How Trump is trying to destroy Ron DeSantis’ presidential campaign before it even gets started

21 April 2023

The Lincoln Project's Rick Wilson and New York Times columnist Michelle Goldberg have very different views on a variety of issues. Wilson is a former GOP strategist from North Florida; Goldberg is one of the Times' best-known liberal opinion columnists, along with Jamelle Bouie and economist Paul Krugman.

But one thing Wilson and Goldberg definitely have in a common is a mutual disdain for former President Donald Trump and the MAGA movement. Another view they share is that Trump is walking all over Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' presidential campaign before it even gets started.

As DeSantis cheerleaders like firebrand author Ann Coulter and the Daily Wire's Ben Shapiro see it, DeSantis is the GOP's best chance to move on from Trump in the United States' 2024 presidential election. DeSantis has yet to make a formal announcement, but he appears to be getting ready to jump in the race — a fact that is not lost on Trump.

The former president, Goldberg emphasizes in a column published by the Times on April 21, is obviously hoping to nip DeSantis' still-undeclared campaign in the bud — and it seems to be working, she says.

"Watching the nascent Republican primary race, I have a sickening sense of déjà vu," Goldberg writes. "As much as I abhor Donald Trump’s opponents, I'm desperate for one of them to prevail. Trump might be easier for Joe Biden to beat, but anyone who gets the Republican nomination has a chance of being elected, and the possibility of another Trump term is intolerable."

The columnist continues, "So, it's harrowing to see Trump abetted, again, by the cowardice of his opponents. Ron DeSantis, the Florida governor who was supposed to stop Donald Trump, is deflating before even entering the race, with his poll numbers softening and donors fretting. Trump, meanwhile, seems more buoyed than hindered by his ever-proliferating scandals, and is racking up endorsements at DeSantis' expense."

DeSantis, Goldberg argues, is "making the mistake of believing that the primary race is about issues, while Trump instinctively understands that it's about dominance."

"The upcoming Republican primary race, like the last one, is going to be fought on a limbic level, not an ideological one," according to Goldberg. "It will be about who is weak and who is strong. That's why, if Republicans want a non-Trump candidate in 2024, they're going to have to find someone willing to tear him down."

Wilson has never been bullish on DeSantis as a 2024 presidential candidate. The Never Trump conservative has been predicting that Trump will crush DeSantis in the 2024 GOP presidential primary — a view he doubled down on during an April 20 conversation with his Lincoln Project colleague Tara Seymayer on her LPTV program "The Breakdown."

Wilson told Setmayer, "There's nothing that can replace a natural political talent; (DeSantis) does not have it. He does not have the talent. That is, a talent to interact with human beings…. Trump went around the state of Florida this week and got all but one of the congressional endorsements that came out."

Setmayer agreed with her Lincoln Project colleague, noting that even in DeSantis' own state, he lost most of those congressional endorsements to Trump.

Read Michelle Goldberg's full New York Times opinion column at this link (subscription required).

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