If I were going to run for president, I would run on my own beliefs. Now, that’s a personal choice. But I truly think that triangulation and focus groups and all that nonsense should only be done when you’re pitching a TV show.

Unfortunately, that’s not how it works in politics. Both parties take intraparty shots at each other during campaigns and primaries, trying to point out what their opponents do wrong when they could be highlighting what they would do right.

Donald Trump takes it a step further than that, though.

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Friday morning, Politico reported that Trump’s been sniping at Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. Why? Well, DeSantis seems to be reserving the right to run for president in 3 years, and Trump doesn’t like that. He’s already had a bunch of other sycophants announce that they would not run if he decides to himself. But Ron hasn’t done any such thing.

Mike Pompeo, Rick Scott, Marco Rubio — all the big names are floating themselves as candidates of course. But many are betting on Trump not running at all. Many of those who want to run will drop out if Trump enters the race.

From the Politico piece:

Donald Trump has been complaining to members and guests at Mar-a-Lago that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis still hasn’t joined the other 2024 hopefuls in pronouncing that he won’t run for president if Trump runs. One guest suspects that Trump’s gripes are so frequent because he is planting them in hopes that they’ll get back to DeSantis. Trump has told his advisers that DeSantis privately assured him that he won’t run if Trump does, but that’s not enough for the former president — he wants DeSantis to say it in public.

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That’s not just fear of having to run on his own merits. That’s a demand for obedience for a guy who’s already acted like a lapdog.

I can’t stand DeSantis, but I really hope he holds out as long as humanly possible — if only to make Trump angry.

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