Trump, DeSantis, and COVID (plus the entry of Christie and Pence)
I’ve been observing Trump closely since the summer of 2015, and I think I can safely say I know most of his methods of operating when he’s campaigning. He has long attacked all opponents in his own party when he thinks it makes tactical sense, and his attacks are often personal. Some are even preposterous – remember his insinuation that Ted Cruz’s father was somehow involved in the JFK assassination?
But there was often method to what seemed like madness, and most of the nicknames he gave people – actually, all of them that I can recall – were pretty spot on in terms of locating and targeting their soft underbellies. He seems to have lost that knack, as I’ve described with his nicknames for DeSantis and now McEnany (who is not even an opponent of his, but his extremely bold and competent former press secretary for whom the moniker “milktoast” [sic] is absurdly inappropriate).
Which brings me to ruminating on why on earth Trump would attack DeSantis’ COVID record, when all it does is invite comparisons to Trump’s own COVID record, which is one of his soft underbellies. And in addition, Trump compared DeSantis’ COVID record unfavorably to that of New York’s Cuomo. But as Powerline’s Steven Hayward points out, the metrics demonstrate DeSantis’ superiority.
I’m not a mind-reader, but I submit the following as possible logical or at least somewhat-logical motives for Trump’s accusations:
(1) He knows his own vulnerability on the COVID score, so this is a pre-emptive strike at DeSantis to try to start a counter-narrative, at least among Trump’s own supporters. No matter that it’s incorrect. It reassures them and gives them talking points in arguments against those on the right who have deserted him.
(2) He’s sucking up to Cuomo for some reason. I’ve actually read speculation – probably tongue-in-cheek – that he’ll choose Cuomo as a running mate. But I think that’s absolutely not happening.
(3) Trump believes all attention is good attention, and this brings him attention.
(4) Trump is ambivalent about becoming president again, although he might not be aware of this, and is doing some things to self-sabotage.
Of course, there are plenty of illogical reasons Trump might be making these sorts of statements. But thinking of illogical reasons for them is easy. I’m interested in possible logical ones.
Speaking of which – why are Chris Christie and Mike Pence throwing their hats into the 2024 GOP candidate ring? I suppose they may have their eyes set on a VP spot, but I doubt it – especially for Pence. The simple explanation is ego, and you can hardly go wrong with that one for politicians. Another is that they may be bored, and it’s fun and exciting to become a candidate. Still another is that they’re in it as spoilers to deflect votes from someone else, but it seems to be that that would only help Trump (whose core supporters are very loyal) and hurt DeSantis. Since Pence and Christie don’t seem fond of Trump, I can’t see that as their motive.
There is no reason for Christie and Pence except ego. They may think they offer an alternative in the culture war, but again, that is just ego.
If Ted Cruz appointed atty. general, next rounds on me.
“Speaking of which – why are Chris Christie and Mike Pence throwing their hats into the 2024 GOP candidate ring?”
It’s the splitter strategy, 2024 edition. DeSantis is the new ¿Jeb?.
Christie is hardly likely to make a big splash, and he has 0% chance of success, but his ego is enormous (as is his hatred of Trump), while ravenous for any opportunity for attack. He is also entirely lacking in charisma and self-awareness; one wonders who will be foolish enough to donate even a brass farthing to his idiotic and pointless campaign.
‘Christie is hardly likely to make a big splash’
Oh he would make a big splash.
So is Pence a traitor like DeSantis or is he not a traitor like Haley?
All very confusing.
Belmont:
I can’t make any sense of your remark. Why would Christie and Pence want to split the opposition to Trump and in that way help Trump?
Split what? The 1.5% of the vote they would get combined?
Now if you add Asa Hutchinson we are up to at least 1.7 maybe 1.8% and then we’re talking.
1) Sounds like Trump is taking a page out of the DNC playbook. Except Trump doesn’t have most of the media in his pocket like the DNC. Maybe he thinks he can buy a dominant amount of airtime?
If the media gangs up even a little on DeSantis’ side on the covid issue (because it’s true? Do they still care about that?) it won’t work.
— why are Chris Christie and Mike Pence throwing their hats into the 2024 GOP candidate ring?
