Haley, Vivek Ramaswamy, Hutchinson and Larry Elder, a conservative talk radio host, have been in the race for some time. Tim Scott filed his papers last Friday and announced publicly in Monday. Pence and Chris Christie are expected to join the fray in the coming days or weeks, and the three current governors – Chris Sununu of New Hampshire, Glenn Youngkin of Virginia and Doug Burgum of North Dakota – are still likely . It was a period of potentially crowded debate, appreciating exactly the kind of strength DeSantis lacked. Beside him, Pence hissed.
Most of these candidates are in the same predicament as DeSantis’s. That’s what makes the whole competition so incoherent. They are clearly and implicitly sending the message that Republicans would be better served by a candidate other than Trump, but they are saying it to a party that has been completely transformed by him. completely and completely dependent on his populist rhetoric, his autocratic impulses, his thrusts to the right and his multi-purpose rage that they did not want to establish too much distance from him. . They are trying to defeat him without alienating his huge support base by hitting him. His circus made them walk the ropes on their own.
And DeSantis staggered time and time again. His more electable argument isn’t just undercut by Florida’s abortion law – but, in a word, he seems to away talk about — but also by the measure he just signed that allows the carrying of concealed weapons in Florida without a permit. That is likely to place him in the right post-primary electorate, as well as some of the specifics – and combined forces – of the law that he championed regarding education, the death penalty, government transparency, and more. In trying to show the Republican right-wing how aggressive and effective he can be, he has made himself intimidating to less conservative Americans like Trump.
And as means. The good thing about Scott’s announcement is that it emphasizes optimism instead of anger as a point of contrast to Trump, in the unlikely event that contrast is the consequence. “Our party and our country are facing a moment of choice: victim or winner?” Scott said. “Grievance or greatness?” Victims, grievances – my God, who could Scott think of? But DeSantis only talks about grievances and punishments, and he is grim. He sent two flights of migrants to Martha’s Vineyard. He’s excited that Florida is “a place to wake up to die.” How sunny! That’s Trump’s negativity minus Trump’s electricity.
His assertion that he wants to end the Republican Party’s “losing culture” is an anagram for the accusation that Trump has prevented the party from winning, but I doubt the exploitation will cause harm. resonated strongly with the Republican base. As Ramesh Ponnuru wisely remarked in The Washington Post recently, Trump’s alleged toxicity is a longstanding part of his story and brand. “For many conservatives,” Ponnuru wrote“Trump’s 2016 victory reinforced the idea that ‘electability’ is a ploy used by the media and weak Republicans to discredit willing candidates. fight for them.”
