Will Donald Trump’s Attacks Sink Ron DeSantis?

Plus: Two Democratic visions for Chicago’s future meet in next week’s mayoral runoff.

By , and
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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks to Iowa voters on March 10, 2023. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Happy Monday! Our hearts are with the people of Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, and Georgia today as they try to pick up the pieces after a weekend of intense storms and deadly tornadoes.

Up to Speed

  • Former President Donald Trump kicked off his first official campaign rally of the 2024 election cycle in Waco, Texas, on Sunday. He rolled out his campaign priorities and lambasted political adversaries—namely Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and likely presidential primary challenger Gov. Ron DeSantis. The rally kicked off with video footage of the January 6 riot and Trump’s recent song “Justice For All,” which features the former president reciting the Pledge of Allegiance over a track of men imprisoned for storming the U.S. Capitol singing the national anthem.
  • Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell left inpatient physical therapy over the weekend, the Kentucky Republican said in a statement Saturday evening, after an early March fall left him with a concussion and fractured rib that required hospitalization. He’ll work from home for “the next few days” before returning to the Capitol, the statement said.
  • Erin Perrine, who previously served as Trump’s communications director during the former president’s 2020 campaign, will join pro-DeSantis super PAC Never Back Down as the group’s spokesperson, CBS News reports.
  • Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson of North Carolina plans to announce his run for outgoing Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s seat in late April, Axios reports. 
  • Democratic Rep. Rho Khanna of California told CNN he will not run for retiring Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s seat in 2024 and will continue to serve in the House. Instead, the California progressive will endorse Democratic Rep. Barbara Lee and co-chair her campaign. Democratic Reps. Adam Schiff and Katie Porter are also running for Feinstean’s seat.
  • Michigan Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson said in a video announcement Friday she will not run for retiring Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow’s seat in 2024, all but clearing the Democratic primary field for declared candidate and U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin. Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist and state Sen. Mallory McMorrow—two other high-profile Democrats who were also considered strong potential Democratic challengers—have also said they won’t run for Stabenow’s seat.

Can DeSantis Handle Trump? 

TALLAHASSEE—Here in Florida’s capital, Ron DeSantis is practically indestructible. What the governor wants, the governor gets. Even doubters—the Republicans among them, anyway—offer grudging respect for the political heights he commands and the policy accomplishments he’s notched in little more than four years.

But none of that will amount to much beyond a thumbnail biography in the history books if he can’t figure out how to take on a certain other Florida man. Even some of the governor’s ardent admirers hesitate when asked whether DeSantis can handle Donald Trump.

“Can anyone handle Trump? I mean, he’s a master at dismantling people and he’s incredibly good on the debate stage,” a Republican operative supportive of DeSantis told The Dispatch last week, requesting anonymity to speak candidly. “I think he can. … If he decides to run, he’s going to have to.”

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Comments (34)
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  1. Avatar photo
    Ben Connelly

    “ “During Women’s History Month, we celebrate and we honor the women who made history throughout history.”–Vice President Kamala Harris at a White House reception honoring Women’s History Month, March 22, 2023”

    Is that so? I thought it was when we celebrated the women’s women who made women’s history throughout history when they made history historically in a historical way as women especially historical women who made history as historical women.

    I don’t for one minute believe anyone, let alone some of our elected officials, eats jello with cottage cheese on it.

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  2. Tom Johnson

    “Can anyone handle Trump? I mean, he’s a master at dismantling people and he’s incredibly good on the debate stage.”

    It’s an indictment of the debate stage, or more precisely the debate format and refereeing, that someone like Trump could do well. He would not last very long on a college debating team.

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    1. Szucsad

      I don’t think Mr Trump does well on the debate stage. Just the opposite. His first childish display with Mr Biden was pitiful.

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  3. Avatar photo
    C C Writer

    You have to understand that the term "progressive" in Chicago politics can have different shades of meaning. When applied to or claimed by those staking out a moderate position, it generally means they are pro-reform and anti-corruption, liberal more in the classical or JFK sense. It also means that there is some basis for cooperation and fence-mending later on, because they can all claim that handy p-word.

