Jay Weber Show transcript 8-3-23 7:40am
We still don’t know if Donald Trump is going to participate in the first debate-and Ronna McDaniel and the members of the RNC are putting out the requirements for the second debate-
Seven participants in the first debate-if Trump shows up- and two of them are simply in the race to trash Donald Trump: Chris Christie and Doug Burgum. It isn’t a coincidence that raising the polling threshold to three percent very likely knocks them out of the second debate.
It’s clear that the RNC leaders would like to shrink this field into the smallest number of players possible-as early as possible-
And this can be seen as the RNC either trying to ‘help’ trump...or ‘hurt’ trump.... depending on who is doing the spinning.
See- pro-Trump forces want to see as many people in the field as possible, so that the anti-Trump vote is splintered, and Donald wins the nomination easily -and so- i assume that trump and his team will see these requirements as an attempt by the RNC to narrow the field and create a stronger trump challenger-
But this move could also be viewed as McDaniel and the RNC members wanting to protect trump from the Chris Christies and the Asa Hutchinsons and the other ‘also ran’ candidates who got into the race simply to bash and trash trump.
If they can’t get three percent in the polls-they won’t be on the debate stage- which will represent their biggest platform-
And their biggest opportunity to have millions of people hear their anti-trump screeds.
And so, I see these tougher thresholds- very early- in debate two already-as McDaniel and the RNC trying to limit the amount of anti-trump rhetoric from the ‘also rans’ in the race. I see this as a ‘protecting’ move, even if Trump and his team members-who see conspiracy around every corner- are going to bash the RNC as trying to hurt Trump with these rules.
Meanwhile-the ‘most asked’ question -by far-from listeners on my British Isles trip was: why isn’t Ron DeSantis catching on?
No one can seem to understand why his numbers aren’t moving in this primary race, so far, and I didn’t have a good answer for them.
The ‘right’ answer might be the most obvious answer: that about half of republican voters are simply not ready to move on from Donald Trump. They are not ready to give up that ‘fight for America’ that they view trump as engaging in- and so- regardless of what DeSantis or any other primary candidate does- trump is going to be nominated.
That is the most obvious answer to ‘why isn’t DeSantis catching on’.
And those of us who want to see the party move past trump and pick a younger, more appealing nominee that can beat Joe Biden and potentially launch a new era of conservatism-
Are simply going to be on the losing end of this stand off- come next year.
Its looking more and more like that is going to be the case: that the GOP base is going to force the rest of the country to -prove-that Donald Trump cannot win....and in the process...give us four more years of the left’s march toward socialism.
And I-for one- reject the notion that something is ‘wrong with’ Ron DeSantis- or that the voters are rejecting him-
It’s not that-so much as -most GOP voters are not willing to move past Trump yet-and it’s that simple.
We keep hearing about the ‘reset buttons’ that the DeSantis campaign is hitting. Firing staffers. Refining their rhetoric. Trying to find new attacks on trump that will break thru.
The DeSantis team is simply hammering up against a brick wall. A hard-core trump wall that isn’t ready to give-way.
There’s no other way to explain it, really. The national polls don’t reflect what’s going on in the early states-which is far more important-
But Donald trump continues to lead DeSantis by 30 to 35 points in the national polls.
The state polling out of Iowa and New Hampshire shows them a little closer-but not much. Trump is still way out ahead.
And contrary to what the other pundits are saying-it doesn’t’ have anything to do with what Ron DeSantis is-or is not-saying.
It doesn’t have anything to do with how he’s running his campaign.
It has to do with the fact that-for some reason-by God- half of the GOP voters aren’t done with Trump yet. They still firmly believe that he’s the only way forward for the country...even if their view is rejected by the other 2/3 of American voters.
Trump is simply a hero to about half of the GOP’s voters and he has them feeling as if each indictment or attack on him-is an attack on them. And it’s not. But by God-they think it is.
And so- until or unless something occurs that would dramatically change the views of those hard-core Trump supporters- I don’t see the dynamic of this primary race changing.
And ‘what’ could that thing be? You ask?
I have no idea. What could possibly occur that would have trump die-hards abandoning him now? At this point?
I cannot think of a single thing.
Not when each new terrible claim against him is seen solely as a new attack on their tireless hero. No. I cannot imagine what event could occur that changes things and knocks trump out of contention for the nomination, at this point.
DeSantis’ two biggest campaign arguments are that he can win, and Trump can’t...and he’s better at governing than Trump is.
Both are true.
But most GOP primary voters clearly aren’t buying it. They are sticking with Trump, anyway.
I have pointed to Trump’s asinine and idiotic attacks on Ron DeSantis. Not even one of them holds water- and often- they have trump making himself look foolish for directly contradicting his great praise of Ron DeSantis-for years-
But even that doesn’t faze Trump fans.
They don’t care if he’s a rank hypocrite and a pretender when it comes to his positions-or his attacks on other republicans.
Bret Baier called out trump, this week, on his total flip flop on how Florida handled covid. The truth is: brilliantly.
And trump gave DeSantis all sorts of credit for it at the time. And now pretends otherwise-and Trump fans just- go with the new lie
That is a great answer from Ron DeSantis. It’s the truth. Everyone who has been following along knows it. Including trump fans.
But to be a trump diehard means having to turn over your brain to Donald Trump’s new lies, distortions, and attacks....and for some reason...about half of the republican base is still willing to do so.
And so- this isn’t a matter of ‘what Ron DeSantis is doing wrong? or ‘why can’t he catch on’?
It’s solidly a matter of most GOP voters aren’t willing to move on from Donald Trump yet, and until they are, it doesn’t matter who is challenging him.
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