Tensions between Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis are running Rocky-Mountain high in the Centennial State. Yesterday, the Washington Examiner reported that the unflinching upstart Florida governor is recording a robocall for Joe O’Dea, urging conservatives to pull the lever for the Colorado Republican senatorial nominee. This comes after Trump unceremoniously denounced O’Dea for being insufficiently MAGA as Republicans struggle to regain control of the Senate.
Talk about derangement syndrome! The DSM-5 couldn’t paint a better picture of narcissistic personality disorder. Trump, ever fond of putting himself before party or country, demands slavish sycophancy from all his endorsees at all times. Even when the political landscape necessitates creating space between himself and candidates for office. Trump went so far as to call DeSantis’s move “A BIG MISTAKE!”
On the contrary, the increased chutzpah from DeSantis is a welcome sign in a party ensnared in The Donald’s egomania. More brave souls must follow suit, and not only for the political health of the republic. Trump is a drag on Republican’s midterm prospects. Conservatives now have to worry about filibuster evisceration, a D.C.-statehood power grab, and Court-packing schemes because he gave away two Georgia Senate seats last election cycle and endorsed low-quality candidates in winnable states this time around, creating headaches and requiring additional resources even for the ones who might eventually prevail anyway. The only way to stop the bleeding is to extricate the Party of Lincoln from Trump’s orange clutches.
And for all his flaws, DeSantis has trailblazed a viable path for others to be defiant. So has Georgia governor Brian Kemp. There’s a reason why these two men are rising stars on the right: Fortune favors the bold. Those who shrink in the face of demagoguery will get trampled. Someone should remind the rest of the GOP of this tried-and-true frontier lesson.