I agree with the general spirit, but challenging Trump to a boxing match just seems too insane for even the Republican party. I think Desantis should be maximally vicious--especially in the debates. The ideal opening statement would be something like that:
"Let's be honest here--we've got two people, me and Trump. No one else is a contender--sorry Vivek Ranathamy or whatever the hell your name is. Now, I can understand why you'd vote for Trump if you like losing elections badly--because he seems to be very good at that. He lost to Biden, maybe the worst candidate ever, slow, incompetent, old, sort of like Trump himself--he's barely coherent, he stayed in his basement the entire time, and he still beat Trump and he beat him badly. He barely beat Hillary Clinton--Satan incarnate herself--and he lost the popular vote badly. The candidates that he endorsed got utterly slaughtered in the midterms. In contrast, we won by 20 points--the biggest margin in Florida ever. So if you're a Democrat voter hoping for four more years of Biden, who we know has beaten Trump very badly, then maybe vote for him, but if you care about winning elections and not losing to old, fat, incompetent crony politicians, it's obvious who your guy should be. This guy campaigned for years on building the wall, and then he got seduced by Washington cronies and couldn't build the wall. He said he'd deport millions of illegals--he failed at that. He failed at everything, including beating a literally rotting corps--Biden--in the general election."
Leaning 100% into saying 'you failed though...' or 'where's the wall?' could be the rhetorical version of 'challenge him to a fight' tbh. As an aside, while I won't fight you too hard on the machismo aspect of Trump's appeal, I think his true support derives from 2016 being the closest thing to a nativist movement in recent memory.
I actually said this to friends about Jeb in 2016. Insulting his wife should’ve been the last straw. Decking him on stage and saying screw it to the Presidency would’ve not only been doing right by his family but it would’ve exposed Trump for what he is - a lousy loudmouth - to everyone, including his fans.
As you put it so well about Unz recently-- everything you write is either brilliant or insane. Or in this case, retarded.
Cruz “ran to trumps right” in the most transparently inauthentic way possible, and only if “to the right” means the GOPe thinktank definition.
Trumps voters like his attitude because it shows that he is off the reservation. DeSantis isn’t and never will be. If you want a revolution you need a revolutionary.
I think you understand the Trump voter far less than you claim to.
Wanting an outsider doesn't make people stupid, it makes them smart.
I voted for Trump and I am neither the rube nor the idiot you suggest I am.
I I think DeSantis is the better choice. But only because the Democrats will cheat worse than the USSR used to and 10x worse than in 2020, if Trump is the GOP candidate. Democrats, the deep state, and the MSM, have demonstrated already that they have zero morals about election cheating.
There is a real disconnect between Republican intellectuals and the base, especially after the Trump-led populist surge Republicans have had. National Review is still full of never-Trumpers holding on to William F. Buckley's fusionist ideas. This is why that panel of 8 intellectuals you mentioned in the article only provided bad solutions. It's not the party of Romney anymore. Some newer publications like American Affairs and the think-tank American Compass are trying to change that and provide an intellectual sheen to the populist GOP, but those outlets are hardly read by the people they claim to stand for.
I can definitely see this hypothetical boxing match being a boon to DeSantis. But I am also saddened by the fact that this is what it will take for DeSantis to beat Trump.
The thing is that trump actually believes all the crazy things he says about how he’s in the best shape, he really won the ejection, etc- or at least the concept of something being true or not means nothing to him. Trying to outflank him in just blatant denial of reality is tough because most people have some remaining self awareness and end up backtracking or getting embarrassed when they try to steal from trumps playbook. Remember when Rubio tried to imply that trump has a tiny penis? He ended up basically apologizing for bringing the discourse down, mistakenly believing that voters value integrity. If he had really leaned into it and made penis size a key plank of his campaign he might have done better, but he just didn’t have the stomach for it. Desantis would face the same problem: he’s just not willing to divorce himself from reality enough to make up nonsense with the conviction he’d need to.
If DeSantis actually did this, it would be like an attention black hole consuming the internet. People make jokes about Trump being like a pro wrestler, but this would be a huge step towards WWE being real life.
Regardless of whether or not any of you like the things he says, Hanania is better at getting a reaction out of his own readers than anyone on substack.
"Those are exciting questions to conservative intellectuals but way too boring for the Republican masses. They will never tell a pollster this, but they resent anyone trying to make them think too hard, which is part of the reason they hate liberals in the first place."
Please stop trying to analyze Trump voters. Trump voters are looking for a fighter for a reason. Because people like you and the deep state need to be squashed. DeSantis does not have the appropriate level of rage to do so, he would forgive and accomodate you.
Was the 2020 election fair or is Trump Hitler? Pick one. If you leave a bank vault open over the weekend will the money still be there on Monday? What if there was no way to even check if the money is still there? Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. IQ man, IQ. Think please.
I hope this article makes its way to the DeSantis campaign. Not so Ron can literally fight Trump in the ring, but so his people understand the battleground.
I hate how much sense this makes.
DeSantis should have sex with Melania. There’s no coming back from that for Trump.
