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29 thoughts on “DeSantis trails Trump by 37% in latest poll”

  1. royko

    So we have the field:
    DeSantis -- Can't get traction even though Trump is facing multiple indictments largely for just being incredibly lazy and incompetent at his corruption

    Pence -- Foolishly still thinks the party is serious about all its evangelical posturing

    Scott and Ramaswamy -- The annual "see, it's not a white supremacism party" candidates

    Christie -- Honestly, he's probably there to suck up to Trump and try to take out anyone who gives a whiff of being a true challenger. Maybe he thinks there's an outside chance he could slip in if everything goes sideways

    Haley -- Please, Mr. Trump, pick me as your running mate

    3. Five Parrots in a Shoe

      You're right about every one except Christie. He HATES Trump. And he's just as mean as DeSantis but far less concerned about offending Trump's followers.
      I might actually watch an R debate just to see what Christie does.

    4. MDB

      Actually, I think of the Ramaswamy candidacy as more along the lines of "And you know that in reality you really, really love pharmaceutical company executives." Which, I suppose, presents something of a marketing problem.

  2. Solar

    It is truly amazing seeing how fast the air went out of DeSantis' tires. I can't remember any other primary perceived front runner losing so much support so fast and so early in the process.

    It is also amazing to see how all of them seem terrified of using Trump's multiple indictments and legal troubles against Trump. In any other election, the only thing you'd hear from every primary opponent is how much of a criminal their opponent is. But not here. It is as if they are hoping that he somehow ends in prison, a BigMac does him in, or in some other way he drops out to clear the way for them and pick up his base, which would otherwise be pretty mad at them for going against their dear leader. They aren't running to win the primary, they are running to be there at the end hoping he isn't, or at worst, positioning themselves to be a VP choice.

    2. different_name

      We have a real failure of media literacy in this country.

      DeSantis has always been a mediocre loser. He's Nixon but not smart enough. Don Trump may actually be accidentally correct when he says he saved DeSantis' campaign.

      He was never a "perceived front runner", he was always establishment-Republicans' and mainstream media's (but I repeat myself) feeble attempt to distance themselves from the big orange elephant in the room.

      People need to read critically. Reporters and producers want a horse race, media owners want Republican presidents who are housebroken. The attempt to make this thuggy loser look presidential is a blindingly obvious product of this.

    3. realrobmac

      A year and a half ago when everyone was all hot on Desantis as the likely nominee I was 100% sure they were wrong. As a Floridian I have long known just how utterly uncharismatic he is. And as a person who pays even a slight bit of attention to politics, I knew Trump would run and Trump would remain popular with the fascist party no matter what.

      The plan to hope that indictments or even convictions will kick Trump out of the race is not a good one. Even if Trump is convicted of all the crimes he's been indicted for, that will not prohibit him from being elected president. At at worst he will be sentenced to home confinement. There is definitely no way a former president gets sentenced to serve in a prison with other prisoners. Zero chance that will ever happen.

      Will the right wingers stop supporting him just because he's been convicted of crimes they are convinced are a deep state conspiracy? Nope. Will so-called swing voters stop supporting him because of this? I guess we'll see.

      But Trump could be a convicted, sentence serving felon, AND get elected president. Basically that would mean that Mar a Lago (or whatever residence he is confined to) would be the de-facto White House. And he'd get court permission to travel overseas on Air Force One as needed.

      1. kahner

        i certainly find desantis uncharismatic and off-putting in the extreme, but i feel the same about pretty much all republican politicians. but he somehow has managed to keep winning races in FL, so he's got to have something going for him, right? as a floridian, how did he manage to become governor?

        1. Altoid

          IANA Floridian, but opinion I've seen seems to indicate that DeSantis's campaign manager last time around was very professional, FL Rs are very well-organized and thorough, and FL Ds have been completely hopeless at organizing and taking concerted campaign-style activities like registering voters and keeping in touch with them-- very decentralized party structure, or something like that.

          That campaign manager has since moved on to trump's current campaign (which has many campaign pros concerned), and the FL D party has pushed through some structural reforms that may move it away from current ineptitude.

