By staying above the kindergarten-level fray of much of the debate and speaking from the confidence of experience and accomplishment, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis prevailed.
Christian Whiton (former Bush advisor)
Wednesday’s Republican debate was a reminder of the Bizarro World of American politics, where a Democrat president denies a Kennedy secret service protection, the DNC protects senile Joe Biden from debate, legacy media simultaneously early call prison time and the GOP nomination for Trump, and a majority (71%) of voters want neither Biden nor Trump on the 2024 ballot (source: AP/NORC).
Watching the debate, Democrats saw Christmas come early. Columbian journalist Ilia Calderon (claimed gun violence was “unique” to the USA) and Dana Perino (wanted one Republican voted “off the island” by the rest) annoyed. Tim Scott’s canned lines, Mike Pence’s non-stop interruptions, and Niki Haley’s insults were topped only by Trump’s 9-point lead over Joe Biden in the latest Washington Post poll (the latest Big Media-Democrat agitprop).
This is why the RNC should pressure Trump to prove he’s no “threat to our democracy” on a debate stage. The alternative is him twaddling on social media about Mark Milley’s January 6 call to reassure to China (called it an egregious act once punishable by “DEATH”), handing Biden video of Milley’s retirement speech that put “oath to the constitution” over loyalty “to a wannabe dictator.” Seriously, is the RNC trying to lose independent voters?
If the Post numbers look Trumped up, ask what’s to stop Democrats from gaming another election? Focus on the RCP average, where Trump’s hovered at 47% against Biden all year, exactly what he won in 2016 and 2020 (when Hillary and Joe won 3M and 7M more popular votes). Since his 2020 loss, Trump has been stuck at 41% favorable and 56% unfavorable. And, his 2022 candidates, whom Dems helped nominate, turned swing states more blue. Yikes!
Back to the debate. After Burgum, Christie, Pence, Ramaswamy, and Scott underwhelmed, word leaked of a billionaire alliance meeting in October with the DeSantis and Haley campaigns to consolidate monetary support behind one Trump alternate (source: The New York Times). Both established momentum in the first two debates (where a majority of debate watchers rated both as good or excellent), but let’s look at Florida’s governor.
Media pundits may be harsh on the smile-challenged DeSantis, but viewers saw him stay above petty-attacks and politely wait his turn. Many voters are looking for safe harbor in 2024. Kimberley Strassel (WSJ) claims that’s a defender of “our beliefs in freedom, and entrepreneurship, and national strength,” without personal issues Biden can turn into “the issue.” She’s making an argument against Trump – and for DeSantis.
Pitting experience against hypotheticals, like being the only candidate to have served in the military, DeSantis speaks from authority about conserving US power to focus on the China threat, which is why he shut down China’s subversive Confucius Institutes on Florida campuses. Trump may be a better talker and ahead, but DeSantis is a better Republican. No way Trump refuses to throw a GOP rival “off the island” on live TV – but DeSantis refused big time!
Asked by Dana Perino to toss a GOP rival out of the race, DeSantis refused: “I’ll decline to do that, with all due respect. I mean, we’re here, we’re happy to debate, but I think that’s disrespectful to my fellow competitors. Let’s do some questions.” Perino pressed on: “If you won’t answer that question, let me ask what is your mathematical path to beat President Trump, who has a commanding and enduring lead, in this race?” DeSantis quoted Reagan.
“So, polls don’t elect presidents. Voters elect presidents, and we’re going to take the case to the people, in a state-by-state direction. This is our time for choosing. We are not getting a mulligan on the 2024 election. Republicans have lost three straight elections in a row. We were supposed to have a red wave, with inflation at 9 percent. It crashed and burned. Not in Florida, it didn’t. We delivered it in Florida.”
State-by-state, door-to-door – that’s the right message from a proven leader, who smote Florida Democrats in 2022, despite his wooden personality. He is not a shoo-in according to polls paid for by PACs and partisan media, but he is a fighter. Like after Trump called him one of the “pretenders to the throne” on Friday, when DeSantis hit the Trump Problem head on:
“I understand one of my residents was here earlier saying he turned Florida red. I just wished, if he was the one that turned Florida red, that he wouldn’t have turned Georgia and Arizona blue. Because that’s not been good for us at all.”
That’s DeSantis talking to MAGA voters, whom the DNC is counting on to make Trump the GOP nominee. With MAGA sympathy stoked by the “witch hunt” on the Republican frontrunner, DeSantis must wait until sharing a debate stage with Trump – when he can make his case. Read the debate transcript from Wednesday before writing off the Florida governor. Like Trump, DeSantis sees the problems. But – he has solved them.
Inflation: “The people in Washington are shutting down the American dream with their reckless behavior. They borrowed, printed, spent, and now you’re paying more for everything. As governor of Florida, we cut taxes, ran surpluses, paid down over 25 percent of our state debt, and vetoed wasteful spending when it came to my desk.”
Crime: “These cities [prove] the decaying of America. We can’t be a successful country if people aren’t safe to live in Los Angeles and San Francisco. In Florida, we [have] a 50-year low in the crime rate, and when two progressive prosecutors weren’t following the law in Florida, I removed them from their posts. We need to choose law and order over rioting and disorder.”
Big Media-Democrat alliance: “You can always talk, but when they’re shooting arrows at you, are you going to stand up for parents’ rights, keep the state free? I’m the only one up here who’s gotten in the big fights and has delivered big victories for the people of Florida. And in the state of Florida, because of our success, the Democratic Party lies in ruins. We have won the big fights [and] turned our state into a Republican state. People respond to leadership.”
Republicans may not give DeSantis the nomination. But – Democrats are counting on them to do a lot worse.