(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Early reports of Ron's 'Jeb-ness' appear to be greatly exaggerated [1] ['Daily Kos Staff', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-02-13 Trump had retweeted a photo of DeSantis allegedly drinking with high school girls some twenty years ago when he was working as a history teacher at a private high school straight out of graduating from Yale. The New York Times found some truth to the allegation in a reported story last fall, but having a basis in fact has never been material to whether Trump's barbs land. The bigger question is whether DeSantis can maintain altitude under a series of withering attacks by Trump. And the truth of the matter is that only time will tell. But if you compare the latest DeSantis video back to back with Jeb's "please clap" moment, DeSantis emits far more machismo energy than Jeb ever seemed capable of mustering and probably didn't even want to. To his core, Jeb truly believed he was above Trump regardless of how GOP voters perceived the pair. DeSantis is now playing to the MAGA crowd that Jeb never bothered to give a damn about because that's where the primary votes clearly are in this raucous, anti-institutionalist moment in the Republican Party. As Jeb campaigned in 2016, his responses typically came off as pedantic, wreaking of sheer annoyance that he even had to waste an ounce of time on Trump. But last week, DeSantis appeared downright pissy—and importantly, more so on behalf of the little guy than himself. He didn't linger on actual substance in the excerpt, he simply stated that he was too substantive to trade insults with Trump. It's also worth noting that just before the excerpt, DeSantis actually was talking about the substance of his new bill making it easier for prominent people to sue news outlets for defamation. DeSantis, however, cloaked the bill in rhetoric, claiming he was fighting for the little guy. Here's what preceded the clip that most people saw (fuller video embedded in this story by the local West Palm Beach station, WPTV.) "It's different for me, cuz I can fight back," DeSantis explained. "I've faced defamatory stuff every single day I've been governor. That's just the nature of it. But I have a platform to fight back. "A lot of these other people that are more little," he continued, "they don't necessarily have a platform to fight back. And so in terms of our reforms, I really want to empower them more so than people that occupy high positions like me." Then, taking a subtle swipe at Trump, DeSantis added, "Also, just, practically speaking, I would not take time out of being governor to fight lawsuits—it's just not practical." Trump's litigiousness is legendary, and getting more visible as several criminal probes close in around him, his business, and his family. In any case, that was DeSantis' set up to claim the high ground, ignoring Trump's below-the-belt jab, and signaling that he is instead focusing his energy on delivering results for Floridians taking on President Biden. The backdrop of DeSantis explaining that he has the means to protect himself from slander but is more concerned about people who don't was the perfect segue into landing the line that he spends his time fighting for The People rather than smearing other Republicans. If you're looking for a 'little guy' equivalent from Biden's State of the Union, it's the moment where he took time to get ticked off about resort fees that "cost you up to $90 a night at hotels that aren’t even resorts." Biden was previewing a White House bill called the Junk Fee Prevention Act that is likely DOA in the GOP-controlled House. "Look, junk fees may not matter to the very wealthy, but they matter to most other folks in homes like the one I grew up in, like many of you did," Biden said, segregating the rich. "Americans are tired of being — we’re tired of being played for suckers," Biden added with a little 'Scranton Joe' flare. But back to the Jeb-DeSantis comparison. See for yourself—here's the Jeb clip: x YouTube Video And here's the shorter DeSantis clip (fuller clip available by clicking here): x Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) responds to Donald Trump accusing him of being a groomer on Truth Social last night: "I spend my time delivering results for the people of Florida and fighting against Joe Biden ... I don't spend my time trying to smear other Republicans." pic.twitter.com/b432iy9iqY — The Recount (@therecount) February 8, 2023 If you're still wondering whether DeSantis blew his response, it's clear that Trump didn't think so. On Monday, he tweeted, "All of the Fake News is reporting that I spend large amounts of my time coming up with a good 'nickname' for Ron DeSanctimonious, who is obviously going to give the president 'thing' a shot. They are all 100% wrong, I don't even think about it—a very unimportant subject to me!!!" Seriously, talk about a loser. As Daily Beast editor Matt Fuller subtweeted, "And another thing: I'm not mad. Please don't put in the newspaper that I'm mad." Trump's major problem right now is that his entire schtick only plays well when he's winning and looking unstoppable. Then, even the pettiest of Trump’s attacks tend to like he's a wily cat just delighting in toying with some powerless almost-dead mouse. But in Trump’s weakened state—with DeSantis often out-polling him and Republicans plotting his demise—his pettiness takes on a more desperate overtone. In the meantime, DeSantis is having a moment, with reporters handicapping endlessly his chances against Trump and Nate Cohn concluding that his prospective presidential bid isn't Scott Walker 2.0, simply by virtue of the national popularity DeSantis already enjoys with the GOP base. No one knows if DeSantis has what it takes to both thrive nationally and weather Trump's blistering attacks over the course of time. DeSantis does have some weirdly wooden facial expressions and, by many insider accounts, isn’t exactly blessed with the gift of gab in social settings. But for now, let's just say this: Don't count him out of the GOP primary yet. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/2/13/2152751/-Early-reports-of-Ron-s-Jeb-ness-appear-to-be-greatly-exaggerated Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/