Trump Just Can't Stop Attacking DeSantis:
"The real Ron is a RINO GLOBALIST, who closed down Florida and even its beaches"

I wanted to avoid this -- I hate being at odds with any readers -- but Trump won't let it go.

Trump is attacking DeSantis for, he claims, "shutting down Florida."

And that DeSantis is a "RINO GLOBALIST." I know his supporters and surrogates have been workshopping that attack line for half a year now.

Trump has two related problems:

1, Ron DeSantis is seen as a genuine hero who stood up to relentless media attacks to defy Trump's Regime medical advisors to open up Florida.

2, While some credit Trump for expressing a pro-opening agenda in speeches and on Twitter, many can't help but notice it was Trump's advisors -- Fauci, Birx, Watson, Wallensky, etc. -- who issued the directives and "guidances" that states and municipalities cited as justification for forced shutdowns, forced masking, and forced vaccination. And they also can't help but notice that while Trump might complain about these people on Twitter, he left them all in office rather than risking the media firestorm and firing their asses.

In addition, Trump continues bragging about the vaccines he helped develop, and seems unaware that most of his base is fairly skeptical of those vaccines, if not outright hostile to them. Particularly about mandates. Which Trump's advisors made possible.

The leftwing fake Republican -- who always is being paid by liberal outlets to attack conservatives -- Matt K. Lewis talks about the vaccines as a possible "knockout punch" against Trump.

The case for nominating DeSantis is precisely that he's just as tough and "MAGA" as Trump--but more competent. In addition to this, DeSantis has a specific opening, too: "I think the blood-in-the-water knockout blow is the vaccines," former conservative radio host John Ziegler told me recently, "because Trump is so deluded into believing that the vaccines--because he wants to take credit for them--were the greatest thing ever. That's where, with way more than 50 percent of the Republican base, DeSantis can strike a knockout blow."

In a rational world, Operation Warp Speed would be something worth bragging about. But the Republican primary electorate isn't a rational world. As such, greenlighting the COVID-19 vaccine is potentially a serious vulnerability for Trump in a Republican primary. Meanwhile, DeSantis--who wants to empanel a grand jury to look into COVID-19 wrongdoing--is positioned to lodge such an attack. But will he?

I don't think DeSantis will do that. That's another NeverTrumper fever dream, in which both people they hate mutually destroy each other so that Nikki Haley can be the nominee.

But DeSantis will make an issue of Trump not pushing back against Fauci, Birx, Wallensky and Watson.

Here's my bias: If Trump was wrong, I was wrong right along with him. I was never a crusader against the vaccines; I'm still not certain they're responsible for "#suddendeathsyndrome," for example.

I completely understand Trump being flummoxed by the conveniently-timed plague of unknown origin; it was unprecedented. Not the pandemic part, but the all-out Information Operation blitz from The Regime about it.

I understand his instinct to take "the middle course" and kind of go along with Regime "scientists" while also cautioning them against going too far. This kind of "muddling through" is a completely understandable and often-deployed response to crises.

It's what people tend to do when they're not sure what to do. Not a great plan -- but a common one.

I myself was a Middle Courser and supported "muddling through."

Behind the scenes, I talk with some of the most passionate conservatives there are. They are both very pro-Trump and also very anti-Covid fearmongering. They wound up prioritizing being anti-covid-fearmonger and mandates above supporting Trump; I took the position of generally supporting Trump, even if I wasn't sure that all of this lockdown crap was needed.

I was in the position of defending Trump's "muddle through" agenda, and against their position of taking a very strong position that most of the covid fear was Regime Destabilization Theater and that Trump was c*cking out by going along with this crap.

I think my more-anti-covid-hysteria correspondents turned out to be more right than I did. I thought Trump's strategy of "giving baby its bottle until it stops crying" was the best of bad options.

I know many commenters here demanded that Trump be more assertive in declaring that the emergency was mostly bullsh!t and that lockdown orders were illegal for anyone. I was thinking more politically strategically -- and wrongly -- and thought that if Trump just went along with them halfway, we could halfway get out of the crisis mentality and win the election.

But giving baby its bottle did not work. The Regime baby never did stop crying for more and more covid restrictions, did it? They had a government to destabilize.

So Trump's strategy -- let me give them most of what they want so that we can get back to normal before November 2020 -- failed, because the Regime was determined that it should fail.

I don't blame Trump for being wrong here. I was wrong here too.

But, while I don't blame him for being wrong, he was still wrong. Understandably wrong, yes.

I totally do not understand how he now shifts his own bad decisions on to the shoulders of Ron DeSantis.

But that's what he's doing.

