Here’s proof that Donald Trump’s grasp on the 2024 Republican nomination tenuous at best
Over the weekend Ron DeSantis’ highest profile campaign strategist resigned, seemingly ending DeSantis’ increasingly remote 2024 prospects. DeSantis has been in freefall for more than half a year now, and this isn’t coming as a surprise to anyone. So why am I bothering to write about him in a Monday morning column, with so much else going on?
Because Ron DeSantis easily could have been the 2024 Republican nominee for President. Back when he was gearing up for his national introductory tour as a candidate, he and Trump were tied in primary polling. So many Republican primary voters were so eager to move on from Donald Trump, they latched onto DeSantis simply because the media told them he was a viable alternative.
Of course as soon as DeSantis hit the national stage and everyone saw that he was a weirdo with no personality and zero political savvy, his polling numbers quickly fell to pieces. But that was only because DeSantis went out and showed everyone that he wasn’t an option. If DeSantis had come off as even halfway plausible, he’d be the 2024 Republican frontrunner right now, not Trump.
So this notion we keep hearing, about how Trump is and always was a lock for the 2024 Republican nomination, is false and easily disproven. DeSantis single handedly disproved it. Actually, the media disproved it when it picked DeSantis’ name out of a hat and began hyping him, and half of Republican primary voters flocked to him with no questions asked. They were that eager to move on from Trump. And that was before Trump started getting indicted and questions mounted about whether he’ll be in prison by the general election.
The demise of the Ron DeSantis campaign is proof positive that Donald Trump’s grip on the 2024 Republican nomination is so tenuous, even a complete buffoon like DeSantis was almost able to take it from him. If the media had picked someone less buffoonish than DeSantis to hype, that person probably would be the Republican frontrunner ahead of Trump right now.
So even as we get closer to the first primary voting states and the media (on both sides) starts insisting more loudly than ever that Trump is a lock for the 2024 Republican nomination, let’s keep in mind that this is simply not a true narrative and never has been. We’ve already seen proof that Republican primary voters are eager to jump ship and back someone else – anyone else – they come to see as viable.
This doesn’t mean Trump won’t be the Republican nominee. The remaining Republican candidates are so stunningly inept, even by Republican standards, none of them seems capable of seizing the nomination. But that doesn’t mean the nomination isn’t there for the taking. It absolutely is. Ron DeSantis is one of the biggest idiots alive and he almost took the nomination from Trump. Let’s see what happens between now and the Republican National Convention, which will take place on the other side of at least one Trump criminal trial and conviction. There’s still a lot of proverbial baseball left to be played.
