Ron DeSantis Ends Campaign, Should’ve Stayed in Tallahassee

Unrequited hope has Ron DeSantis’s exit from the Republican primary feeling like a basal disappointment rather than just the conclusion of another mismanaged and forgettable primary campaign run by a rising GOP governor.

Most of all, the DeSantis-inspired discontent exists because — for those of us who desired to find a principled conservative to whom one could attach Trumpish anti-Left muscularity without the personal and policy failures of Trump — one must now accept there can be nothing within a light-year of Trump that isn’t the Don himself.

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Luther Ray Abel

Luther Ray Abel is an Associate Editor for National Review. A veteran of the U.S. Navy, Luther is a proud native of Sheboygan, Wis.

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Ron DeSantis

Unrequited hope has Ron DeSantis’s exit from the Republican primary feeling like a basal disappointment rather than just the conclusion of another mismanaged and forgettable primary campaign run by a rising GOP governor.

Most of all, the DeSantis-inspired discontent exists because — for those of us who desired to find a principled conservative to whom one could attach Trumpish anti-Left muscularity without the personal and policy failures of Trump — one must now accept there can be nothing within a light-year of Trump that isn’t the Don himself.