I agree with the general spirit, but challenging Trump to a boxing match just seems too insane for even the Republican party. I think Desantis should be maximally vicious--especially in the debates. The ideal opening statement would be something like that:
"Let's be honest here--we've got two people, me and Trump. No one else is a contender--sorry Vivek Ranathamy or whatever the hell your name is. Now, I can understand why you'd vote for Trump if you like losing elections badly--because he seems to be very good at that. He lost to Biden, maybe the worst candidate ever, slow, incompetent, old, sort of like Trump himself--he's barely coherent, he stayed in his basement the entire time, and he still beat Trump and he beat him badly. He barely beat Hillary Clinton--Satan incarnate herself--and he lost the popular vote badly. The candidates that he endorsed got utterly slaughtered in the midterms. In contrast, we won by 20 points--the biggest margin in Florida ever. So if you're a Democrat voter hoping for four more years of Biden, who we know has beaten Trump very badly, then maybe vote for him, but if you care about winning elections and not losing to old, fat, incompetent crony politicians, it's obvious who your guy should be. This guy campaigned for years on building the wall, and then he got seduced by Washington cronies and couldn't build the wall. He said he'd deport millions of illegals--he failed at that. He failed at everything, including beating a literally rotting corps--Biden--in the general election."
Leaning 100% into saying 'you failed though...' or 'where's the wall?' could be the rhetorical version of 'challenge him to a fight' tbh. As an aside, while I won't fight you too hard on the machismo aspect of Trump's appeal, I think his true support derives from 2016 being the closest thing to a nativist movement in recent memory.
I actually said this to friends about Jeb in 2016. Insulting his wife should’ve been the last straw. Decking him on stage and saying screw it to the Presidency would’ve not only been doing right by his family but it would’ve exposed Trump for what he is - a lousy loudmouth - to everyone, including his fans.
As you put it so well about Unz recently-- everything you write is either brilliant or insane. Or in this case, retarded.
Cruz “ran to trumps right” in the most transparently inauthentic way possible, and only if “to the right” means the GOPe thinktank definition.
Trumps voters like his attitude because it shows that he is off the reservation. DeSantis isn’t and never will be. If you want a revolution you need a revolutionary.
I think you understand the Trump voter far less than you claim to.
Wanting an outsider doesn't make people stupid, it makes them smart.
I voted for Trump and I am neither the rube nor the idiot you suggest I am.
I I think DeSantis is the better choice. But only because the Democrats will cheat worse than the USSR used to and 10x worse than in 2020, if Trump is the GOP candidate. Democrats, the deep state, and the MSM, have demonstrated already that they have zero morals about election cheating.
There is a real disconnect between Republican intellectuals and the base, especially after the Trump-led populist surge Republicans have had. National Review is still full of never-Trumpers holding on to William F. Buckley's fusionist ideas. This is why that panel of 8 intellectuals you mentioned in the article only provided bad solutions. It's not the party of Romney anymore. Some newer publications like American Affairs and the think-tank American Compass are trying to change that and provide an intellectual sheen to the populist GOP, but those outlets are hardly read by the people they claim to stand for.
I can definitely see this hypothetical boxing match being a boon to DeSantis. But I am also saddened by the fact that this is what it will take for DeSantis to beat Trump.
The thing is that trump actually believes all the crazy things he says about how he’s in the best shape, he really won the ejection, etc- or at least the concept of something being true or not means nothing to him. Trying to outflank him in just blatant denial of reality is tough because most people have some remaining self awareness and end up backtracking or getting embarrassed when they try to steal from trumps playbook. Remember when Rubio tried to imply that trump has a tiny penis? He ended up basically apologizing for bringing the discourse down, mistakenly believing that voters value integrity. If he had really leaned into it and made penis size a key plank of his campaign he might have done better, but he just didn’t have the stomach for it. Desantis would face the same problem: he’s just not willing to divorce himself from reality enough to make up nonsense with the conviction he’d need to.
If DeSantis actually did this, it would be like an attention black hole consuming the internet. People make jokes about Trump being like a pro wrestler, but this would be a huge step towards WWE being real life.
Regardless of whether or not any of you like the things he says, Hanania is better at getting a reaction out of his own readers than anyone on substack.
This is your dopest post yet and maybe one of the smartest
"Those are exciting questions to conservative intellectuals but way too boring for the Republican masses. They will never tell a pollster this, but they resent anyone trying to make them think too hard, which is part of the reason they hate liberals in the first place."
Dying . . . thanks
Please stop trying to analyze Trump voters. Trump voters are looking for a fighter for a reason. Because people like you and the deep state need to be squashed. DeSantis does not have the appropriate level of rage to do so, he would forgive and accomodate you.
Was the 2020 election fair or is Trump Hitler? Pick one. If you leave a bank vault open over the weekend will the money still be there on Monday? What if there was no way to even check if the money is still there? Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. IQ man, IQ. Think please.
This may be the most engrossing prose I’ve read since Hitchens. Bravo.
I hope this article makes its way to the DeSantis campaign. Not so Ron can literally fight Trump in the ring, but so his people understand the battleground.