A NEWSLETTER FROM DAVID CORN |
A NEWSLETTER FROM DAVID CORN |
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Ron DeSantis: Not Dead Yet |
By David Corn August 8, 2023 | Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, wearing a shirt with his name on it, works a diner in Vinton, Iowa, on August 5, 2023. Thomas Beaumont/AP |
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A once-promising Republican presidential candidate is floundering. His poll numbers have been slipping. He faces fundraising problems and lays off staff. His messaging is not gaining traction. And pundits and political pros practically read him the last rites. He’s a goner. It’s over. Say goodbye. Am I talking about Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who believed his far-right crusade against wokeness (whatever that is) would arouse the GOP masses and propel him to victory? Nope. John McCain. In 2007.
That year, the Arizona senator, who in 2000 had come close to swiping the GOP nomination from the frontrunner, nepo-baby George W. Bush, entered the Republican sweepstakes as the presumptive favorite. But by the summer of 2007 his campaign was on life support. It was hemorrhaging money and imposed drastic staff cuts. McCain was trailing Rudy Giuliani in the polls. (Hard to believe Giuliani was once not a joke.) And Mitt Romney was putting up a good fight. Mike Huckabee was also in the mix. Political observers were sounding the death knell for the onetime maverick who had shifted in this race toward courting the GOP establishment and conservative voters. An ABC News story was headlined “Death Watch. McCain watches in vain as his dream evaporates.” A Real Clear Politics article declared “the odds are John McCain will drop out of the presidential race...before the first vote is cast in Iowa in January.” A Los Angeles Times story reported that McCain’s campaign was “in a state of near-collapse.”
Yet come the fall of 2007, as the early primaries approached, a leaner-and-meaner McCain campaign rebounded, and McCain went on to win the GOP contest decisively.
In recent days, DeSantis has received similar treatment to what McCain had to deal with in the middle of 2007. As the DeSantis campaign has hit a rough patch, politics watchers have been quick to cite these setbacks as nearly fatal. “Ron DeSantis slashes more than a third of staff as campaign flounders,” a Guardian headline blared. There was much media attention paid to the report that one of DeSantis’ top donors, hotel entrepreneur Robert Bigelow, was threatening to kiss the governor goodbye if he did not adopt more moderate stances. According to the New York Times, many GOP voters don’t care about his war on woke. And DeSantis’ “reboot,” as he focuses on smaller-scale events in the early primary and caucus states, has provoked much tittering. There’s also DeSantis’ sinking poll numbers. In the last six months, he has dropped from about 30 percent to about 15 percent, remaining in second place but trailing indicted ex-president Donald Trump by hefty margins.
When I hear politicos chuckling that DeSantis is dead in the water, I recall McCain. Not that DeSantis has the late senator’s appeal or political skills. Moreover, he’s far from the favorite, as he looks to defeat the twice-nominated Trump, who remains wildly popular within the GOP base. The only parallel with 2007 is that…you never can tell. Politics is volatile. (Ask Presidents Scott Walker, Rick Perry, and Hillary Clinton.) And it’s not a good idea to write off a fellow as devious as DeSantis who has shown in the past an ability to raise ungodly amounts of political cash (even if that isn’t happening for him now).
I try to avoid political prognostications. In January, I made what I thought was a convincing case why DeSantis should sit out 2024—and I believed then he might see the logic of this argument. Five months later, I acknowledged I was surprised that DeSantis, who did enter the race, was trying to out-Trump Trump in meanness and vituperation. The obvious play for DeSantis was to campaign as a Republican candidate who was as conservative as Trump but better-tempered and far more competent. Yet he seemed to think he could be Trumpier than the GOP cult leader and somehow supplant Trump in the hearts of Trump’s devotees.
Figuring out DeSantis and his 2024 campaign has not been easy. It could well be that these first few months are a clear-as-a-bell sign that this Florida man does not have the chops to be a top-notched presidential wannabe and that he lacks the strategic smarts and campaign skills a national candidate needs. And, of course, his attempt to dethrone Trump within a party that remains fully Trumpified may be a fool’s errand. Looking back in a year, we might be able to say that it was curtains for DeSantis from the start.
Still, I caution all of us to refrain from dead-or-alive pronouncements at this stage in the GOP slugfest. There’s still time for DeSantis to right his ship of hatred. And who knows what could possibly happen with the multi-indicted, 77-year-old Trump? It’s even possible that Sen. Tim Scott or former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley could catch fire. (At one moment in the 2012 race, businessman Herman Cain topped the GOP polls.) In 2019, Joe Biden, the leader in the Democratic race, slid from 40 percent to 25 percent and for a brief time was in a virtual tie with Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren. DeSantis may be a sub-par, churlish, and authoritarianish politician who’s not able to connect with Republican voters and who cannot figure out how to best Trump. But he’s not dead yet.
