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Underlying this well-thought out post seems to be the assumption that if Democrats get Trump out of the way, that advantages them in the 2024 election. Is this the case? I know that there's a strong base of Trump supporters, even on the more intellectually inclined end of rightist twitter. I see a lot of people decrying DeSantis for being a traitor, snake in the reeds or whatever.
But DeSantis has demonstrated some ability to play the game, to impose costs on Disney and so on. He's 44, Trump is 76, turning 77 in June. If you're looking for revolutionary action or some kind of significant change, does anyone expect that from a 77 year old? Most importantly, DeSantis is still an unknown, he hasn't had an opportunity like Trump had in 2016 (total dominance of the executive and legislative branches) and squandered it. Why does anyone think that Trump will do more for his cause in a 2024-8 term than in 2016-2020? He bombed Syria half-heartedly, he failed to pull troops out of the Middle East, there was an ineffectual trade war with China (Biden seems to have put more pressure on than Trump did), tax cuts at home, literally zero pushback on culture issues, an ineffectual border wall...
In contrast, DeSantis is smart and seems pretty capable, energetic and motivated. Proper military service, medals, A+ rating from the NRA (in contrast to Trump's lacklustre gun control record), a '0' from the 'Human Rights Campaign for his voting record on LGBT-related issues', good results on COVID deaths and economic growth during COVID, enacted bills against cultural marxism and trans in women's sports, happily married with three children. What more could anyone ask for? I guess he's not as rich as Trump, so he'll be more beholden to donors? This ignores all the money Trump was taking from dubious figures like Adelson.
My interpretation of the rightist point of view is that if the Democrats want to get rid of Trump, good! There's a certain chilling effect for Republicans - but also a motivation effect. If DeSantis or whoever else doesn't act fast, they cannot assume that they'll be safe when they leave office. People in the past have critiqued me for seeing other people's points of view as though they were my own, reminding me that others have my own perspective. I still don't understand why people would support Trump over DeSantis, given the choice. I know the polling but I can't understand why this should be. Is it just that people don't like DeSantis because he's not as unscripted and direct as Trump?
That's extremely short-sighted though. Whatever benefit is gained by not having Trump on the ticket does not outweigh the establishment of the precedent that Liberal justice departments get to have a veto on Republican national candidate.
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