As we discussed a bit on The Editors podcast today, maybe we shouldn’t be shocked to see a poll indicating Republicans are shifting from Donald Trump to Ron DeSantis quickly. Trump made the decision to announce his 2024 presidential bid astonishingly early, one week after the midterms, with the Georgia runoff still going on . . . and apparently he had no plans to do anything afterward. Since then Trump has dined with Kanye West and Nick Fuentes, called for the Constitution to be terminated and for himself to be reinstated as president, and complained that Jewish leaders haven’t been loyal enough to him, and that’s why many members of Congress don’t support Israel the way they once did.
He hasn’t held any other events or rallies, he hasn’t given any other major addresses, he hasn’t unveiled any major new policy proposals. No, apparently the only thing he’s doing is hanging out at Mar-a-Lago and raging about whatever irks him at any given moment on his Truth Social app. At this point, it seems fair to ask just what Donald Trump wants to do with his time. He says he wants the nomination, but right now he seems to expect a coronation, not a hard-fought contest. Since the announcement of his third presidential campaign, candidate Trump seems indistinguishable from pre-announcement sitting-around-the-house-and-fuming-at-the-news Trump.
If the aim of announcing early was to force other Republicans in or out . . . there’s no sign it had that effect.
Whatever political instincts Trump once had, they appear to have deteriorated. Severely.