It's Time for DeSantis to Focus on the Job He Has, Not the Job He Won't Get
DeSantis has as good a chance of winning the GOP nomination as the Dallas Cowboys do winning the Super Bowl this season
On Monday night the absolutely predictable and expected happened, at least for those of us living in reality: Donald Trump won the Iowa caucus. Actually, he didn’t just win, he dominated. It was so decisive that no legitimate argument can be made to justify the continuation of any campaign other than the Trump campaign going forward. The primary is over.
Prior to the Iowa caucus results, the DeSantis campaign surrogates, in particular, had insisted that the polls showing Trump’s landslide lead for the GOP nomination were disingenuous or even rigged. I don’t fault the DeSantis, Haley, Ramaswamy campaigns, etc for insisting—however desperately— that polls were not votes or caucuses. “Wait until Iowa when we shock the Trump campaign and the world with an upset victory,” the Desantis campaign seemed to argue.
Well, now the Iowa caucus has taken place and the results confirm the polls: Trump is the landslide winner. The same DeSantis campaign surrogates are now desperately coming up with excuses for DeSantis’s humiliating defeat—laughably even charging the media with election interference for calling the Iowa caucus before every vote had been counted; even while the same accusers refuse to acknowledge election interference in the 2020 election.
Notably absent from any DeSantis analysis of the Iowa results is an admission that DeSantis simply isn’t as popular as they or he thinks he should be. But, it matters little how desperately DeSantis, or Ramaswamy, or Haley supporters—or the candidates, themselves—want their respective candidates to win the nomination; Iowa reaffirmed that there simply aren’t enough likeminded voters to agree—at least for this election.
The Trump victory should serve as a reality check for never-Trumpers in the GOP. These delusional supporters of Haley, DeSantis, or Ramaswamy—those specifically, who not only supported but believed their alternative candidate could or would beat Trump in the primary—must now swallow and accept the reality that Trump will be the nominee. But will they?
Most importantly, these laggards to reality must conquer whatever prior misgivings they’ve held in their minds about Trump—both real and perceived—and become champions for his re-election. The stakes of the 2024 Presidential election demand it, but can they?
Perhaps the only surprise from Trump’s historic victory in Iowa was DeSantis’ defiant—and completely delusional—response to his own shellacking. No candidate put more effort into winning the Iowa caucus than Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. Notably, neither the endorsements of Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds or supposed evangelical juggernaut Bob Vander Plaats convinced Iowans to dump Trump and back Ron DeSantis.
Despite DeSantis’ heroic—and very expensive—effort, DeSantis finished 30 points behind Trump, while Trump won more than 50% of the vote—the largest margin of victory in Iowa caucus history. But rather than admit defeat, accept reality, and exercise a modicum of humility—like Ramaswamy did—DeSantis has doubled down on delusion; insisting somehow that Iowa was a win for him. “We’ve got our ticket punched out of Iowa,” DeSantis claimed after losing.
DeSantis has as good a chance of winning the GOP nomination as the Dallas Cowboys do winning the Super Bowl this season. Imagine the Dallas Cowboys celebrating their humiliating playoff loss to the Green Bay Packers on Sunday—that’s what DeSantis did after being humiliated in Iowa on Monday.
It’s DeSantis, by the way, who out of desperation transformed the typically meaningless Iowa caucus into the Super Bowl—hoping a victory in Iowa could be spun to combat the existing narrative that DeSantis cannot win the nomination and thus resuscitate his dying campaign.
But now that DeSantis failed to win in Iowa, he wants to move the goalpost. Suddenly it’s a long election season with many more games to be played, and very soon DeSantis will prove his prowess and popularity in some future caucus—so DeSantis says.
If DeSantis couldn’t win Iowa with his dream endorsements, tens of millions of dollars spent on advertising, and 154 campaign stops in all 99 counties, how is he going to win elsewhere? He bet the farm on Iowa and lost it.
But rather than cut his losses, DeSantis wants to double down. He’s like a gambling addict at a Las Vegas casino, who can’t stop. “Oh, I lost this round, but I’ll win the next one.” It’s clear that DeSantis is obsessed with becoming President and is transfixed on 2024.
While I have no issue with his personal ambition per se, I am very concerned with DeSantis’ clear and reckless willingness to gamble America’s future in the pursuit of his own selfish and unrealistic goals. Iowa proved this isn’t DeSantis’ year—Trump will be the nominee. So why is DeSantis vowing to stay in and campaign until the bitter end?
The DeSantis campaign—and Haley too—only serve one purpose at this point: to distract and prevent the GOP from focusing its attention on the important and necessary task of beating the Democrats in November.
2024 is America’s last stand. As I write in my book, America’s Last Stand: Will you Vote to Save or Destroy America in 2024, “Our present conflict is unprecedented in our own nation’s history and in our own lifetimes and marks the third major test, which will determine whether America survives or dies.”
Given these stakes and Trump’s inevitable nomination, GOP voters face an easy decision: back Trump or back Biden and the Democrats. The sooner we unite, the greater our chances of saving the country.
At this point, Trump is running to save America and DeSantis is running to save face. Trump is running to win a general election and DeSantis is running to win a caucus. Trump is running because American voters want him to run and DeSantis is running because his donors want him to run.
It’s time for Ron DeSantis to focus on the job he has, not the job won’t get.