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A Trump-DeSantis war will cost GOP the White House

Adrienne Lawrence Legal analyst, law professor & award-winning author
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A Republican cold war is brewing between former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis as both men jockey for control of the GOP. Trump insulted his one-time ally at a rally shortly after DeSantis cruised to re-election earlier this month. Tension between the two has been growing for months and is likely to get much worse now that Trump has officially declared he’s running for president in 2024. Straight Arrow News contributor Adrienne Lawrence says a Trump-DeSantis war will be messy and nasty, and it will ultimately cost the GOP the White House.

Conservatives are punting on Trump because he’s a loser. Yeah. Donald Trump, the man who…emboldened so many to be openly hate-mongering monsters in our society, now he has too much stank on him to be a legitimate contender for the White House. So said another way, old Donnie is not Neo. He is not the One. He ain’t even Mr. Anderson at this point. By and large, most people on the right, they have no desire whatsoever for Trump to serve another term. He is washed up. 

And it seems pretty evident that the GOP is really putting its weight behind Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. And really, why shouldn’t they? The man’s agenda is queerphobic, ethnocentric, sexist and racist. I am sure Ronnie gets excited when there is a white sheet sale at Kohl’s. Let’s be real here. DeSantis has all the qualities Trump possesses, but with more polish and of course, fewer pending investigations which I hear it’s helpful. And even though Trump still appears to poll well in several places, well it only makes sense that conservatives and white evangelicals are all team DeSantis because he is nowhere near as messy as 45. 

But with the right shift in support, it’s gonna get really messy with 45. Donald Trump will not respond well and he hasn’t been responding well to not being the GOP’s beloved golden boy. The man lives and breathes this delusion of grandeur, a self-made sense of deification. He’s got the intellect what, of a potato yet the ego of a god. Trump will not stand down to DeSantis. And I hope he doesn’t. 

Because if DeSantis what, takes the GOP ticket for the Republicans in 2024, Trump’s ego would be so bruised that I foresee him trying to stay in the race or even running on an independent ticket, thereby splitting the Republican vote and giving Dems the easy win. So you know, some would like to think that no sane politician would do anything like that, knowing that their party would suffer. But they forget that we’re not dealing with the same politician. We’re dealing with Trump, who would do this knowing his party would suffer. 

Trump is a master retaliator whomever fails to bend the knee, breaks loyalty, well, they pay the price. And for years now we’ve watched him exact his vengeance on those who turn their backs on him. Now what makes you think that he’d not do the same thing to his entire party for not uplifting him?

The Justice Department’s new special counsel is knee-deep in classified documents right now, just as the Manhattan DA’s office is jump-starting its criminal investigation. Now, those are some headlines that you would really think would be distracting to Donald Trump, given that he is really at the center of all of this chaos. But no. 

Yeah, the former president, he’s not necessarily focused on dodging any indictments. Rather, he is all in for his third presidential run. Yeah, another attempt at four years for a man who should have been perp-walked awhile ago. And now that he’s announced his bid, well Trump is bolstering his claim to be a victim of a political witch hunt, really seeming to make it more difficult for law enforcement to hold him accountable without playing into this whole martyr scheme. 

Well, what really seems to interest me it’s not so much the looming indictments; it’s more how the conservatives have been responding to Trump’s bid for 2024. And that’s what has my attention and it should have yours too. Because Trump’s run may cost republicans the White House. 

So it’s evident that the GOP is not putting their weight behind Trump for 2024. And it’s not of course, because he is going to be pushing 80 or any less of a sexist racist, antisemitic all around disgusting human being that he’s been known to be. Not at all. Conservatives are punting on Trump because he’s a loser. Yeah. Donald Trump, the man who…emboldened so many to be openly hate-mongering monsters in our society, now he has too much stank on him to be a legitimate contender for the White House. So said another way, old Donnie is not Neo. He is not the One. He ain’t even Mr. Anderson at this point. By and large, most people on the right, they have no desire whatsoever for Trump to serve another term. He is washed up. 

And it seems pretty evident that the GOP is really putting its weight behind Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. And really, why shouldn’t they? The man’s agenda is queerphobic, ethnocentric, sexist and racist. I am sure Ronnie gets excited when there is a white sheet sale at Kohl’s. Let’s be real here. DeSantis has all the qualities Trump possesses, but with more polish and of course, fewer pending investigations which I hear it’s helpful. And even though Trump still appears to poll well in several places, well it only makes sense that conservatives and white evangelicals are all team DeSantis because he is nowhere near as messy as 45. 

But with the right shift in support, it’s gonna get really messy with 45. Donald Trump will not respond well and he hasn’t been responding well to not being the GOP’s beloved golden boy. The man lives and breathes this delusion of grandeur, a self-made sense of deification. He’s got the intellect what, of a potato yet the ego of a god. Trump will not stand down to DeSantis. And I hope he doesn’t. 

Because if DeSantis what, takes the GOP ticket for the Republicans in 2024, Trump’s ego would be so bruised that I foresee him trying to stay in the race or even running on an independent ticket, thereby splitting the Republican vote and giving Dems the easy win. So you know, some would like to think that no sane politician would do anything like that, knowing that their party would suffer. But they forget that we’re not dealing with the same politician. We’re dealing with Trump, who would do this knowing his party would suffer. 

Trump is a master retaliator whomever fails to bend the knee, breaks loyalty, well, they pay the price. And for years now we’ve watched him exact his vengeance on those who turn their backs on him. Now what makes you think that he’d not do the same thing to his entire party for not uplifting him? If anything, the last six-seven years have taught us that Donald Trump never cared for America, or making it great again. He only cares about himself, lining his coffers and waging counter-attacks. Splitting the Republican vote is not beyond him. 

And think about it from more of a sinister perspective. Trump’s age is getting up there. The walls are closing in in terms of investigation after investigation. His money is drying up and his lone sense of protection from prosecution as in this 2024 presidential bid, it can only go as far as he goes. 

So Trump has little to lose. And at this point, he’s probably not going to trust DeSantis to pardon him, once DeSantis gets in office…if he does. So even without conservatives on Trump’s side, well, I don’t think Trump’s going to bow out or go away. I think he’s gonna go all the way. 

So bring on the 2024 bids, I say, let DeSantis and Trump battle out for the top spot in the GOP spotlight. Because really there can only be one winner in this presidential race, and due to Trump’s antics, it’ll be a democrat.

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