Donald Trump will beat the brakes off Ron DeSantis in the GOP Primary

Get the Point!

I am willing to bet that come January 20, 2025, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will not be inaugurated as President of the United States!

If you're wondering, "Hobbs, what makes you so certain," please consider:

1. The man is unlikeable. 

Ron DeSantis has a perpetual scowl on his face that comically looks an awful lot like Italy's Fascist Dictator Benito Mussolini, so much so that on the occasions that he does smile, it seems forced and fake.

That, and the condescending manner that DeSantis speaks to citizens in public and from what I've been told by one source who worked directly for him, also in private, will be a problem for him in national politics. Lest we forget that while it may seem simplistic, people still vote in droves for candidates that they "like”—not ones who come off as jerks. (See Richard Nixon vs. Jack Kennedy circa 1960, and Hillary Clinton vs. Donald Trump 2016, for reference). 

2. The man will face a machine: Donald Trump. 

I have never hidden my distaste for Donald Trump's politics or personality, but I admit that the man has a charisma that's appealing to his base and those independent voters who share his doom and gloom about an America that's growing browner, queerer, and less bound to religious litmus tests each day. 

DeSantis shares most of Trump's politics, especially regarding the culture wars, but as I point out in prong one, he will fail and fail miserably against a perpetual showman like Trump.

Remember, despite being a lawyer, DeSantis was handily whipped on substantive issues all across the debate stage by Andrew Gillum during the 2018 debates; Trump won't even much try to “out-substance” Florida's governor, but once he starts with the comical nicknames and the low blows against DeSantis, his wife, and maybe even his kids, DeSantis will lose his cool just like every Republican that Trump faced in the 2016 primaries lost their cool at some point or another. 

3. The majority of Americans do not share his vision for the country. 

If, by chance, DeSantis does defeat Trump in a GOP primary, which is possible even if I don't see it as likely, DeSantis's viciously nasty demeanor and championing of the culture wars will lose independent and moderate Republicans voters in a general election tilt against President Joe Biden. 

Yes, I know that at this stage, many of the latest ABC and Washington Post polls show DeSantis with a slim lead over Biden in a general election race, but the spotlight on DeSantis has yet to shine brightly across the country this early in the election season.

When that spotlight does shine, voters will learn more about:

*How DeSantis's "Don't Say Gay" Bill has led to a war with Florida's largest private employer, Walt Disney World, and led to the homophobic governor and his top lawyers being outwitted, outclassed, and soundly defeated at every step of the way by the House of the Mouse. What's worse is that for a party that touts itself as "pro-business" and "anti-Fascist," DeSantis has proven to be just the opposite on both points. 

*Voters will learn all about how DeSantis championed a bill to criminalize peaceful protests in the wake of George Floyd's murder; they will realize that DeSantis recently called Daniel Penny, the Marine who choked a mentally ill Black man named Jordan Neely to death on a New York subway, “a good Samaritan.”

DeSantis's version of a “Good Samaritan…”

When the spotlight shines, voters will learn all about DeSantis's drive to ban books that teach real truths about America's racist past, while he subsequently pushed to eliminate Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion efforts in Florida's public schools; they will learn all about DeSantis's harassment of the LGBTQ community through the legislative process; they will realize that DeSantis has pushed for the most restrictive abortion deadline in the country, six weeks, which is much more draconian than other GOP led states. 

My opinions about DeSantis's Oval Office impossible dreams are only strengthened by two losses that the soon to be presidential candidate took this week, the first being Democrat Donna Deegan winning the Jacksonville mayoral race last night over Republican Daniel Davis, a man that DeSantis endorsed for office.

Separately, up in Kentucky, DeSantis backed Kelly Craft in the Republican gubernatorial primary—but she was trounced by Daniel Cameron, the Black MAGA Republican that Donald Trump endorsed, 47 to 17 percent! Trump wasted no time deriding DeSantis, noting on his dubiously named Truth Social network that “Ron's (endorsement) magic is gone!”

While DeSantis has every right under the sun to run for the presidency, the facts lead me to submit that the only way that he wins the Republican Primary is if Donald Trump is convicted and sentenced to some form of detention or probation that would infringe upon his ability to serve if elected. And while that's a blog for another time—my lingering doubts that Trump will ever serve any prison time—suffice it to say that it makes little sense for DeSantis to jump up to get beat down by his far better financed, and far more experienced political mentor who just loves to wallow in the mud and tempt temperamental types like Florida's Mussolini 2.0 governor. 

Stay tuned…