DeSantis Comments on Trump

[Ronald Lambert]

This was in an email I received:

---

Ron DeSantis and Donald Trump are the two frontrunners for the 2024 GOP nomination.
Everyone is waiting to see how they approach the race.

And now Ron DeSantis took everyone by surprise with this shocking comment about Donald Trump.
As Black Eye Politics reports:

Ron DeSantis offered his thoughts on the disappointing midterm election results for the GOP.

DeSantis responded to questions about Trump’s 2024 re-election announcement by acknowledging the reality of the 2022 outcome in light of the fact that Joe Biden’s low approval ratings should have led to a GOP sweep.

“There were a lot, a lot of disappointments,” DeSantis stated. “That’s just the reality. It was a hugely underwhelming, disappointing performance, especially given that Biden’s policies are overwhelmingly unpopular.”

DeSantis stated that 16 of the 18 Trump-endorsed candidates lost because they alienated independent voters.

“Some of the others,” DeSantis said referring to some of the Trump-backed candidates. “These independent voters aren’t voting for our candidates, even with Biden in the White House and the failures that we’re seeing. That’s a problem.”

DeSantis compared that to his smashing victory in Florida where DeSantis led a red wave that swept Republicans to victory up and down the ballot.

“We were on offense,” DeSantis stated, “and we didn’t shy away from big issues.”

DeSantis took on Dr. Anthony Fauci and the rest of the COVID fanatics by eschewing lockdowns, mask mandates, and forced vaccinations.

When DeSantis fought for parental rights in education and to stop activists from grooming children into transgenderism the woke Disney corporation tried to pressure DeSantis to abandon the cause.

DeSantis stood up to Disney and signed legislation that ended the House of Mouse’s special tax and governing privileges.

In his re-election campaign, DeSantis won by 19 points and pointed out that you can’t win that big a landslide unless you broaden your appeal to voters that do not traditionally support Republicans.

“You don’t win by a million and a half votes if you only get your own party,” DeSantis declared.

DeSantis’s conservative agenda proved so popular that he became the first Republican to win the liberal stronghold in decades.
“We won Palm Beach County, which has not been won by a Republican for governor by almost 40 years,” DeSantis told reporters.

DeSantis then hinted at declaring a special session of the legislature where he would push for stronger pro-life protections and “constitutional carry.”

“I think we’re going to have a very robust agenda,” DeSantis stated, “and I think people will be very pleased with the additional points we’ll be able to put up on the board.”

DeSantis and Trump are beginning to define the terms of the debate for the Republican presidential primary.

And Governor DeSantis clearly intends to campaign for president on his record of conservative achievement growing the party as the roadmap for a Republican renewal.

---

So it looks like Ron DeSantis is intending to challenge Trump for the nomination in the next presidential election. As I have said before, Trump earned re-election with the tremendously successful policies he put in place while he was president. But he also alienates a lot of people by his incivility and uncouthness. Republicans may have a better chance of winning over the entire country if DeSantis is the nominee in 2024. I would be glad to see Trump or DeSantis as president.

[Billy_Bob Systems Administration]

Today those "incivilities" are wanted back.  Our politically correct society is killing us.  Trump proved that.  Being offended is a personal choice of the listener. You have the power to listen and not pass judgment or you can remain a child and never learn.

[Doug1943]

We should treat politics like war.  You have to do whatever is necessary to win.

If it looks like Trump as the nominee could win, and DeSantis could not, then even if you don't like Trump and do like DeSantis,  you should support Trump.

If it looks like the other way around, then you should support DeSantis.

Being offended is a personal decision. Voting  for the Republican candidate is a personal decision.  I want to influence those personal decisions so that  our side wins. If someone's vote is based on something I don't like -- such as not appreciating the wonderful virtues of Mr Trump -- then their vote will still count. If a majority will support DeSantis against the Democrats, but not Trump ... or vice versa ... then why they will vote that way is irrelevant.  We must win.

I personally think the Left will succeed in bringing down America.

 Our side is just not smart enough to stop them. We threw away the midterms.

We will then have to try build something on the rubble. But in the meantime, we need to go hell-for-leather in trying to stop the people who are working hard to destroy our country.

[Ronald Lambert]

The problem with Donald Trump's incivility and uncouthness is more than a matter of perception or my personal taste. It is a matter of true adulthood, not childishness. It is a matter of mature self-discipline, civilized self-control, the kind of thing that is an essential part of having good character worthy of God's approval. How can anyone succeed in such a position without the blessing of God? Biden clearly does not have God's blessing. And look at the mess he is making of everything.

It could be argued that part of Trump's earlier success was that he had the element of surprise. He had the bombastic strength and toughness to enforce right policies that took the woke left by surprise. In other words, Trump was lucky. But what if that is not going to be enough in the future?

It seems to me that Ron DeSantis is a more moral man, a better man in terms of spiritual quality, than Donald Trump. What Trump has going for him is that his policies were so tremendously successful during his presidency. But has he really been tested? Sure, he has withstood outright persecution from the woke left. But his character could yet be tried by a real national emergency, like a nuclear exchange with Russia, or assassinations of members of his family. These are things very likely to happen in this present world, with the manifest wickedness and outright villainy of a growing number of people. Could Trump really take a moral stand, for righteousness in the world, when it is called for?