Which reminds me: |
Well, not Our Land, but me. I will be speaking at the Truro Meeting Hall on August 13 at 7 p.m. The Meeting Hall is a classy site; built in 1827, it features a tower that contains a bell from the Paul Revere Foundry. I’ve delivered many a lecture but none in such a historic setting (except for the talk I did there last summer). The title of this event is “David Corn Unfiltered!” That was not my idea, nor was the exclamation point at the end. I assume that means I’m supposed to be emphatic in my unfilteredness. But most folks who know me will say that I am not that filtered to begin with. I’m not sure what topics will receive my unrestrained candor, but there’s no shortage of material these days. It will be a fun evening. And the price is right: free. Just make sure to come early to get a seat in those old pews. (Maybe bring a cushion!) The event is co-sponsored by the Truro public library, a wonderful place, particularly on rainy days. For more info, click here.
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Dumbass Comment of the Week |
Never has a T-shirt won this un-coveted prize. But this week we make history.
We must first start with the historic federal indictment of Donald Trump handed down last week that accused the former failed casino owner of subverting American democracy. On page 33, special counsel Jack Smith and his team of prosecutors revealed new and incriminating information about the defendant, disclosing that on January 1, 2021, Trump called Vice President Mike Pence and berated him for opposing a baseless lawsuit that sought to win a judicial decision stating that the vice president had the authority to reject electoral votes or return them to the states. Pence told Trump that he believed there was no constitutional basis for such authority and that it was improper to seek it. Trump allegedly huffed, “You're too honest."
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This account clearly came from Pence, who essentially dropped a dime on Trump by sharing this and other information with Smith and his investigators. (Trump, naturally, has denied he said this.)
The line—“you’re too honest”—is damning for Trump, showing that he knew his effort to thwart the certification of the 2020 election was a crooked enterprise. It also reveals Trump’s mindset: If you follow the rules, you are too honest. This exchange confirms Trump’s lack of scruples and is flattering for Pence. To be called “too honest” by one of the world’s most successful liars is quite a compliment.
But it’s only a compliment within the world of reality and decency. And that’s not the world in which Pence, who has stated that Trump placed his own selfish desire for power above the US Constitution, is seeking the Republican presidential nomination by running against his old boss. In GOP-land, two-thirds of Republicans still believe Trump’s bogus and debunked claim that President Joe Biden won the 2020 election by fraud. These people are not looking for honesty. They crave vengeance.
Nevertheless, Pence and his campaign rushed to make “too honest” a campaign slogan. This included quickly producing T-shirts and baseball caps emblazoned with Trump’s remark for sale in the Pence campaign’s online store. |
Most GOP voters are not looking for honesty—especially not when the issue is the 2020 election. If Republicans wanted integrity, Trump would not have won the presidency in 2016, and he would not have received 74 million votes in 2020. And he would not be the far-and-away dominant candidate in the 2024 GOP contest. Trump’s 30,000-plus lies and false statements during his White House years did not offend most Republicans. So why do Pence and his team believe that pushing “honesty” is an effective strategy in the GOP primary battle?
It's cute that Pence—who dutifully supported this narcissistic con man for four years—is now wearing Trump’s complaint that he was too honest as a badge of honor. But this ain’t a sharp move for a guy who wants to bag the GOP nomination. It alienates Trump-loving voters and there’s not much of a Republican market for honesty. (Even Pence himself has not ruled out voting for Trump, should Trump become the GOP’s nominee.)
Here’s how some GOPers recently showed Pence how much they care about his “honesty”: |
For slapping on a T-shirt a slogan that demonstrates his campaign’s failure to understand the 2024 GOP race, Pence, who is polling at about 5 percent, stumbles into our winner’s circle this week. |
Read Recent Issues of Our Land
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August 5, 2023: From the Our Land archives: The tale of Jeffrey Clark (Trump’s “co-conspirator 4”); Hightown, a crime drama that explores the underside of Cape Cod; and more.
August 1, 2023: What the Trump indictment won’t fix; the Covid wars; Freedy Johnston’s songwriting craftsmanship; and more.
July 25, 2023: Oppenheimer: a masterwork with a missing piece; wait, wait…I’m on a different news quiz show; the Our Land Zoom meeting report; summertime schedules; Jaune Quick-to-See Smith and Barbie; and more.
July 22, 2023: How dangerous is No Labels?; Dumbass Comment of the Week (Kevin Lincoln); the Mailbag; MoxieCam™; and more.
July 18, 2023: RFK Jr.’s antisemitic lunacy; George Santos and Miles Guo—a Trumpland love story; the current relevance of the 1965 Night of Camp David; and more. July 15, 2023: RFK. Jr.: Should we give a damn?; Dumbass Comment of the Week (Lawrence Summers); the Mailbag; MoxieCam™; and more.
July 11, 2023: Don’t forget Rudy Giuliani was a Russia disinformation stooge; Elliott Abrams, again; the tantalizing Silo; Chrissie Hynde as Frank Sinatra; and more. July 8, 2023: Ron DeSantis and the GOP primary of hate; from Twitter to Threads; an Our Land Zoom get-together; Dumbass Comment of the Week (Linda Yaccarino); the Mailbag; MoxieCam™; and more. |
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Got suggestions, comments, complaints, tips related to any of the above, or anything else? Email me at ourland@motherjones.com. |
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