DeSantis saying he’s going to start “slitting throats” reminded me of Romney’s “severely conservative.” While DeSantis’s is a dangerous escalation of violent imagery, they both sound bizarre and unnatural.
At a more fundamental level, Bateman wrote:It’s not at all clear that what most Republican voters (rather than donors) want is a mainstream and party credentialed version of Trump.
The problem with this approach, Ayres continued, is that “the Always Trump voters are ‘Always Trump’ for a reason — they are not going to settle for the second-best Trump if they can get the real thing.”Geoff Garin, a Democratic pollster, wrote:There is no room for DeSantis or anyone else to outflank Trump on the right, where Trump has his most loyal base.
Candidates can argue that Trump is insufficiently conservative on some issues, but that it not the point for Trump loyalists.
Candidates can try to echo the ugliness of Trump’s rhetoric, but that too misses what really draws these voters to Trump.
Persons:
Trump, Romney’s “, Bateman, It’s, Trump’s, ” David O, Sears, “, Archie Bunker, Whit Ayres, Republican pollster, DeSantis, RFK Jr, Ayres, Geoff Garin, MAGA, Frances Lee, ” Lee, ”
Organizations:
Yale, Harvard, Trump, Republican, Derby, Wimbledon, NPR, Ivy League, for Disease Control, Democratic, Trump loyalists, Republicans
Locations:
Ukraine, Princeton