colleague Harrison Kass reported earlier, six out of ten Americans do not want Trump to be president again. So, whatever may happen in the GOP Primary in 2024, in the General Election, Trump will have a much higher bar to surpass than DeSantis will in beating the Democratic Party’s nominee. 

DeSantis has made some early unforced errors that need to be addressed now. But don’t fall victim to the naysaying. DeSantis is a fighter. He’s a competitive candidate. And he’s got a long time to grow into his own as the campaign unfolds, should he decide to run (which he must). Trump should remember that those he passed on the way up to the highest tops of the mountain of power will be seeing him on his way back down to the valley below. DeSantis must keep climbing on his accord—and not worry about the background noise he’s being subjected to. 

DeSantis can beat Trump in 2024. 

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 at American Greatness and the Asia Times. He is the author of Winning Space: How America Remains a Superpower (Republic Book Publishers), Biohacked: China’s Race to Control Life (May 16), and The Shadow War: Iran’s Quest for Supremacy (July 23). Weichert can be followed via Twitter @WeTheBrandon.

Written By

Brandon J. Weichert is a former Congressional staffer and geopolitical analyst who recently became a writer 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.

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