    Another noteworthy thing about the endorsements in this race: Both candidates are endorsed by unions. Vallas has the support of the skilled trades (pro-business because they learned long ago how good jobs are created in real life) and the cops. Vallas is law and order and he is also for school choice, and both of these areas can be leveraged to appeal to underserved minorities--with some sincerity due to his track record. Johnson has the support of the public employee unions--teachers, AFSCME, SEIU. This puts the Chicago political dynamic not too far away from being able to acknowledge that there is a difference between the two kinds, and it has to do with presence or absence of a conflict of interest. Ordinary working Chicagoans are open to this idea if it's articulated carefully and responsibly--or they can read between the lines.

    Yeah, I think it had to be something hackish on Vallas' account. One possible scenario is that at some point he had an intern or two with ties to some of those right-wing broadcasters. I think his approach in general is to carefully maintain some distance while keeping lines of communication open to all city stakeholders. No need to burn any bridges, but no need to antagonize anybody either. The adult approach can still work here if the fault lines are in the right places.

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  4. Avatar photo
    Jesse.Wick

    Nobody goes the full 15 rounds anymore. Pro fights have been limited to 12 for some time now. But I don’t think political fights have any limits. They go until somebody gives up, like the frequently unlimited scraps of the bare-knuckle era. And as we’ve seen, you don’t have to give up just because you’ve lost the election.

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  5. Goatprairie

    Trump is a master debater????!!!!! He’s a master something bater bur legitimately debating someone? Bullsh*t on stilts as Jonah would say.
    You mean the clown who acted like the huge orange jackass he usually is during his first debate with Biden is supposed to be a great debater?
    If flinging tons of poo at your debate opponent is great debating, then I guess he’s a great debater.

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    1. Brett

      I am 100 percent team DeSantis. However, I do think Trump is the better debater of the two. Sadly. But Ron can get better, higher ceiling.

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      1. Slowdave1

        His "great debating skills" consist only of 3rd grade name calling and talking over people. I think DeSamtis should, after Trump talks over him the first time, just sing loudly into his mic "LA LA LA LA LA" for the rest of the debate EVERY TIME Trump opens his mouth. Then he will be crowned the new King of the Debates according to modern debate judging. Also he should address Trump only as "Mr. Pee-pee Pants." Oh yeah! Now we're talking about beating Trump at his own game! (And I'm only half-joking. I think the ridiculousness of this approach might just work!)

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  6. Deleted Comment

    This comment has been deleted

  7. Raincheck

    I’m old enough to remember Creedence Clearwater Revival’s hit cover of Dale Hawkins’ song Shou Zi Chew.

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    1. Avatar photo
      JohnM.

      Well played, sir.

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  8. Avatar photo
    EricRemcon@gmail

    “Trump is like the guy on the back of a Humvee holding a .50-caliber weapon; DeSantis is a sniper,” said a Republican official in Tallahassee”

    I know you guys didn’t say it, but it bugs me to see anyone comparing his nonsense to any type of substantial weapon. He is more like the class clown mimicking the principal speaking on stage from behind on the bleachers. His outright lies and childish insults are not weapons, they are, and should be seen by every American, as an embarrassment for the country (no matter which party you lean toward or what policies you support).

    RD needs to be the lunchroom monitor admonishing the immature buffoon and getting those under his adolescent spell to see the behavior and lies for what they are.

    BTW: I in no way endorse RD who appears to be the high school senior version of the 76-year-old juvenile delinquent.

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    1. Goatprairie

      He is like Trump how? I know this is the current hot meme of liberals who hate all conservatives, but DeSantis is virtually nothing like Trump.
      Maybe you should actually construct a legitimate reason why you don’t like DeSantis instead echoing the latest screwball lib talking point.

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      1. Avatar photo
        Dave in Houston

        He is like Trump in his proclivity for using government to go after his “enemies” — classic populism. It’s not a “lib talking point” — I’m criticizing DeSantis from the right, not the left.

