Will Trump Lose His Throne to Ron DeSantis?

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What is suddenly intriguing is that DeSantis decides to try to overtake Trump; to out-Trump Trump, in terms of his hard-trolling of libs on the question of the vaccine. And it is Trump — Donald Trump! —Who plays the role of civilization, normalizing reality. On One America News Network a few days ago, Trump said, about politicians who won’t disclose their vax status: “The answer is ‘Yes,’ but they don’t want to say it, because they have no appetite. You have to say it — whether you get it or not, tell me. ”

Well, you see, he’s obviously not really playing the role of a truth-teller. He’s just annoyed with DeSantis, who in Trump’s mind, naturally, would be nobody without Trump. He’s not entirely wrong: DeSantis was a right-wing, anonymous congressman running a tough fight for the GOP nomination for Florida governor against a better-known and funded opponent when Trump endorsed him. He was obviously pitying as if DeSantis had forgotten.

Whatever his motivation, Trump is doing a potentially risky thing — challenging a conventional wisdom that he himself has laid down. That is, he spent his last year in the White House saying real men don’t wear masks and mocking Covid. But when it comes to his own death, he does what hated libs do: He follows the rules. And he even tells people to do the same.

DeSantis gambles that he can position himself as a more determined advocate of Trumpism than Trump himself. This may, at some point, force the question in the Republican primary electorate: Are you for Trump, man? Or did Trump go astray, misreading the mood of his people? Are you now more loyal to Trumpism (the launching of war against science and liberals) that Trump’s opponent DeSantis has incorporated and proclaimed?

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