Despite
not officially declaring it as yet, it seems very likely that Florida Governor Ron
DeSantis is running for President.
He
has purportedly broken fundraising records. He has received some important endorsements.
He has also been commenting on national and international issues. He recently
spoke at Iowa which is the kick-off state for the primaries.
It
could hence be inferred that it isn’t a question of if but when DeSantis declares
his candidacy.
Following
GOP’s underwhelming performance in last November’s midterms and DeSantis’s
emphatic victory by nearly 20 points, narratives were pushed that it was the
end of Trump and the beginning of DeSantis.
Facts were cited that DeSantis was re-elected in Florida by around 20 points while Trump’s victory won Florida in 2020 by 3.4 points.
What remained
unsaid was that Trump received 5.6 million votes in 2020 while
DeSantis received 4.6 million votes.
But
facts do not always matter during narrative buildings.
Overall DeSantis has done well running Florida.
He has also rather curiously modeled himself on President Trump even imitating his body language and his behaviour on the campaign trail.
https://twitter.com/PapiTrumpo/status/1637882476176482324
https://twitter.com/jj_talking/status/1637920934425407490?s=20
Trump remains the front-runner in the 2024 contest. Leading by double digits in some polls.
President
Trump has been in the news regarding his possible indictment, which Trump said could
happen this week
All
over the weekend, DeSantis maintained silence over this development.
Some contrasted that with the quick and direct denunciation by GOP candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and even former Vice-President Mike Pence, who has recently fallen out of favor with Trump and is possibly aspiring to be the nominee in 2024.
Trump
has aggressively been targeting DeSantis in recent times. Trump sees him as his
foremost adversary for the primary contest and is unsparing with DeSantis as he was with Jeb
Bush in 2016.
Trump
has nicknamed him Ron DeSantimonious, Ron DeSantus, and recently 'Tiny D'.
For
DeSantis, these were hard choices.
If he denounced the targeting of Trump, he ends up elevating and promoting his
number one rival in a tough contest and perhaps hurting his hopes to become the
GOP nominee.
If he
attacked Trump or appeared indifferent he seemed disloyal to the cause and to be
siding with Trump’s persecutors.
Finally
yesterday, DeSantis addressed the situation - he chose the middle route.
This
wasn’t a statement but a response to a question during a press conference about
central bank digital currencies.
DeSantis
began well by slamming the man running the witch-hunt against Trump, New
York District Attorney Alvin Bragg, and reminded everyone of Bragg’s record of
being soft on crime.
"The
Manhattan District Attorney is a Soros-funded prosecutor...They weaponize their
office to impose a political agenda on society at the expense of the rule of
law...The Soros District Attorneys are a menace to society"
Then
in a passive-aggressive move, DeSantis said the following:
"I
don't know what goes into paying hush money to a porn star to secure silence
over some type of alleged affair. I just can't speak to that."
Laughter
broke out at the news conference, perhaps the way DeSantis intended.
He
went on to mention "porn star hush money payments" another time,
before pivoting back to criticism of what he called a "high-profile politicized
prosecution"
It
seemed obvious that DeSantis was going out of his way to remind everyone
about the sleazy background of the investigations.
This could be forgiven because Trump has been targeting him as well.
After the pettiness, DeSantis had a chance to take the higher route and conclude with a mini-spiel about the perils of such judicial overreach.
But instead, he
chose a different path
“I
have no interest in getting involved in some manufactured circus by some
Soros-DA”
“He’s trying to do a political spectacle. He’s
trying to virtue signal for his base. I’ve got real issues I got to deal with
here in the state of Florida.”
These were unforgivable statements.
The
weaponization of the criminal justice system to outlaw political opposition is among
the gravest issues that plague America. This is a threat to the founding values
of the nation.
If
the system is used to eliminate political rivals, democracy ceases to exist.
Legal egalitarianism is a fundamental tenet of any civilized democracy where
the punishment is meted out based on the crime and not the individual
committing it. Once that ends, the US becomes a police state.
Today
it is Trump, tomorrow it could anyone else.
If DeSantis really stands for the MAGA issues, he could be a target unless deals have already been struck behind closed doors.
If
Trump was really guilty of a crime, he deserves to be punished, him being a former President should not matter.
But
that isn’t the case either
As
Tucker Carlson revealed earlier today, the Federal Election Commission examined
the transaction between Trump and Stormy Daniels and concluded that it was not
criminal.
Such non-disclosure
agreements are a common occurrence between celebrities and accusers.
In
Trump’s case, the agreement was made a little before the 2016 Presidential Elections. Trump probably didn’t want any more negative publicity after the Access Hollywood tape
leaked. Trump has denied the affair but chose to buy Stormy Daniel’s silence which she willing sold for a
price.
The core
of the indictment is Trump violating New York's Business Record Act by falsely
reporting the payout to Stormy Daniels as "legal fees."
Even
if that were true, it would constitute a misdemeanor, and the statute of
limitations has already run out for that.
Hillary
Clinton’s campaign paid for a dossier that fabricated claims about President Trump
and reported it as legal fees. The Clinton campaign was ordered to pay a fine and
nothing more.
Clearly, this is the D.C. Democratic establishment attempting to eliminate their number
one rival from the race.
It is not only President Trump, they have targeted
Protestors
of January 6th were detained for prolonged periods of time and were
awarded draconian punishments.
Parents
who opposed their children being indoctrinated with far-left propaganda were
branded as Domestic terrorists.
The Department
of Homeland Security even branded opposition to lockdowns or spreading Covid-19 “misinformation” as a terror threat.
Last year,
Homeland Security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas testified that
the DHS had set up a Disinformation Governance Board, that would sit in
judgment of the pronouncement of citizens.
The targeting of President Trump is just one example of a grave crisis.
Hence branding it a manufactured circus by the left and claiming he has real issues to focus on is gravely erroneous.
This is a real issue.
Considering that the question was going to be asked DeSantis could have been better prepared.
Releasing a statement would have been much easier.
Instead, DeSantis extemporaneously addressed the situation and showed either a lack of understanding of its graveness or an unwillingness to take on the D.C. establishment.
Also appears on American Thinker
Comments
Post a Comment