DAVID MARCUS: Trump hits the links with a chance to bring in an ace
Florida governor could be 'hole in one' for Trump administration after leaving office next year
By David Marcus Fox News
Published February 15, 2026 4:24pm EST
A rather interesting foursome teed off for a round of golf in Florida this weekend: President Donald Trump was joined by college football coaching legends Urban Meyer and Nick Saban, and perhaps more importantly, a former rival by the name of Gov. Ron DeSantis.
It would go too far to say that Trump and DeSantis have had bad blood, but there has been a rift since the Florida governor’s 2023 primary challenge to Trump, which petered out in New Hampshire before primary votes had even been cast.
To see Trump and DeSantis spending a few hours engaged in what Mark Twain once called a "good walk spoiled" leads to an interesting question: After the ace Florida governor leaves office next year, could he be a hole in one for the Trump administration?
DeSantis is the kind of guy who Trump could put in charge of basically anything in the federal government and fully expect not just his signature competence, but his calm and no-nonsense manner.
In recent weeks, calm is something the administration has been thirsting for.
After DeSantis dropped out in early 2024, the schism in the conservative commentariat more or less was cleaved, notwithstanding some fairly bitter vitriol that had consumed the previous year, and the governor can still be an important buttress to GOP unity.
There has been a frustration, especially from former DeSantis supporters, of late, that the White House has been too tolerant of extreme views from figures in its orbit. The best answer to that is not to cancel supposed cancers but to bolster the administration’s credibility.
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https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/david-marcus-trump-hits-links-chance-bring-ace
