My preference is for Trump to be POTUS again. After that, he has no choice but to step aside, and then we could have 8 years of DeSantis, for a combined 12 years of conservative leadership.

Donald Trump is also the ass kicker to end all ass kickers, and he has learned much from his four years in the WH followed by his time after his term. He knows what mistakes he made and he knows how to avoid most of them again.

On top of that, leftists would of course really hate a DeSantis presidency, or anyone not on the left, but if Donald Trump won, they would lose their shit permanently. They would be wild-eyed, incoherent, speaking in tongues, running to and fro and chewing off their own limbs.

TRUMP!

I think Trumps greatest mistake was the people he chose to support him, failed him. The GOP support for him was lukewarm at best. And Americans across the board were not used to a brash, outspoken President and this hurt him.
And I cant see the GOP ever truly supporting him again.
DeSantis may be the only hope to oust the Democrats in 24.

I hope DeSantis does run.

I do think Trump is now damaged goods to more than a few potential voters.

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:

The danger, though, is Donald Trump's ego...



If Donald Trump loves this country as much as he says, he won't split the conservative vote...

Those two statements couldn't be more correct!

If anyone has ever spent time with a true New Yorker, as in someone born and raised in one of the 5 boroughs of New York City kind of understands Donald Trump's ego, brashness and slight arrogance on some things. I'm not saying this in a degrading manner to him or anyone else from New York City, it's just that, well... those dudes are just a little different. A little louder, a little more arrogant, a different way of saying and presenting things.

On to the "Split the vote"...
Being from Chicago, and dealing with this bullshit way of politics my (damn near) whole life, I know this all too well.
How do you think we got lightfoot at the helm?
Dangerous, very dangerous!

Agree, Para. My concern is he would not accept defeat in the primary, say it was rigged, and then run as you suggested or poison the well. We can only hope for the best, but I can't see his ego accepting defeat.

^^^Why do you assume that?

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:

I know quite a few people who will never vote for Trump no matter what. They will vote for DeSantis.

I hear the same thing. I have had more than a few discussions with others who tell me they would vote for Desantis but will not vote for Trump under any circumstances. When I lay out the result of not voting for Trump, a liberal idiot in the White House, it doesn't get them to budge. Dislike of Trump runs deep. Dumb? Of course. But I can only tell you what I hear. The problem with Trump getting the R nomination is I don't see him persuading very many new or undecided voters.

As others have said, his ego and personality have always been a problem for him. One of my neighbors worked for Trump when he was in the Casino and real estate business in Atlantic City and had many meetings with him. To say the least, he was difficult.

This is what ego looks like. In this case it's not a bad thing. Trump sent a loud and clear message to all these other world leaders who had been milking us dry and laughing behind our backs because they owned all the other presidents before Trump. This is crazy strong messaging and exactly what we needed at the time. He put everyone on that stage back on their heels. Far too many people didn't know how to interpret this so they did so in the wrong way.

Donald Trump is a smart man. If his ego wants to take a real hit, he should do something that puts another slithering leftist in the WH, because if that happens, his base will turn on him and then his ego will take the hardest of hits.

Donald Trump knows all of this.

quote:

Originally posted by nhracecraft:
^^^Why do you assume that?

Just my concern and I hope I'm wrong.

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
Donald Trump is also the ass kicker to end all ass kickers, and he has learned much from his four years in the WH followed by his time after his term. He knows what mistakes he made and he knows how to avoid most of them again.

Trump has endured over six years of attacks, investigations, insults, committees, lies, etc. and is still standing. And the hits keep coming. Why? Because his opponents know he can win in 2024, and they are doing everything under the sun to prevent this.

He has six years of experience dealing with this. More shit than any public figure in U.S. history. He knows the drill well. He knows first hand the corrupt election process in America now, as well as his people. And anybody who thinks DeSantis will not experience this same thing is naive, and he has never faced this onslaught as Governor.

Trump is the best candidate for 2024 and I will 100% support the best candidate to pull us out of 4 years of Biden/Obama. He's done it before, he can do it again.

I would like Trump to be president again in 2024. I like him. But his attacks on DeSantis in the weeks and days prior to the midterms were ignorant and extremely poorly timed.

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
But, his ego may get in the way...

If Donald Trump loves this country as much as he says, he won't split the conservative vote, but there is very little left in this world that surprises me any more.

If things break that way, it seems pretty likely that there'll be some negotiation involved - Trump always prided himself on his abilities as a dealmaker, and we all know De Santis would need Trump's enthusiastic (and, perhaps, disciplined) support in the general election badly.

If Trump's ego were to be an issue, those negotiations would be an outlet. What he gets, who he gets in*, how he's seen to get what he gets could all feed that one thin slice of who Trump is. Basically, if he weren't the candidate, then this would give him a starting point to start focusing on his role as an influential senior Republican.

Hell, we could even dare him to take over the running of the GOP itself and sweeten the idea by suggesting he could revamp the party apparatus into a means of getting candidates he approves of into office and taking a more aggressive role in lawfully opposing illegal and shady election practices. He's just the kind of guy to adopt ballot harvesting and make the Dems wish they'd never thought of the idea.

* Assuming he's got that many specific people he wants in agency or political office.

I think president Trump grew into the job. I want him to be president because the Left so doesn't want him. The Left is bent on the destruction of individual liberty and prosperity which makes Leftists and their victories dangerous. I know that if Donald were to gain the White House again there would be a great correction domestically and in foreign affairs......which is another reason the Left will do all it can to discourage us through fear and despair from imposing him on them. Soros has weighed in on DeSantis as has the Bush family and other rinos. Again, it appears to be a never-Trump coalition developing.

Jan 6th and the reaction to it has been wholly fabricated to bludgeon Trump with. Just recently, the Twitter censorship czars declared before congress that people died because of the Jan 6th event. No clarification that the only death that day was of a protestor at the hands of the capitol police and that days later another officer died of health failure. That's it. No protestors killed anyone. Yet, congress and the media allow the public to believe a myth and hang that mill stone around Trump's neck because.....they are terrified of what he'd do if ever in office again. This is a cultural war. Trump represents a defeat for the Left which hates you, this culture and the founding principles. Leftists over react to distortions of facts, misrepresent events, associate innocent patriots with the most evil regimes in history and then on those lies justify atrocious acts on fellow citizens. For that reason, I want the Left defeated......and defeated by Trump.

I'll take Trump every time.

Trump is the past, DeSanist is the future.

I would rather De Santis continue to be Governor of Florida, that's where I think he'll do the most good for everyone.

Para’s first post here pretty much nailed it.
I believe Trump would most likely win the primary but I can’t see him winning the general election.
The chances are also good that the Democrats will end up with a different and stronger candidate, regardless of the Republican candidate.

Like many of you my preference is another 4 years of Mr Trump, but I do worry he isn’t electable.

However, then I can’t help but think that is just the media poison seeping into my thinking. I honestly don’t know.

That being said, Mr Trump running as a third party would be disastrous and must be avoided. His ego does worry me, as others have stated.

Perhaps the best option is a Trump/Desantis ticket… that would be a waste for Florida. And a waste of Desantis in the short term, but the best option for 2024 AND 2028. I don’t know that it is possible, though.