Pedro L. Gonzalez
@emeriticus
Team Trump launched a bogus ethics complaint in March to try to ballot disqualify DeSantis. They tried to weaponize the system against him. No one, not even Tucker Carlson, said anything. But after the Colorado decision to disqualify Trump, DeSantis called on SCOTUS to kill it. Because it's the right thing.
So what did Team Trump do? They immediately used the moment to attack DeSantis and his supporters. Trump allies said he is a "POS"--they called him a "piece of shit." DeSantis, who said the Supreme Court should intervene in Trump's defense. And they are going to keep attacking him and his supporters because they don't actually care about unity or principle.
Matt Gaetz recently said he hoped there would be unity after the primary, regardless of the outcome. I doubt there will be, and this is why. It's also the reason Democrats win in the end. They are competent. They know how to use power. They reward friends and punish enemies. Whenever we say, "They've really overreached this time" or "Now they've crossed the Rubicon," they always come out fine. Often stronger than before. It's also due to the fact Democrats tend to stick together.
The GOP, as currently constituted and led, has none of the above going for it. Moments when we should have unity are reduced to opportunities for scoring cheap points against Trump's rivals. The previous big conservative news cycle was Trump demanding Chip Roy to be tossed out of the GOP simply because Roy didn't endorse him. Team Trump attacked Roy in the most vicious, disgusting way. But like DeSantis, Roy denounced the Colorado decision and defended Trump. It's the right thing, although Roy won't be rewarded for it.
Republicans are doomed under the status quo in the long term. This is a movement of people who do not care about anything but staying in Trump's good graces. That's why Democrats have been on a winning streak.
10:46 PM · Dec 19, 2023