Last night made it official. Petulance is on the ballot again in 2024.
Sulking, peevish, resentful, vengeful…all apply, but if there is a single word to define the current state of former president and newly minted candidate Donald Trump, it's petulant. Whether or not a person agrees he has always been that way, whether a person wants to argue it's the natural consequence of ceaseless media attacks and criticism that he endured, and regardless of any accomplishment a person wants to attribute to his first term in office, all that is irrelevant in properly diagnosing the man now seeking the presidency for the third time.
Days before the midterm elections, Trump lashed out unprovoked at Florida's popular governor, Ron DeSantis, bizarrely referring to him as Ron DeSanctimonious. It was a swallow-your-tongue moment for many people hearing one of the most self-assured, self-satisfied presidents in American history chastising someone else for being sanctimonious.
It was also an odd moment, as evidenced by the gathered crowd failing to react, either because it was so counterproductive during the Republican Party's final sales pitch to voters, or because no one even knew what Trump meant by the remark or why he was making it. Surely the former president wasn't so catty that he would swat at a potential 2024 presidential primary rival at a moment the party (and larger conservative movement) needed unity and excitement.
Oh, but he was. Trump confirmed as much when on election day he attacked DeSantis again, warning that the Floridian better not even think about running against him, lest he release damaging dirt that would destroy the governor's career. Subtlety has never been Trump's strong suit. And it still wasn't over.
The day after the election, as Republicans sat shellshocked at their poor performance but still hopeful they could squeeze out at least a House majority, Trump couldn't let up on his DeSantis fixation. This time he wanted to make sure everyone knew that he won more votes in Florida's 2020 presidential race than DeSantis did last Tuesday.
Why? What is the point of this? Republicans had so little to rally around and celebrate in the midterm races besides the DeSantis electoral romp, and yet here was the party's de facto leader trashing him? Is there anyone that thinks that is good leadership? Is it remotely presidential?
Not even close. It's foolish, counterproductive narcissism. It's breathtaking juvenility, and an almost pathological inability to allow the spotlight or conversation to be about something other than himself.
None of Trump's current antics are about expanding or growing the Republican Party, or helping the cause of conservatism. In addition to DeSantis, Trump has also attacked another big winner from last Tuesday, Governor Brian Kemp of Georgia, as well as Governor Glenn Youngkin of Virginia. Show me a Republican path to the presidency in 2024 that doesn't require carrying the states of Florida and Georgia, and that wouldn't benefit tremendously by stealing Virginia. But instead of strengthening the party on the heels of big Republican victories there, Trump is out to settle old scores. That's a dead-end path for the party.
What should matter to all of us is the future, and what kind of leaders the Right will be choosing to take us there. What the former president offers, even if he avoided it in his campaign announcement, is a dogged re-litigating of his 2020 election fraud complaints, a revenge tour focused on belittling anyone who expresses hesitation about his style or substance, and a pulsating divisiveness that alienates large swaths of people inside his own party.
There can be no serious objection to such a characterization after Trump's mindless and thoroughly self-serving attack on last Tuesday night's few bright spots for Republicans. Rather that standing shoulder to shoulder with DeSantis, heralding his leadership, praising his effective transformation of a once purple state to bright red, Trump huffed and puffed on social media about how he deserved all the glory.
By way of contrast, don't overlook how Governor DeSantis responded. He could have easily joined the juvenile jousts and pointed out any of the following realities:
- Midterm elections like 2022 always see a marked decline in the number of participants. There were 7.8 million ballots cast in 2022. There were over 11 million ballots in 2020. So of course Trump would have a higher number.
- Proportionally, however, Trump won his election there by only 371,686 votes. That's a 3.3% margin of victory. DeSantis won his by 1,506,964 – a 19.4% margin – four times the size of Trump's win.
But rather than get into the mud with Trump, here's the first tweet DeSantis sent out after being attacked:
This is all just one more reason that I'm so hopeful Governor DeSantis will ignore the bad advice he's getting from Trump allies to bide his time, acquiesce to Trump, and wait until 2028 to run for president himself.
The Right needs a persuasive voice in 2024, not a petulant one.
