FireAg said:
FL_Ag1998 said:
FireAg said:
The inertia behind Trump remains formidable...the Trump Voting Bloc has its fringe nuts, don't get me wrong, but his support increases every time the establishment tries to torpedo him...
So, here's another question. You point out that Trump gets a polling boost in his support (assuming we believe these polls now) every time the Dems/establishment goes after him. The Dems/establishment are privy to these results just like you and I are.
So if they are truly afraid of Trump but they see his popularity among his base supposedly inceasing when they attack him, then it stands to reason...
1) they either truly believe the attacks will 100% work before the election and he won't be able to run
Or
2) they want his base support to increase and the attacks are designed to serve that purpose.
Do you think they truly believe 100% he'll fall to the indictments and they're relishing running against Desantis? If not, and #2 above is the real reason for the attacks, why would they want his base support to increase?
Is it perhaps because they reason (correctly IMO) that Trump's base is only so big and his ceiling in a General election is low enough to keep him from winning? Just maybe they're doing all of this to steer the R's into a loss in the General election?
We talk of Dems cheating in elaborate schemes, but Trump's diehard supporters don't want to give the Dems credit for being smart enough to put 2 + 2 together and figure out the above plan.
Or 3...they have an idea of what his ceiling is and they have enough election fraud in place to beat that ceiling...
But I'll do you one better...what if DeSantis wins the R primary and still loses the General (because the also know what his ceiling is)? Then will people realize that election fixing has gone into overdrive? Or will they just blame the evil Trump Voting Bloc as an easy scapegoat for not showing up for DeSantis? My question is a strawman on purpose and I do not expect a response...but take a thumbtack and pin it up to the wall until after election day...
Fire,
I think you are well intentioned but also don't understand how this works very well on multiple levels.
You want DeSantis to get a big splash and a polling boost 8 months before the primaries even start and no one is paying attention. He must do this of course without attacking Trump in any way you know, because people really are going to be shocked to hear him say that Biden is bad. So you suggest an impossible if not illogical strategy, limit the possible ways to accomplish it by taking away the most likely way to get there, and then hammer on it like it is the reason DeSantis isn't "winning" a race that hasn't really started.
At the same time you are setting up the "well, no Republican is going to win anyway because of cheating" argument by talking about Desantis' ceiling as if it is similar to Trump's when there is no way to know what DeSantis' ceiling is at this point. DeSantis has SO MANY more arrows in his quiver.
You also aren't putting much stock in the fact that there is a real strategy for DeSantis here. It's very similar to Obama vs Hillary in 2008. Build the ground game and put out the messaging and then come on strong late. That's how you beat someone with 100% Name ID. DeSantis cannot out headline Trump so trying to do at this point in the race will come across desperate and it will fail.
The other elephant in the room that very few people are paying attention to is Trump is in serious money trouble. His campaign is basically on fumes right now by all data you can find but he is acting like he is the big frontrunner with unlimited cash. Trump doesn't spend his own money to self finance either and he has mounting legal bills. DeSantis OTOH has MASSIVE amounts of cash and is raising money at a monster rate. It is no coincidence Trump is trying to attack him on that and act like raising money is somehow bad, Trump doesn't really have a good card to play there. Trump needs free media in order to make his campaign work. That's fine for now when people have half an eye on this race but later on that's going to be a real issue.
So you can keep calling for DeSantis to complete a Hail Mary right now but it's not likely to happen because he's not playing that game. He's running a ball control offense with solid defense and pounding away. He knows he can't win the race right now but he can lose it.
I also find it interesting you keep talking about how bad DeSantis folks are acting (ignoring or dismissing Trump folks of course because they get to play by different rules I suppose) but DeSantis is hitting Trump on ISSUES not calling him names or making up conspiracies. He is pointing out failures from Trump's Presidency. If nothing else that needs to happen because the Democrats damn sure will. if you think the soft pedaling from the MSM on Trump is going to continue if he gets the nomination it won't. Only when they come for Trump this time he will be broke and old and probably already convicted. There will be no backup plan because Trump will have done everything imaginable to take out the better alternative.
In the end this is going to be a knock down, drag out battle. Trump isn't going to go down without a fight and DeSantis isn't going to play nice and let Trump run all over him. It's 2 Alphas fighting for King of the Hill so just settle in. In the end both sides will come together because neither has much of a choice but to support the winner. For DeSantis he won't make the same mistake Cruz did. For Trump he will know that DeSantis' winning is his only way to keep himself out of jail.
"The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help."
Ronald Reagan