Well Bernie showed us it’s profitable. Got some family members who could use an few extra $100K? It’s all legal.
Christie I suspect will discover that 2016 was his high-water mark. As for Pence, he has name recognition; didn’t do Dan Quayle or Joseph Lieberman much good. Both have incidents in their political history which will be a major buzzkill for attentive Republicans.
I’ll cast a ballot for DJT if he’s the nominee, but I do wish he’d pass the baton. In New York, judges are compelled by the state constitution to retire conditionally at the end of the calendar year they reach their 70th birthday and categorically at the end of the year they reach their 76th birthday. It’s a satisfactory rule for f/t public offices generally.
Art Deco,
And people rightfully point to things like Biden falling like today and say Trump is in better shape than Biden but is he and that can change fast.
My dad was a relatively healthy 76 year old and still practicing law and then had a couple of minor medical problems which led to a series of issues and he was dead six months later.
The age is a huge thing for me. It’s time for younger leaders with children because that perspective affects how a person looks at the future.
Perfection, as we know, is for a future place. Trump did very well (no new wars/ending conflicts – very important imo) considering the entire Federal Intel, Law & Medical establishments were trying to jail him daily with false charges. How often have we read “Well, Trump is proven right again”. A ‘businessman’ leading ‘our business’. Yes, I’d vote for him again.
trump and desantis are the top deck, vivek and elder are the next level then there’s everyone else,
how likely are the big dawgs likely to back christie this time, both he and jeb were underperforming assets,
As TommyJay suggests, leftover campaign funds can be a nice bonus for these minor candidates — always assuming they get any donations at all. Vivek is raising his visibility and maybe hoping for a VP slot, I think. Pence and Christie are delusional if they think their candidacies are going anywhere, in my opinion.
Trump’s endorsement of Cuomo’s COVID management is a far more serious matter than being petty about his outstanding former press secretary. DeSantis’s management of COVID was much, much better than Cuomo’s.
yes thats very stupid, nearly criminal in ignorance, cuomo killed tens of thousands in the nursing homes, when the ventilators hadn’t done the trick, the horror of it is hard to grasp entirely,
neo, my hat (were I wearing one) is off to you for your foray into making reasonable sense of The Orange Mean Man and his actions / antics.
I’m reminded of a Star Trek episode in which the supremely logical Mr. Spock is trying to apply logic to grok the actions / antics of a primitive and very illogical adversary.
There’s another explanation: Trump is actually proud of Operation Warpspeed. His ego is too big to admit he made a mistake caused by his germophobia.
“Speaking of which – why are Chris Christie and Mike Pence throwing their hats into the 2024 GOP candidate ring?”
The other reason I can think of is to get another ride on the political donation gravy train. As long as you’re a candidate, you can write off a whole lot of living high on the hog as “campaign expenses”, as least as long as you can attract enough donations to cover it.
Re JackWayne — I don’t think Dr Scott Atlas, who spent several months advising Trump personally (despite being apolitical), would concur with you.
Rather, to the contrary in his book on this Covid19 episode in his life.
It’s time for younger leaders with children because that perspective affects how a person looks at the future.
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As a general rule, I think childless men should be Piggy rather than Ralph.
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My own bias is in favor of elected officials being in late middle age or early old age and having spent the bulk of their working life in some trade other than electoral politics. I’m partial to DeSantis. Optimally, he would be an older man who had been a working lawyer for most of his adult life, but we have to set priorities.
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I will admit that the right background guarantees nothing. Herbert Hoover, Jimmy Carter, and George Bush the Elder all had the right background, roughly speaking. They all had some serious-to-crippling shortcomings in office.
Christie, Pence, and probably some others are in it for money and to maintain relevance (another way of saying money).
Trump’s trashing of Kayleigh was his jump-the-shark moment for me.
Despite his many successes, his greatest failure was in picking subordinates, cabinet secretaries, and various other assistants.
Kayleigh was as close to perfect in her very difficult role as anyone I have ever seen in public or private spheres.
Anyone who would choose to work for Trump in another administration is either desperate for attention, desperate for a job, or just plain desperate.
I’ll vote for Trump against any democrat, but at present I’m a Desantis voter.