          Just as an occasional observer from afar, it seems to me that DeSantis looked a lot less kooky before his current term-- the worst was probably that weird build-the-wall tv ad, which was only one data point without a lot of context. Plus he had Tallahassee pols either eating out of his hand or terrified of him so there weren't many stories circulating about the guy behind the image, that kind of thing. His prior rep was from DC rather than in-state, I think. Also there isn't much local press to give coverage, from what I understand.

          Since that election he's gone full-on nut-ball, of course, but that wasn't necessarily the obvious way ahead for him.

  3. CaliforniaDreaming

    DeSantis, and all the rest, don’t have a chance because they aren’t authentic. Sure, Trump lies 300 times / day, but they see that as authentically who he is.

    Everyone else comes off as weak, ineffectual, a fraud, etc.

    It’s a giant Crazy Train. If you attack him you are part of the deep state, if you don’t you come off as weak.

    It’s fixable, but all the idiots have to quit en masse, but too many do the, “omg, how could I vote for a Democrat Communist Socialist whose gonna raise my taxes” thing.

    1. realrobmac

      And turn my children and grandchildren trans or gay?

      Unfortunately a lot of people are susceptible to this kind of garbage, which is how we still have a Republican Party.

    2. Art Eclectic

      I said this the other day - I think it comes down to outsider vs insider. Trump is still the golden boy because he's an outsider, the anti-establishment. The rest of the bus is all elitist establishment.

  4. Laertes

    I get that every winner looks inevitable with the benefit of hindsight, but seriously: How did ANYONE imagine that Trump wouldn't win the nomination? That idea always struck me as the most desperate and futile wishful thinking. I know some Republicans so I know that a majority of that party is ride or die with their Fuhrer.

    I don't know how anyone could have imagined it'd be otherwise.

  5. Ken Rhodes

    "I have a feeling Donald Trump is going to win the Republican nomination"

    Well sumbich! Who'da thunk it?

    Just because the large majority of Republican voters favor him? Just because he's the only one who has shown he has the ability to get out the vote (the vote who will vote for him, that is)? Just because he's the only one who has shown he has the campaigning talent (if that's what it is) to overcome the overwhelming advantage the Dems hold in what ought to be important--policy, plans, and popular programs?

    This painfully obvious outcome is the direct descendant of the switch from brokered conventions to primaries. If ya give the people the vote, ya gotta be prepared to live with the outcome.

    1. Art Eclectic

      But will he get that far? I feel like he didn't want the job in the first place and he probably doesn't want a second crack at it. I feel like he LOVES the attention and money and will stop short of actually putting himself in a position to lose - since he hates losing.

      1. Altoid

        He doesn't want the job now either, but he loves the perks-- the prospect of giving orders to the DOJ about his cases and getting his way with everything else, including the great grifting opportunities. Last time it was about greed and deals and ego, this time it's those, energized by cheating the jailer.

        As far as losing, he'll do what he always does-- yell during the campaigns about how he can only lose if it's rigged and crooked, and then when he does lose, yell about how it was rigged and crooked. By this time it's a well-worn tactic.

  7. kahner

    DeSantis' selling point was supposed to be he was a less crazy, extremist version of trump who could win general election swing voters. Then desantis decided to become the most extreme, right-wing, racist, secist a-hole he could be. Not a great strategy.

  10. Vog46

    *****************OT***************(sort of)**********

    Paul reubens, otherwise known as Pee-Wee Herman has died.

    this is tragic. Now, who the hell can Trump pick as his VP??

  11. D_Ohrk_E1

    The strategy isn't to beat Trump. It is to stay relevant and wait to see if Trump is convicted in multiple cases, especially at the state level, before the end of the nomination process.

  13. Dana Decker

    I'm surprised that Trump, which a jury concluded is a rapist* has so much support.

    * let's not waste time arguing about the restrictive NY state definition of rape (exclusively penis/vagina) compared to virtually every other jurisdiction (penetration by any object).

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