(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . DeSantis entertains the rich and powerful in a beleaguered Trump's backyard [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-02-26 The chances Donald Trump will lose the popular vote in the presidential election for the third time in a row are declining. Not because he will do better against Biden in 2024 than he did in 2020 — but because he might not even make it past the primaries. Polls trying to predict the Republican nominee are all over the place. However, DeSantis is coming out on top in enough of them to cause cracks in Trump’s aura of invincibility. Republican politicos and their owners are breathing a sigh of relief. Since Biden’s smashing victory, their greatest fear was Trump would ride the base to a third straight nomination — before repeating his dismal 2020 performance in the general election. For these anonymous “please let it be anyone other than Trump” realists, the 2022 elections — as disastrous as they were for the GOP — had a silver lining. Most of Trump’s picks for high-profile races — Oz, Walker, Lake, Dixon, Masters, et al. — lost . To rub salt in the wound, the indisputable Republican winner of the night was Ron DeSantis — the candidate (as yet unannounced) most likely to t-bone Trump’s political golf cart into a water hazard. DeSantis may be playing coy with the media, but he is spending the weekend more as a man eyeing higher office than as the runaway winner of a re-election campaign resting on his laurels. He wants the “please let it be anyone other than Trump” crowd knows he is entertaining the possibility. He is hobnobbing with the people who matter by throwing a party for some of his wealthiest and most influential friends. His choice of venue is telling. DeSantis traveled the 400 miles from Tallahassee to Palm Beach to swim in Trump’s media pool and suck up his oxygen. As Politico reported : “The Florida governor’s three-day retreat at the Four Seasons hotel — just four miles down the road from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate — kicked off Friday evening with a cocktail reception and dinner for the approximately 150 attendees. The event billed as a celebration of the “Florida blueprint,” precedes a likely DeSantis presidential bid that would pit him against Trump. And the roster of people there shows that the governor is appealing to major GOP figures who’ve previously aligned themselves with the former president.” One of these fair-weather Trump supporters is the maybe-no-longer-MAGA Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI). He was at De Santis’s shindig, sucking down the bubbly and tray food while sucking up to the fat wallets. Although his spokesperson insisted his trip from wintery Wisconsin to Trump’s balmy backyard was not a sign he was switching horses. Corinne Day, a Johnson spokesperson. made clear that, “Sen. Johnson historically does not endorse in primaries and plans to continue this trend and remain impartial in 2024.” In Russia, Red Ron J. has all his money on Putin. In the US, this expedient me-firster is hedging his bets on the party’s future standard bearer. Johnson travels through life unburdened by principle and unconstrained by loyalty. If some evangelical dark horse — say, Pence — were to emerge as a contender, Johnson would start regaling the audience with stories of his boyhood spent cross-polishing. Also spotted breaking bread with the host were Governors Kevin Stitt (OK), Bill Lee (TN), and Kim Reynolds (IA). Mick Mulvaney, once Trump’s acting White House chief of staff, was there. Although in fairness, Mulvaney has already ditched his ex-boss, saying he is “the only Republican who could lose” the election. Sen Tom Cotton (AR), the eager Jan 6 cheerleader turned running man, and the oleaginous Sen. Mike Lee (UT) were present. As were Rep. Thomas Massie (KY) and Rep. Chip Roy (TX). All of whom had once been first-order MAGAs. Even Roy Bailey, a longtime Texas fundraiser who helped lead Trump’s campaign finance committee, was looking for new opportunities. Trump 2016 is long gone, and Trump 2023’s attempts to capture that mojo are stymied. His act is old and is being done better by others. As John Sides, a political scientist at Vanderbilt who has co-authored books on the 2016 and 2020 elections, told the New Yorker : “Trump’s problem is there are too many Trumps. That doesn’t mean he can’t win. It just means it’s going to be a different type of primary … I don’t think he’s going to stand out from the pack on the basis of his anti-immigration rhetoric when maybe his No. 1 opponent is shipping immigrants from San Antonio to Martha’s Vineyard.” Down at the grassroots, Trump loyalists are being challenged by other equally committed conservatives, some who like Trump but want a change. Michigan conservative activist Josiah Jaster summed up a prevailing sentiment: “I and a lot of other Republicans who were supportive of President Trump are becoming less and less supportive. Not because I’m a ‘Never Trumper.’ I just don’t believe Trump is the best person to move this party forward.” It isn’t just Jaster or Michiganders. Polls trying to predict the eventual Republican 2024 nominee are mixed — with enough supporting DeSantis to make Trump less than a lock to win. The Texas GOP asked lone star Republicans who they would vote for in 2024. DeSantis beat Trump by 11% — 43% to 33%. This result follows on the heels of other polls showing the younger, fitter psychopath with a lead over the aging champ. The New Yorker reported: “Establishment Republicans derided Trump’s début. “He’s turning into Mott the Hoople and doing the state-fair tour,” the G.O.P. strategist Mike Murphy, who advised Jeb Bush during the 2016 primaries, told me. “It’s like a half-life. He’s shrinking.” Murphy wasn’t just referring to the small crowds that attended Trump’s events but also to polls indicating that many Republican voters don’t want the former President to be the G.O.P. candidate in 2024. With his legal troubles mounting and more Republican challengers on the horizon, Trump needs to rekindle some of the excitement among G.O.P. primary voters that he did in 2016. But does he have anything new to offer?” New? Trump does not do “new.” His playlist is nothing but the same old shit. Two questions remain. One, will Trump’s classics age like a fine old Rolling Stones song? Or is his incessant petulance like the double-knit polyester leisure suit — an object of scorn that has people wondering “what the hell were they thinking?” And two, can Desantis who Rick Wilson said has the personality of a toaster, capture the hearts of the bread and circus base? [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/2/26/2154977/-DeSantis-entertains-the-rich-and-powerful-in-a-beleaguered-Trump-s-backyard 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/