See, it was Ron DeSantis who shut down Florida's beaches, not Trump and Trump's advisors who shut down the country, and filled the air with constant hair-raising panic and "medical guidance" telling blue governors and mayors to SHUT IT ALL DOWN.

Former President Donald Trump took to Truth Social on Wednesday to criticize Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis for allegedly being a "RINO GLOBALIST" hours after DeSantis responded to Trump's constant attacks.

"The real Ron is a RINO GLOBALIST, who closed down Florida and even its beaches," Trump posted. "Loved the Vaccines and wasted big money on 'testing.' How quickly people forget!"

I saw a Trump surrogate blaming DeSantis for the masking and school closures ordered by mayors in blue cities. In other words, not anything DeSantis ordered as governor, but what mayors and schoolboards did (even if in contradiction of his own orders).

But if DeSantis is responsible for what the mayors of Palm Beach and other blue cities did, then Trump is responsible for what the governors of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and California did.

I don't think Trump would agree with that.

Trump says that DeSantis closed the beaches -- but he left open most of them for spring break 2020, in March, just months after the outbreak of the pandemic, and gave the order to open them in mid-April 2020.

So the argument is that from December 2019 to mid-April 2020, some but not all beaches were closed?

April 17, 2020:

Florida officials were criticized for leaving beaches open during part of the spring break period last month. Most counties closed their beaches in response or kept them open under very restrictive conditions. Other more high-profile beaches in South Florida -- including Miami Beach -- were closed by state order.

At a news conference in Fort Lauderdale, Gov. Ron DeSantis said some municipalities should feel free to start opening up parks and beaches, if that can be done safely, with distancing guidelines remaining in place.

The governor said it was important for people to have outlets for getting exercise, sunshine and fresh air.

"Do it in a good way. Do it in a safe way," DeSantis said.

And what was Trump doing during this period?

Why, he was criticizing Georgia Governor Brian Kemp for reopening his state too early.

Trump actually argued against reopening, taking the side of his Regime "scientists" against a Republican governor. For example, Trump okayed Georgia governor Brian Kemp's plan to start reopening in that state -- before reversing himself and criticizing Kemp for reopening too early.

President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence repeatedly told Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp that they approved of his aggressive plan to allow businesses to reopen, just a day before Trump pulled an about-face and publicly bashed the plan, according to two administration officials.

The green light from Pence and Trump came in separate private conversations with the Republican governor both before Kemp announced his plan to ease coronavirus restrictions and after it was unveiled on Monday, the officials said. Trump's sudden shift came only after top health advisers reviewed the plan more closely and persuaded the president that Kemp was risking further spread of the virus by moving too quickly.

"I told the governor of Georgia Brian Kemp that I disagree strongly with his decision to open certain facilities," Trump said Wednesday, just a day after telling reporters that he trusted Kemp's judgment. "He knows what's he's doing."

On Thursday, he was even harder on the governor: "I wasn't happy with Brian Kemp, I wasn't at all happy."

The extraordinary reversal -- and public criticism of a GOP ally -- is only the latest in a series of contradictory and confusing messages from the president on how and when he believes governors should ease stay-at-home orders intended to stop the spread of the deadly virus. It demonstrates the political risk for governors in following the unpredictable president's guidance.

And yet DeSantis took that risk, and did the right thing.

Another account:

"I told the governor of Georgia, Brian Kemp, that I disagree strongly with his decision to open certain facilities which are in violation of the Phase I guidelines for the incredible people of Georgia," Trump said during Wednesday's coronavirus task force news briefing.

"It's just too soon," Trump continued. "I think it's just too soon."

But DeSantis is the bad guy for ordering beaches to reopen April 17, and Trump is a Covid Hero for criticizing Georgia for reopening "too soon" on April 24?

Again, I've never been critical of Trump for trying to muddle through this unprecedented pandemic and the attendant Information Operation. I understand that mistakes will be made here and there.

But what's this bullshit of now attacking Ron DeSantis for closing Florida beaches?

DeSantis got ripped for opening them -- and ripped by Trump's incompetent Regime advisors.

Representative Donna Shalala of Florida strongly criticized the decision from her state's governor, Ron DeSantis, which allowed beaches to re-open as the coronavirus pandemic continues, calling the move "reckless."

During a Friday news conference, DeSantis, a Republican, gave the greenlight for local leaders in municipalities across Florida to reopen beaches as long as social distancing guidelines are followed. DeSantis previously drew criticism for acting slowly to close-down beaches throughout his state as the coronavirus pandemic grew nationwide, with images of crowded shorelines shared widely online and in the media.

