How Donald Trump took the wind out of his biggest competitor Man hits the barrier at the White House with a pick-up

Everything was carefully planned. After his triumphant re-election as governor of Florida last November, Ron DeSantis set out to begin his presidential candidacy as a frontrunner – the prototype of a young godly government leader who had succeeded in four years in transforming the politically embattled “Sunshine State”. to an oasis of freedom.

But now that DeSantis is officially in the running for the White House, the 44-year-old Republican is only playing second fiddle. And there are two reasons for this in short. On the one hand, the governor underestimated the fighting spirit of his state’s most prominent resident: DeSantis believed that former President Donald Trump would see his time run out after his defeat in the 2020 presidential election.

On the other hand, DeSantis, encouraged by his determined wife Casey, overestimated himself. After being confirmed for a second term in Florida with 59 percent of the vote, he already saw himself as a charismatic tribune of the people, a beacon of hope. for his party.

But this role does not seem to suit him. Even worse, appearances in the main primary states of Iowa and New Hampshire gave the impression that DeSantis has no interest in human contact. And that he is too arrogant to ask ordinary voters for their votes.

These bode badly for an election campaign that many observers are already writing off, even though it hasn’t even started yet. Opinion polls show that Trump enjoys the support of more than half of the voters among the Republican base. Rising trend.

The successful campaign that the 76-year-old presidential candidate is conducting against DeSantis is also responsible for this. Trump has managed to characterize Florida’s governor as an “unelectable” extremist — though it is Trump who has resorted to extreme vocabulary since he was voted out in November 2020, alienating indecisive voters.

How Trump benefits from a DeSantis political victory

This campaign can be illustrated, for example, by the dispute over abortions. Since a landmark ruling by the Supreme Court in Washington last June, the 50 states have had to decide whether abortion is legal.

DeSantis wants future abortions limited to week six of pregnancy; Florida, with its population of over 22 million, is said to have one of the strictest abortion laws in the US. (Due to a legal dispute, the relevant law is currently on hold.)

Trump, in turn, is demonstrating his “intellectual malleability,” as former Wall Street Journal editor-in-chief Gerald Baker put it. On the one hand, he praises himself for making the Supreme Court ruling possible by securing a conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court as president. On the other hand, Trump would not reveal whether he can envision a national ban on abortion.

This debate is also interesting because a majority of Republican voters support a complete ban on abortion. For religious Americans, there really is no room for compromise on this issue. And yet it is now DeSantis who must defend his position reference. (aargauerzeitung.ch)