A Strongman Who Isn’t Dumb

Jonathan Chait: “A little over a year ago, I wrote a long feature story on Ron DeSantis. Even at that early date, it was easy to discern his blueprint for wresting the Republican nomination from Donald Trump’s hands. DeSantis was pitching himself to the party’s base as a more competent and ruthless vehicle for their agenda…”

“Everything I laid out in the piece about DeSantis’s plan has turned out to be correct, except one: I thought it would work… It still might work, of course. But the de facto rollout of DeSantis’s campaign, in advance of the de jure announcement, has undeniably failed… The main obstacle he’s facing lies outside his control: Republicans simply love Trump….”

“But the fundamental bet DeSantis has made is that the breadth of his party, from its McConnell wing to its space-laser wing, is receptive to the idea of a strongman who isn’t so dumb. No one else has stepped forward to supply that candidacy.”