"It's not only putting Floridians at risk, Jacksonville is right across the border from Georgia," Shalala, a Democrat who previously served as the Secretary of Health and Human Services under former President Bill Clinton, told CNN on Monday. Jacksonville was one of the first areas to re-open its beaches after DeSantis' Friday announcement.
...

"We've got to stick with the science," Shalala added.

What science? Oh right, the "Science" pushed by Antony Fauci, Frances Watson, Rachel Wallensky, and Deborah Birx.

This wasn't just something Trump said today: apparently he thinks this is a winning attack line.

A lot of rewriting of history is going on, Bub.

So Trump's attack boils down to: "Ron DeSantis was an c*ck idiot for listening to my advice. He should have known better."

This is bullsh!t on steroids. As RedSteeze says, "The next step will be Trump criticizing DeSantis for not firing Anthony Fauci."

Trump seems to have doubled down on this attack partly because DeSantis batted it away and didn't even acknowledge Trump in doing so.

I don't know if DeSantis' mention of being comfortably reelected was intended as a dig at Trump.

One complaint I've had with Trump again and again is that he allowed the Deep State to do what it wanted, and then would merely complain about it at rallies or on Twitter, seemingly oblivious to the fact that he was head of the executive branch and could do more than complain.

Trump seems to believe that his various complaints were his actual policy. So if he complained about what his government was doing, we should treat his complaint as the policy and ignore what he was actually allowing his government to do.

I don't know how many times I shouted: Get the hell off Twitter and put this all in an Executive Order, Mac.

But anyway, we cannot forgive Ron DeSantis for empowering Anthony Fauci like this.

Meanwhile, DeSantis makes news on his own, without bothering with the public mud-wrestling match that Trump wants.

DeSantis to defund all DEI programs at public universities.

Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis pledged to defund all diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs at public universities during a Tuesday press conference in Bradenton, Florida.

DeSantis outlined several higher education reforms for state public universities including defunding DEI programs, which he referred to as "ideological" and "political filters," readdressing required courses to teach western civilization and restructure tenure review. Tuesday's announcement expanded on the administration's recent work to prevent taxpayer dollars from funding so-called woke initiatives on college campuses.

"People want to see true academics and they want to get rid of some of the political window-dressing that seems to accompany all this, so that's no longer going to be in the state of Florida," DeSantis said during the press conference.

The first set of reforms DeSantis announced steers higher education away from "indoctrination" by prohibiting universities from "using political filters like DEI statements in hiring practices" and "supporting campus activities or programs that promote divisive concepts like DEI or CRT," according to a paper distributed at the press conference.

Public universities would also be required to provide a "strong educational foundation" in general courses to not "promote ideological indoctrination" and prioritize degrees that will "lead to high-wage jobs."

"We don't want students to go through at taxpayer expense and graduate with a degree in zombie studies," he said.

Trump is trying to get in on the game on education, too.

Former President Trump on Friday released a video blasting public education for being taken over by "radical left maniacs" and vowed to give power back to the parents.

"Here is my plan to restore power to American parents. First, we will cut federal funding for any school or program pushing critical race theory, gender ideology or other inappropriate racial, sexual or political content onto our children," Trump said in the video.

"We're not going to allow it to happen," he added.

Trump added that he will "direct the Departments of Justice and Education to open civil rights investigations into any school district that has engaged in race-based discrimination."

Further details on Trump's plan warn that the "major problem" is that "we have 'pink-haired communists teaching our kids.'"

I mean -- true. Can't argue.

But once again, Trump is making statements. DeSantis is making policy.

Trump is good at insulting people and wants the primary to be fought on that plane.

DeSantis is good at governing and wants the primary to be fought on that plane.

For every Trump insult, DeSantis can just announce a new policy:

That's a little trollish, yeah, but he's doing something, not just putting out "Truths."

He's actually operating the levers of government to create real outcomes, not just complaining.

I know Trump think these attacks will "work," and I think his supporters think that too.

But... DeSantis has an actual record. There are actual facts about it.

You can't just decide that 2020 happened differently than it did. The battle for reopening was led from Florida, not from the Trump White House.

There's an old rule that you can tell who the front-runner is by who is attacking whom. The front-runner doesn't bother attacking people. It's those behind who attack the front-runner.

I don't know if that rule holds with Trump because Trump just likes insulting and attacking people.

But I don't think it looks good for Trump that he's hacking at DeSantis, and DeSantis is shrugging it off and continuing mission.

I don't think Trump's insult strategy is still working. I think it's just background noise now.

It was unexpected and refreshing in 2016, but it's we've seen an awful lot of it by now. I think a lot of people are rolling their eyes at this stuff now.

So obviously this is a Trump v. DeSantis post. Agitate away, and criticize me as you like.

posted by Ace at 04:17 PM

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