Trump or DeSantis for 2024?

Last November 8, the mid-term elections were held in the United States and the results probably left the whole country with a bitter taste. The Republicans were unable to conquer the majority in both houses as all polls predicted, and the Democrats finally lost their power in the House of Representatives, leaving a country even more polarized and without an established north.

The culture wars and the enormous economic challenges have been the great protagonists of the last electoral contest and will surely continue to be the talking points that will guide political debates in the coming years. For that reason, many conservatives/libertarians/right-wingers (including myself) consider November 8 to be a huge failure for the Republicans, since, despite winning the majority in the House of Representatives, it seems unusual not to have won the Senate as well, when on the other side is the Democratic Party of Joe Biden, a president who cannot string 4 words together coherently, who needs to carry notes so as not to get lost in a speech, who notably suffers from senile dementia and who, to top it all, has led the American economy to the highest inflation in 40 years.

When it became known that the Republicans would finally not win the majority in the Senate the alarms went off and quickly began the rounds of accusations among the GOP establishment, the citizenry and the conservative media, many of them, pointing, perhaps too vehemently at former President Trump as the one responsible for the conservative meltdown and trying to profile DeSantis as the candidate for the 2024 Presidential election; however, despite the fact that some accusations against Trump may have some basis, the attacks against the figure of the former president by the traditional conservative media (Fox News, WSJ, NY Post), in my opinion, are quite biased, do not really bring constructive criticism to the Republican debate, and what they do is to divide the GOP base, which in view of the current situation deserves more than ever union.

Trump 2024?

We can't fool anyone. The figure of Trump is divisive, both within the Republican Party, as in a national and even international level, it is clear that Trump has done his bit to become the black legend of the international press, but it is no less true, that much of the responses of the former president occur due to a systematic and constant harassment by the mainstream media, the Department of Justice and the Democratic Party, who have used any and all tools (legitimate and also illegitimate), to try to destroy Trump and his reputation.  

During the last decade the harassment of Trump has been unprecedented, I dare to affirm that there is no president in the history of mankind who has been demonized as unfairly as Donald Trump. For the media and his political opponents it is not enough that during his mandate the United States was developing one of the most successful economic cycles in its history, breaking an unemployment record of more than 50 years, until the arrival of the pandemic destroyed the achievements of his first years in the White House.

For the mainstream media it does not seem enough that, despite the demonization, the attacks from the left, the insurrections in the country as a result of the vandalism protests after the death of George Floyd, there was no witch hunt, nor persecution of dissidents to his government, as is now happening under the Democratic Administration (even ordering a raid on Trump's own residence). And, last but not least, it has not seemed to have enough merit that under his Administration the United States did not start a new war or invasion in decades, and that, thanks to his leadership, the Abraham Accords were closed, signing the peace between Israel and the United Arab Emirates (the first of its kind in more than 20 years), which was later joined by Bahrain and Sudan.

I insist, it is well known that Donald Trump has a difficult personality and that his comments on several occasions have caused him more problems than benefits, however, the former president has been treated from day one by the corporate press as the direct descendant of Hitler, despite the fact that during his 4 years in the White House humanity enjoyed the most peaceful years so far this century.

Certainly, Trump is not the devil that the traditional media and the Democratic Party apparatus are trying to sell, however, it has been precisely that demonization, which has built that quasi-divine figure of Donald Trump in a realm of GOP supporters, which, once again, does nothing but polarize the Republican Party and the whole world about his figure.

There are many things that personally bring me closer to the political positions that Trump has maintained in recent years, but among the few things that separate or distance me a little from his pretensions to return to the White House in 2024, are his, on many occasions, unjustified reactions or attacks against those who should be his political, ideological or any other kind of allies.

Several months ago Trump charged against Elon Musk calling him a "bullshit artist", something that seemed to me a serious mistake, especially taking into account that for some time now the influential businessman has been speaking openly about his change of political positions, pronouncing himself against the woke collective and ultimately, buying Twitter taking out of the hands of progressives an indispensable tool of information control for the pretensions of conservative, libertarian and anti-globalist movements worldwide. And the latest was the attack on Florida Governor Ron DeSantis a couple of days before the election, calling him "Ron DeSanctimonious".

Clearly the attacks on Musk and DeSantis stem from different disputes. In the first case, it is perhaps, more of a business dispute and in the second, a political dispute. But if the former president really wants to return to the White House, he should work to build more bridges, rather than burn them.

Would DeSantis be better positioned in 2024?

The first thing I will mention about DeSantis is that to Trump's attacks he simply responded by calling for unity and restraint, which is a wise position. The Florida governor understands that the Republican Party needs to focus on the GOP's external enemies (although inside the house will need to be swept a bit).

DeSantis is all about strengths, he won re-election in Florida with almost 60% of the vote and his successful tenure at the helm of the sunshine state won the Republicans 20 of the 28 seats in the House of Representatives, and his tenure also helped Senator Marco Rubio win re-election with ease. In fact, an MSNBC analysis determined that the Republicans could have won a majority in the Lower House thanks to the redistricting designed by the governor that gave the GOP a couple more seats and sealed control of the House of Representatives.

The governor of Florida has a solid administration behind him, he was the only one in the entire United States to listen to science and not to fear, he did not close his state to the collective psychosis of COVID and the results are there to be seen, not only at the economic level, but also at the electoral level.

Actually, the discussion between Trump and DeSantis cannot be outlined from an ideological point of view, both will want to put America first, they will fiercely fight the collectivist madness of the woke world and will surely succeed in putting a stop to the failed policies implemented by the Biden Administration in recent years; the only discussion that can take place between the two is: which candidate can be more potable for the aspirations of the Republican Party to regain the White House.

I have no doubt that if Donald Trump manages to win the Republican primaries and finds a way to win the elections to return to the White House, he would make a fantastic government, I am not afraid to say that except for some public spending cuts that I would have liked Trump to implement, the four years of his administration have been one of the best in terms of economic policies and in the international scenario in the history of this country; however, I fear that because of what Trump represents, his candidacy would be a little more difficult to sell to the independent electorate.

DeSantis would undoubtedly also make an exceptional government, his challenge now is to convince Trump's followers that he can follow the former president's line and also unite the Republican Party bases, adding also a good number of votes from the independent electorate.

The fight between Trump and DeSantis will not be about ideas -since they do not differ too much-, it will be exclusively about popularity and alliances. For the sake of the Republican Party, I hope that the two can face each other honestly in a primary and that the best candidate wins.

My view is that, in a general election against the Democratic Party candidate, DeSantis would have a better chance of winning than Trump. However, I would never, ever give up for dead the political animal that is Donald Trump, and I hope that, should he prevail in the midterms, he will also make it to the White House and bring order to Washington D.C. and finally drain the swamp.