Art Deco, agreed. When people hit 70 years, they are too feeble to live and should gracefully be led to the nearest slaughterhouse. The elderly are useless if they are not registered Democrats.
Why? Ego and attention, meaning the ability to get on TV and crap on Trump and other Republicans. All broadcasters will arrange for the flow of copious attention (and dollars) to those willing to thrust the dagger into the back of a fellow Republican! It’s the key to the media’s heart, and wallet!
West TX Intermediate Crude (8:56 am) said:
“Trump’s trashing of Kayleigh was his jump-the-shark moment for me.”
For me it was his despicable trashing of Carly Fiorina’s looks in early 2016, along with his silly mocking of John McCain as a non-hero because the latter was captured.
I readily acknowledge that Trump did many good things as president, not the least of which was showing us deplorables how to have a spine and fight back*.
* but pleeeeze, intelligently; not in that juvenile, fifth-grade manner of his
I’m just saying, those two antics were when Trump jumped *my* shark. The man is a jerk, a liar, a boor, and a turd**, not necessarily in that order.
** [ got any more four-letter words I can insert? ]
mccain has been waving the bloody shirt since 2005 thereabout when he decided to push mccain feingold, the promoters of which were all over the lawfare against trump and guiliani, the pretext for the surveillance that served the aspen table top exercise, his attack on the interrogation programs that provided some use,
I don’t think of Carly either way, except like the losing candidate for senate in 2010
I think I spelled out my objections in the primary re the attacks on cruz, which apparently were sourced from the fusion gps chum bucket
miguel cervantes,
To be plain, I have absolutely no use for McCain, but Trump’s mocking of McCain . . .
“He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured.”
. . . had to have been among the most moronic things ever said by anyone.
I did like Fiorina at the time, but that was beside the point; what Trump was mocking were her *looks*:
”Look at that face! Would anyone vote for that? Can you imagine that, the face of our next president?”
For me (maybe not for some others), that was unforgivably boorish. What kind of imbecile vomits out stuff like that? [Answer: a Donald J. Trump kind of imbecile.]
I don’t find that as important as $2.00 gas, no dead casualties in afghanistan, a functioning supply chain, you know real world issues,
“(3) Trump believes all attention is good attention, and this brings him attention.”
I think I go with this, plus the fact that Trump doesn’t understand his own appeal, and possibly never did. He seems to think people raced to support him in 2015-16 because he was Donald Trump and because he was being a pugnacious son of a bitch. That’s not true. People raced to support him because he was being a pugnacious son of a bitch toward the correct targets — meaning the Democrats.
I also think that Trump has lost a step mentally since 2020, and is acting and reacting with a lot more emotion and less reason now than he did in 2015-16. I think he doesn’t understand just how bad this kind of behavior looks to a lot of voters.
The favorite thing for politicians other than being in office is running for office. Indeed, it might be the very favorite thing — all the perks and no real responsibilities. You get all the attention you want and a paying “job” for one or two years. All your travel free. All your meals too — and that’s quite a perk for Chris Christie. If you’re a politician and you aren’t getting attention, you’re like a fish out of water. You’re also probably terribly bored if you aren’t active. You’re acting out campaigns in your mind all the time, so why not bring them to the real world (even if you know you don’t have a shot at winning)?
Trump doesn’t have a focus anymore. He doesn’t have a monopoly on his issues any more and he isn’t the big new thing anymore. Voters are getting tired of him and many want him to go away. So he’s distracted by any shiny object that comes in his way. He needs somebody to give him structure and discipline, but he’s not getting the right advice and wouldn’t take it if it were offered.
M J R:
The oddest thing about Trump’s criticism of Fiorina was that she’s a relatively attractive woman, especially for her age. She also has a very nice figure. Of course, she’s no supermodel. But very few people are.
M J R
Let’s not forget his imbecility in taking on the family of a dead Gold Star soldier. I thought Trump’s “Jump the Shark” moment was the Ted Cruz’s father was involved in killing JFK. I share your disdain for Donald Trump and find he is an apalling candidate and man.
neo
I liked Carly Fiorina but felt that her running for president without ever holding political office was an overreach
Although Chris Christie will greatly widen the field, he wouldn’t be in the race without the urging of fat cat donors.