Ron DeSantis Covid Crisis Approach a Triumph of Conservative Statesmanship

In the 2022 midterms, Florida was another country entirely. While Republicans underperformed in much of the nation, Ron DeSantis and Marco Rubio posted absolutely enormous wins against their Democratic opponents. DeSantis’s win — much larger than the generous one expected of him — immediately changed the conversation about 2024. His own supporters began chanting, hilariously, “Two More Years” at his victory party. GOP megadonors began declaring their interest in him. And former president Donald Trump began raging and sulking about him.

When was it that DeSantis’s brand diverged so much from Donald Trump’s? It is being presently forgotten. But if you had predicted four years ago that Republicans closely associated with Donald Trump’s brand were getting massacred in the 2022 elections, you would have assumed DeSantis was the first goner, having only squeaked by in 2018, and having done those ads that seemed to have no other purpose than to impress the Donald himself.

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Michael Brendan Dougherty

Michael Brendan Dougherty is a senior writer at National Review Online.

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In the 2022 midterms, Florida was another country entirely. While Republicans underperformed in much of the nation, Ron DeSantis and Marco Rubio posted absolutely enormous wins against their Democratic opponents. DeSantis’s win — much larger than the generous one expected of him — immediately changed the conversation about 2024. His own supporters began chanting, hilariously, “Two More Years” at his victory party. GOP megadonors began declaring their interest in him. And former president Donald Trump began raging and sulking about him.

When was it that DeSantis’s brand diverged so much from Donald Trump’s? It is being presently forgotten. But if you had predicted four years ago that Republicans closely associated with Donald Trump’s brand were getting massacred in the 2022 elections, you would have assumed DeSantis was the first goner, having only squeaked by in 2018, and having done those ads that seemed to have no other purpose than to impress the Donald himself.