(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . DeSantis flops in Japan and Trump looks more inevitable [1] ['Daily Kos Staff', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-04-25 DeSantis isn't quite toast yet, but he's dropping in the polls, losing key donors, and Trump is giving him a thumping. The latest "Pudding Fingers" ad from the Trump-aligned super PAC MAGA Inc. War Room features an actor playing DeSantis while scooping mounds of pudding into his mouth using three fingers—a spectacle reportedly witnessed by a Daily Beast reporter. As “Pod Save America” co-host and former Obama Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer observed in his Message Box Substack, "People don't vote for weirdos." Awkward performances like the one in Japan are arguably doing less to promote his candidacy than to prematurely end it. Now the question is arising among the anti-Trump crowd: If not DeSantis, then who? During an exclusive donor event several weeks ago organized by the Republican National Committee, a cohort of Republicans used the national platform to assail Trump's candidacy. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, who comfortably won reelection in 2022 while Trump's handpicked senatorial candidate—Herschel Walker—imploded, warned that "not a single swing voter" would vote for a candidate fixated on 2020. New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, who's eyeing a 2024 bid, told reporters of Trump, "I don't think he can win in 2024. Former Arkansas governor and 2024 hopeful Asa Hutchinson remarked that this was the type of "realism" donors needed to hear. "It takes people actually having the courage to say it before people will face that reality," Hutchinson observed. To be sure, the indicted former president who has steered the Republican Party into the wood chipper for the past three cycles is still the odds-on favorite to win the GOP nomination. But if Trump is to be defeated, it's going to take an all-hands-on-deck effort by Republicans and conservatives ranging from the boots on the ground to GOP officials to well-heeled donors. Someone like former New Jersey governor and brawler Chris Christie, who likely doesn't have a prayer of winning, will have to get into the race and start slinging arrows at Trump. In fact, he has already started. Hutchison, who has even less chance of nabbing the nomination, will have to pile on, stressing what a miserable, disloyal, back-stabbing slouch of candidate Trump is. As for donors, the truth is that Trump will raise money hand over fist from the grassroots. In the two weeks following his indictment, Trump has raised some $15 million in rage donations—nearing the same amount as the $18.8 million his campaign reported earning in the entire first quarter, according to Politico. But high-dollar donors can fuel several rival candidacies specifically designed to kneecap Trump until a viable alternative emerges. And while the MAGA grassroots remains fiercely loyal to Trump, even more so after his first indictment, there are rumblings among the most important conservative grassroots constituencies: evangelicals. Who exactly the plucky alternative will be remains to be seen, but the hope that DeSantis would be the answer is quickly turning to dust. Between his awkward camera presence, lack of personability, and strategic miscalculations, DeSantis doesn’t seem up to the task. In fact, the notion that some kind of Trump-lite or Trump knockoff could beat the genuine article was likely sheer fantasy to begin with. It's absolutely true that a core piece of the MAGA base is never going to abandon Trump. But it's also true that Trump fatigue is real—even among many voters who like him but are rightly grappling with his electability. That leaves space for someone fresh, someone who isn't trying to mimic Trump but still has some new-era GOP cred to get traction. This candidate would likely be younger in order to escape being painted as just another establishment RINO. Hutchinson, for instance, is 72 years old and easily lumped in with the like of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, whom the MAGA base despises. Chris Sununu, the 48-year-old governor of the "live free or die" state, seems like a possibility. Sununu is notably popular in his home state, notching a 61%-37% approval rating in a Saint Anselm College survey released earlier this month. In February, Sununu told The New York Times: "I’m conservative. I’m just not an extremist.” It's a construction along the lines of, I'm not your grandfather's establishment RINO, but I'm also electable. Another possibility is 57-year-old Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, who announced the formation of a presidential exploratory committee several weeks ago. Scott isn't particularly well known on the national stage, so he starts out with less baggage than most of his potential rivals. Scott's in-state approval ratings in a Winthrop University poll this month tell a similar story, with 47% of Palmetto State voters approving of Scott, 25% disapproving, and 28% declining to take a position. But Scott, who is Black, seems to have a compelling biography to sell that would lean heavily on faith and his own experience growing up poor in a single-parent household, all tied together with a more forward-looking message than Trump's promise of "retribution." “I have found that people are starving for hope. They’re starving for an optimistic, positive message that is anchored in conservative values,” Scott recently told Fox News as he kicked off his "Faith in America" campaign swing through Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina. Scott could also position himself as a man of faith to right-wing fundamentalists in Iowa, where Trump has managed to alienate many Christian right-wingers. It's easy to forget amid the strength of Trump's national polling that the GOP nomination will be decided state by state. A good showing early for any of Trump's rivals could potentially change the trajectory of the Republican contest. And if Trump suddenly started to look vulnerable after a couple states, that could be disastrous for a candidate whose projection of invincibility is key to his success. It's still an open question as to whether any GOP candidate will have the secret sauce to legitimately challenge Trump. But my suspicion is it will take someone younger who's selling their own brand as opposed to someone just selling Trump's MAGA brand with an extra dash of salt. But what's most essential to defeating Trump is that it's a group effort. It will take Republican officials publicly impugning Trump's liabilities, donors funding alternatives, and local activists in key states lining up against Trump. It’s also more indictments, slowing endorsements, and people switching horses. And finally, it's an emerging Trump alternative who can appeal to both Trump defectors weighing electability and Trump detractors alike. It's a pile-on of people and factors that miraculously conspire to defeat Trump in a Republican primary that is still his to lose. Seem implausible? It was exactly this kind of perfect storm that allowed Trump to beat Hillary Clinton in 2016. In short, there's no silver bullet (i.e., DeSantis)—it needs to be a multipronged assault from multiple directions until another candidate generates just enough heat to catch fire and unite an anti-Trump opposition. Markos and Kerry are joined by Aaron Rupar today to discuss what he is seeing in the right-wing media landscape. Rupar is an independent journalist whose Public Notice Substack is a must-read for those who want to know how truly outrageous the conservative movement is. We are addicted to his Twitter account, with its never-ending stream of Republican lunacy all captured on video. x Embedded Content RELATED STORIES: As the wheels come off for DeSantis, Republicans take aim at Trump at major donor retreat Trump 'fatigue' is real—just listen to these GOP focus groups Trump may have finally alienated the GOP's religious right wing. It's an opening for rivals in Iowa [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/4/25/2165592/-DeSantis-flops-in-Japan-and-Trump-looks-more-inevitable 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/