gorgehiker Loc: Lexington, Ky

The hot mess of a primary campaign of Donnie vs. Ronnie has begun.

The Hill:

Former President Trump released a statement on Thursday slamming Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) for being an “average” governor and “playing games” amid a wave of positive press for DeSantis following the midterm e******ns.

“NewsCorp, which is Fox, the Wall Street Journal, and the no longer great New York Post (bring back Col!), is all in for Governor Ron DeSanctimonious, an average REPUBLICAN Governor with great Public Relations,” wrote Trump, repeating a nickname he first used for the governor last week. Col Allan, the former editor in chief of the New York Post, retired in 2016.
Trump attributed DeSantis’s political success as governor to the weather in his state, saying that he “has the advantage of SUNSHINE, where people from badly run States up North would go no matter who the Governor was, just like I did!”

Mr. SONY Loc: LI, NY

Donald Trump needs to go away.
He's not doing the Republican party any good.

fantom Loc: Colorado

JRiepe Loc: Southern Illinois

He acts like a spoiled brat. The sooner he goes away the better. Trump that is not Desantis.

gorgehiker Loc: Lexington, Ky

I think Republicans are beginning to understand why Democrats felt the way they did about Trump for the last 7 years. You created the monster and now you get to deal with him.

Bultaco Loc: Aiken, SC

Fotoartist Loc: Detroit, Michigan

BS. This is called rivalry in politics. Remember Hillary vs. Obama?

DaveO Loc: Northeast CT

LOL, that's all you have for a comparison??

Blurryeyed Loc: NC Mountains.

DeSantis just needs to stay calm and not pay attention to Trump's petulance.... Now is not the time to get involved in a tit for tat with Trump, in the meantime Trump is just making himself look even more the ASS with each passing day.

JRiepe Loc: Southern Illinois

I totally agree. Let Desantis remain the adult while Trump continues his childish name calling rants.

Fotoartist Loc: Detroit, Michigan

How about Kamala Harris and Joe Biden? And let's not even bring up Bernie Sanders vs. the Democrat party.

Fotoartist Loc: Detroit, Michigan

Have you guys ever run for anything or competed in sports? It's just normal trash-talking.

Texcaster Loc: Queensland

Can DeSantis Unseat Trump?
The long-awaited Republican reckoning has only just begun, says David Frum.

https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/archive/2022/11/can-desantis-unseat-trump/672080/

Kelli María Korducki: You write that DeSantis is now about to show the public whether he’s “a leader or a follower, a man or a mouse.” How so?

David Frum: DeSantis wants the top job in the Republican Party. But to date, he’s been hoping that somebody else will hand it to him on a platter. He’s not challenged Trump on anything—not on e******n denial, not on Ukraine, not on taking government documents and stashing them at Mar-a-Lago. Indeed, when he’s spoken, he’s given Trump his backing. He has put himself in a subordinate position, and now he’s challenging one of the most aggressive and abusive figures in American politics. He’s going to have to stand up to that or be crushed by it.

Kelli: Is there any indication of which direction he’ll go?

David: So far, DeSantis says remarkably little about anything that is difficult. I don’t think I’ve been able to find a word that he’s spoken, for example, about the war in Ukraine since its outset, over which Republicans are divided—some stand with Ukraine, some against, and we can’t tell where Ron DeSantis is. That’s a good path if you are content to end your career as governor of a state. But if you want to get the party nomination away from the current frontrunner, who is this domineering presence, you have to do more than that.

Kelli: And yet, DeSantis isn’t exactly a picture of docility.

David: That’s what makes DeSantis’s subordination to Trump so striking. He has been very aggressive toward other targets. His message is that he’s a fighter; that was his closing ad in his gubernatorial-ree******n campaign. He picks fights with the Walt Disney Company. He picks fights with school teachers. He picked fights with high-school students who wore masks in his presence. He’s willing to fight with just about everybody. But those people don’t have the job he wants. Donald Trump does, as the leader of the Republican Party. And so far, he has not done anything to challenge that job.

Texcaster Loc: Queensland

"DeSantis has to figure out how to look strong against that opponent so that the constituency he wants to win over will recognize his strength. They’re not looking for quiet dignity. They’re looking for more than that." Frum



Can DeSantis Unseat Trump? (continued)
The long-awaited Republican reckoning has only just begun, says David Frum.

https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/archive/2022/11/can-desantis-unseat-trump/672080/

Kelli: What are the potential consequences if DeSantis decides to speak up against Trump? And what if he doesn’t?

David: The potential consequence of not speaking up is that he will just be overlooked. It’s quite possible that if the Republicans had had a better night on Tuesday, DeSantis might have been too intimidated ever to declare for the top job at all, and Trump would’ve won it unopposed. Now it looks like there’s more momentum to DeSantis challenging Trump.

But if you are going to challenge Trump, you have to fight him, because he’s going to fight. He’s going to call DeSantis names; he’s going to verbally abuse his loved ones and his children. That’s the Trump way. And if you just take it, you end up looking like a weak person in a party where strength is the thing they care about most.

Kelli: Is there a distinction between “strength” and “the Trump way”?

David: In the real world, the world we teach our children to live in, there’s a difference between strength and aggression. Strength is a moral quality adjoined to a sense of right, a sense of dignity. It’s adjoined to respect for others. But that’s not the world in which Trump plays politics.

In 2015, during the p**********l race, he insulted Jeb Bush’s wife. Jeb Bush later stood on a debate stage beside Donald Trump and demanded that Donald Trump apologize. Trump refused. And Jeb Bush was left to stammer and yammer. That’s the game, and this is Ron DeSantis’s opponent.

DeSantis has to figure out how to look strong against that opponent so that the constituency he wants to win over will recognize his strength. They’re not looking for quiet dignity. They’re looking for more than that.

Texcaster Loc: Queensland

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