Trump has shown that he can be an excellent president. But I would have even more confidence in Ron DeSantis, and he could serve two terms. Other people seem to be leaning in this direction, as well.

I just got this message in my email, reported by Liberty Airwaves:

---

"And now, Elon Musk just announced which Republican he plans to support against Biden in the next presidential election.

"Reuters reports, 'Billionaire Elon Musk said on Friday he would support Ron DeSantis in 2024 if the Florida governor, who recently coasted to a second term, were to run for president.'"

---

The excerpt with which I started this thread is the first solid indication I have seen that Ron DeSantis is seriously leaning toward contesting for the Republican nomination in the upcoming presidential election.

I suspect that many Americans voted for Biden because they thought he was a good man. He seemed like a typical old presidential politician, the kind many people are familiar with, and feel comfortable with. Now we know for sure that he is not a good man. He and his family are as criminal as the Clinton family, probably even more so. But the problem is that Trump is not perceived as a good man either, by too many people. That is how important self-discipline and civilized manners are when it comes to appealing to the general public.

To many of us, Donald Trump is a champion. But do we want our favorite champion to win, or do we want conservative moral values to win? What if the two are mutually exclusive?

A

[Doug1943]

A thoughtful and interesting reply.

Our problem is, we're really in a unique, unprecedented situation. 

None of the rules of democratic politicis we took for granted during our lives can now be taken for granted.

So ... when comparing politicians, in the past, I would have put a lot of weight on their personal morality.  There really wasn't that much difference between Democrats and Republicans, and although for the last 30 years I would have generally voted Republican, I was open to making an exception here and there.

But now things are different.  The closest historical analogy, I think, is the US in 1941, after we were attacked at Pearl Harbor, and Hitler declared war on us.  To fight this evil, we had to ally with another evil: it was Hitler, or Stalin, both of them mass murderers.   But we really didn't have a choice. It wasn't even a question of which one was worse, abstractly.  We had been attacked by one of the evils, but not by the other (at the time).

This is where we are now: the 'Left' we are now fighting against is very different from all the varieties of the Left we were used to in the 20th Century.   No space to elaborate on this here, but it's true.  Even the very worst of the old Left -- the people who admired Joseph Stalin's USSR -- would have been shocked to the core by the things our Leftists are advancing towards today, such as the sexualization of children.  

So, following that wonderful admonition from Jesus, we must be as innocent as doves, but as wise as serpents.  (Snakes are generally not aggressive -- if they have no choice, their bite can be fatal, but they are smart enough to avoid contact with non-prey where they can.  And we too must pick our fights, and not just react blindly.)

This means when it comes to elections, we have to follow the advice Bill Buckley gave to the readers of his National Review: support the most conservative candidate who can win.  That is, not the candidate who appeals to us the most.

(A sidenote: 'uncouthness' is not, in my view, a mortal sin. Sometimes it's even a smart tactic: General Patton was uncouth, but his uncouthness, whether he consciously intended it or not, had the effect of rousing his soldiers' fighting spirit. Going up against a serious enemy, you want to feel that you are led by someone rough and tough, not by someone with delicate sensitivity. You yourself want to feel rough and tough.  My problem with Trump's uncouthness is that it does us more harm than good, by driving away people we want to win over.)


.

[Ronald Lambert]

Unfortunately, Donald Trump crosses the line with his uncouthness. He lashes out at people with unwarranted insults out of the clear blue, utterly uncalled-for. Like his glib, snarky calling Ron DeSantis "Ron DE sanctimonious," when DeSantis had done or said nothing to provoke any hostility from Trump. Trump said it right after DeSantis had emerged as virtually heroic in his effective preparation and actions in dealing with Hurricane Ian in Florida, and his courageous standing up to the insanity of Disney's attempts to balefully influence children's education, and to the misguided policies of the woke left involving Covid-19 that so greatly harmed the economies of other states. It was obvious that Trump was just reacting jealously to the popular praise being given (deservedly) to DeSantis. 

You can certainly be tough when commenting on the blatant, really deep criminality of the Biden family. But Trump says bad things about people that are completely unjustified.

Here is something I am especially concerned about. Suppose Ron DeSantis wins the Republican nomination for the 2024 election. How would Trump react to that? Would he support DeSantis, or undermine him? Would he lead the large following he has among conservative Republicans to withhold support for DeSantis? I think that is a real danger. Trump could wind up doing real harm to the furtherance of conservative moral values, and allow woke liberals to do even more damage to society.

[Sunsettommy]

I have become weary of Trump who simply can't SHUT UP about stuff that isn't worth considering in open public and his dumb attacks on Santis is counterproductive.

He goes to numerous rallies in big stadiums and similar large venues but doesn't visit the Northwest for a rally just mostly in the east/mid-east region which seems more like a cheerleading drive rather than discussing the deep problems of the nation I haven't been getting his message for a long while now.

Going to wait until I know who the viable candidates are before I vote.