Tuesday
Ex-President Trump made one of his ‘on the stump’ speeches a few days ago. According to a media report, though the crowd was generally enthusiastic, Trump received boos when he recommended getting the anti-virus injection. I watched a lot of Mr. Trump’s campaign speeches over the years of his presidency and I never heard anything other than raucous support. He was a master at working a crowd.
Those boos are one of three factors that suggest that Donald Trump should not run for the presidency again. They indicate that he has lost his touch; that his ability to read the crowd and articulate what they hold dear is not as sure as it used to be. He displayed poor judgement by promoting the injections.
Politics is not forgiving. President Trump did a great job on many levels and US politics will not be the same for a generation. He singlehandedly refocused the Republican Party away from the sleaze of big business and toward the average Joe. Remember them? Those guys who work for a living. Not many two-term presidents achieved the results that Trump managed in his one-term.
Yes, Trump was robbed, but he was warned and warned about electoral shenanigans and did not react effectively. He also failed to reorganize the intelligence community which he should have realized was corrupt not only at the top, but at the next level down. It became ever-clearer that ‘The Swamp’ was built around the intelligence services.
DeSantis will be the next Republican presidential candidate. The over-riding consideration will be that DeSantis will be able to attract the votes of disaffected Dems. No matter how much they might regret voting for Joe Biden, and no matter how much they may be feeling betrayed by the Democrats, they could never bring themselves to vote for Orange Man Bad. Trump Derangement Syndrome is real.
One last factor also mitigating against Trump II is that Biden has put attention squarely back on a candidate’s age. Biden is simply too old for the job; he is a decrepit old bumbler. Trump, who is of a similar age but brimming with energy and apparently in good health, will be tarred by the same brush.
DeSantis will be chosen to lead the Republican Party for 2024 and, assuming that Republican oversight ensures that the elections are reasonably honest, he will stroll into the White House. But it will largely be on the coattails of the one and only Donald Trump.