Ron DeSantis Announces Presidential Campaign

America is worth the fight… Every. Single. Time. pic.twitter.com/lWNQ3DIXgp

— Casey DeSantis (@CaseyDeSantis) May 23, 2023

Key differences between DeSantis and Trump: DeSantis is much more naturally synergistic with the Republican foreign policy “establishment,” and much more capable of using state power to quash political speech he doesn’t like

— Michael Tracey (@mtracey) May 24, 2023

People don’t choose a leader based on policy. Policy is fake and gay. They choose a person with authority who reflects their innermost fantasies, and taps into them on some libidinal, primal level. Nerds will deny this but nerds are dumb and wrong.

— Aimee Terese (@aimeeterese) May 21, 2023

Meh.

I don’t really have a dog in this fight.

In a contest between who is the bigger Zionist suck up, it is a wash. Donald Trump was “the most pro-Israel president” in history. He gave Israel everything it wanted up to and including Jonathan Pollard. He put Jared Kushner in charge of the White House. Ron DeSantis has traveled to Jerusalem twice to sign anti-free speech bills in Israel. Both Trump and DeSantis are in the pocket of Jewish donors.

If you look at their record and positions on other issues, DeSantis appears more likely to continue funding the war in Ukraine. Trump has vowed to end the war, but he says all kinds of things and fails to follow through on his promises. To his credit, DeSantis has done some good things in Florida. He probably has a better chance of winning Independents than Trump. Neither Trump or DeSantis will get much done with such a polarized Congress. Both will appoint the same judges. Trump ended Roe.

Ultimately, I think the primary comes down to which wing of the Republican Party you would rather live under for four years. MAGA or the Reaganites? DeSantis has to consolidate the Never Trumpers and Reaganites and peel off enough disaffected MAGA voters to secure the nomination. Trump has to rally his base and prove that he is capable of winning Independents with his baggage train.

For all of their flaws, I think either Trump or DeSantis would be an improvement over Joe Biden, especially on immigration which is just completely out of control with no end in sight. I’m just not really invested in who wins the primary because I don’t care for either of them. It is not worth fighting about.

Note: Aimee and Michael Tracey have some good points.