As I have argued with my “liberal” acquaintances who seem overwhelmed by a need to vomit at the very mention of Donald Trump, I would have voted for him in 2020 were I an American, not as an endorsement of him personally but because of the demonstrable superiority of his policies on certain issues [ Illegal Immigration, Law and Order, Energy, etc. ] to those of his opponent. In spite of the refusal of the mainstream media to expose him as such, Joe Biden is clearly one of the worst presidents in all of history.
But as 2024 approaches, American “conservatives” have an option to Trump as their presidential nominee in the person of Ron DeSantis who carried Florida decisively in Tuesday’s election. What they ought to consider, I would suggest, is the pettiness of the former president’s reaction not only to the DeSantis victory but to his possible presidential candidacy in 2024.
Wednesday, on his Truth Social website, Donald Trump brayed that while DeSantis had garnered 4.6 million votes in retaining his governorship, he had in fact got 5.7 million Floridians to support him in 2020. Clearly motivated more by his ego than concern for a Republican victory in 2024, he suggested in a Fox News interview that a DeSantis run for the presidency could be devastating not only to his party, but to himself. In what seems to be a brazenly personal threat, he said: “I would tell you things about him that won’t be very flattering — I know more about him than anybody — other than, perhaps, his wife.”
As the Left and its media minions have maintained all along, Trump is a narcissist of the first order. But while this in no way impugns the legitimacy of his policies, it has clearly deterred millions of Americans from voting for him. The multitude of accusations directed against his personal integrity are invariably accompanied by no graphic evidence whatsoever. I have no idea if they are true or not. But were Trump genuinely concerned with the future of his country, he would certainly not have launched an assault on one who seems to share the very same views, indeed might even have celebrated him as a fellow traveler. That he threatened to “expose” DeSantis should he persist in his drive towards the presidency was despicable and no doubt the sort of behavior that has led many Americans to loathe him.
Prior to Tuesday’s mid-term elections, most were predicting a Republican landslide given the demonstrable stupidity of the policies pursued by the Biden administration. That it failed to materialize has led several “conservative” pundits to cite the toxic effect of a Trump endorsement on various candidates who performed well below expectations. Kayleigh McEnany, his former Press Secretary, would seem to agree, suggesting Trump distance himself from the Georgia runoff election scheduled for Dec. 6 and that support from DeSantis might in fact push Republican candidate Herschel Walker over the top in this crucial contest.
Trump, clearly a flawed human being, is neither a saint nor the racist, misogynist monster typically depicted by the media. As one who is tired of seeing Canadian “conservatives” betray their values to appease our left-leaning population, I applaud his combative refusal to cringe before the volley of insults relentlessly hurled his way. What I admire as his tenacity, of course, makes him even more hateful to the American Left. Should DeSantis, himself no shrinking violet, become the Republicans’ presidential candidate for ’24, I have no doubt he too will be relentlessly reviled. But at this time there seems to be some validity to the claim that a party led by Donald Trump is never going to garner the support of a significant portion of U.S. voters, no matter how ludicrously incompetent its opposition. Others on the Right share Kayleigh McEnany’s opinion. Trump should perhaps back away not only from the Georgia runoff election but from his assumed role as the chief representative of contemporary Republicanism. Sadly, as his recent screed against DeSantis suggests, he may not have the integrity to do so.