Unquestionably, the Republican Ron DeSantis is viewed as Donald Trump’s most likely opponent for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.
Recently, the Washington Times wrote, “As Republicans look to pick up the pieces from their subpar performance in the midterm elections, they increasingly turned to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis with a common refrain: He can get votes and win where Donald Trump can’t.”
“Some post-election polling backed up that claim, showing Mr. DeSantis topping President Biden in a head-to-head match-up, while Mr. Trump trailed.
Mr. DeSantis did as well or better than Mr. Trump across most demographics, suggesting he can hold the gains the former president made while expanding into Mr. Biden’s territory with women and moderate Republicans,” according to The Washington Times.
Continued in The Washington Times:
“Mr. Trump has already announced his candidacy. Mr. DeSantis, who just won reelection, has not. But both men have emerged as the two heavyweights in a contest that won’t see its first votes cast for more than a year.
“I think the biggest point is that [DeSantis] is a threat to Trump because he can split the Trump coalition, rather than challenge it from outside,” said Charles Franklin, director of the Marquette Law School Poll. “Whether that holds up in a nomination battle remains to be seen — if DeSantis in fact challenges Trump.”
The Hill reported in late November, citing numerous sources examining DeSantis run against Trump:
Last Tuesday, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) won reelection, defeating Democrat Charlie Crist by 19.4 percentage points. His victory was the political equivalent of tectonic plates shifting the Earth’s crust — a theory explaining the creation of continents and mountain ranges.
The significance of DeSantis’s success also caused a seismic shift at the Republican National Committee. Emerging energy has the potential to shift mountains, paving the way for someone other than Trump to be the 2024 presidential contender.
Regarding creation, the last advertisement for Governor DeSantis’ campaign contained a Genesis-inspired voiceover about God creating “a warrior on the eighth day.” DeSantis’ sacrilegious self-branding was slammed by everybody.
More on this story via The Republic Brief:
But criticism of former President Trump was more injurious after the election fallout opened a political sinkhole under Mar-a-Lago. The first national post-midterm poll, followed by a flood of Republican surveys from Iowa, New Hampshire, Georgia, Florida and Texas, showed the former president trailing DeSantis by double digits. Then, in a desperate attempt to stay relevant and possibly ward off potential indictments, Trump’s Tuesday night reelection announcement was mocked as “low energy” and sank into weak sand. CONTINUE READING…