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      2. Avatar photo
        EricRemcon@gmail

        If you have seen any of my posts at TD over the last 3 years, you would understand I don’t spew lib talking points. I said ‘appears’ and high school version. If you want to know what was in my mind during the 20 seconds I took writing that sentence here it is:

        His vindictive, authoritarian attack on Disney, his calling Fauci a troll that should be thrown across the Potomac, his “let’s do all we can to get the elderly vaccinated” approach which evolved into vaccines are unproven, his the war is a “territory dispute” which he then softened during his latest interview (that’s all I had at front of mind at that moment, if I stop to think hard or research, I could probably come up with another handful).

        I agree he is likely orders of magnitude smarter and has at least twice the moral character (I can safely say that considering who I’m comparing him with), but he is doing all he can to trace the MAGA line without falling in the orange goo. I don’t think we will see how similar he is until the pudding starts flying when the food fight is officially started in the May/June time frame.

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  9. Stormer93

    It would be a titanic stretch to claim that Vallas is a conservative just because he supports the police doing their jobs and an expansion of charter schools. He's a big spender and checks all the boxes on the progressive social issues list. The statements that Johnson is hitting him with are pretty out of context as well if you read the full interviews. Chicago hasn't had a Republican mayor in almost a century, and the last candidate to even get close was in 1983. Vallas wouldn't have gotten a third of the vote in the primary if he was a conservative, because that's just not the way this city thinks.

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    1. Avatar photo
      C C Writer

      There used to be a particularly strong strain of conservative Democrats in Chicago. There are still some, and the concept hasn't died out. That kind of conservative doesn't have ready-made positions drawn from the 21st-century left-wing progressive list just because they also identify as Democrats, no more than they would embrace the right-wing package because of the c-word.

      But regular common-sense grass-roots normal working middle class Chicagoans already get that and consider it a plus. They're looking for reasonableness. They're much like the centrist liberals who hang out here--"don't associate me with that nonsense, I live in the real world." You might even consider these people to be his base--it's just kind of invisible to those who are looking for Chicago politics to mirror everything that's going on nationally. This is a blue city, but a Midwestern one. There are corrective cultural and economic and historical influences that keep it from going off the deep end like some we have been hearing about on the West Coast.

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  10. Avatar photo
    CJ

    "Will Donald Trump’s Attacks Sink Ron DeSantis?"

    Yes and No. Ron DeSantis will sink Ron DeSantis, and Trump attacks will serve to focus the spotlight on the self-inflicted wounds.

    The culture-warrior brand DeSantis has built withers every time he opens his mouth and most people who hear his whining voice realize he's as fake as a $3 bill. It's easy to script everything safe and secure in the governor's mansion or at state events where cops keep out pesky reporters who might actually question him. It's much harder to do the same on the national campaign trail in front of strangers in rented venues.

    That's why he's having the FL legislature ram through as much insane s**t as possible as quick as they can, so he can just have surrogates talk about his achievements as opposed to trying to sell DeSantis the person. This is the stuff that makes Trump attractive: he comes across as genuine. He's genuinely insane, but he's genuine. Legislative achievements don't mean a thing in a Presidential primary, it's purely an emotional exercise, and Trump speaking evokes a lot of emotion while DeSantis speaking just evokes a lot of yawns.

    Ted Cruz is 10x the faker and 10x the salesman that DeSantis is, and he couldn't best Trump in the arena. DeSantis will shoot himself in the foot, Trump will point and laugh, and that'll be the end of Ron Desanctimonious.

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    1. Goatprairie

      So you don’t like DeSantis. How big is that Trump statue in your living room that you kneel before and worship daily?

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      1. Avatar photo
        CJ

        You have completely misunderstood. I described Trump as genuinely insane for a reason. If I have a Trump statue, it's one the dog uses for target practice.

        I just also lived in Florida under DeSantis for many years and think he's a tool - and since I think DeSantis would be wildly worse for America, I hope Trump succeeds in curb-stomping him.... before in turn being crushed by someone who isn't nuts.

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