DeSantis, Trump: Gentlemen, start your engines!
Donald Trump is running for president for the third time.
Most Americans are exhausted by that prospect.
Oh, there are millions of hard-bitten Trumpophiles, who鈥檙e all in on Mr. Trump鈥檚 next bite at the presidential apple.
I get that.
But there are far more Republicans, Democrats, and independents who are planning to spend their presidential vote elsewhere.
They鈥檝e had enough of the self-indulgent plutocrat. Just like they had in 2020.
Trump鈥檚 onetime White House chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, puts it this way: 鈥淭he Republican primary will be about Donald Trump, and he will probably win. And then the general election will be about Donald Trump, and he will probably lose.鈥�
In the meantime, Trump is hoping the Republican field gets so clogged with mini-Trumps, he鈥檒l cobble together enough state primary wins to emerge as the Republican presidential nominee (again).
That鈥檚 the formula that worked for him in 2016 after he survived the challenges of 18 Republicans on his way to gaining the nomination.
Do you remember these 2016 candidates? Jeb Bush, Ben Carson, Chris Christie, Ted Cruz, Carly Fiorina, Jim Gilmore, Lindsey Graham, Mike Huckabee, Bobby Jindal, John Kasich, George Pataki, Rand Paul, Mike Pence, Rick Perry, Mitt Romney, Marco Rubio, Rick Santorum, Scott Walker.
Trump eviscerated all of them.
Currently, there are only a half-dozen or so Republicans who鈥檝e declared their presidential candidacy for 2024.
So far, Trump has gone easy on most of them.
He knows that of the half-dozen or so challengers to his presidential aspirations (Nikki Haley, Vivek Ramaswamy, Asa Hutchinson, Larry Elder, Tim Scott, and soon Chris Christie or Ron DeSantis) only DeSantis poses a serious threat.
For many voters, DeSantis is Trump without the rough edges.
But DeSantis comes with his very own set of rough edges.
He鈥檚 currently engaged in a knockdown drag-out fight with Mickey Mouse.
If his years-long controversies with Disney are any indication of his administrative prowess, he鈥檚 not going to be any more attractive to moderates and independents than Trump is.
He鈥檚 just a slicker speaker.
鈥淏ecause everyone knows if I鈥檓 the nominee, I will beat Biden and I will serve two terms and I will be able to destroy leftism in this country and leave woke ideology on the dustbin of history,鈥� DeSantis said last week on Fox News.
His goal is to stick the word 鈥渨oke鈥� into as many sentences as possible to secure the 鈥渦nwoke鈥� vote, I suppose.
There happens to be a number of serious problems in this country.
I鈥檓 not sure The Walt Disney Company is one of them.
But DeSantis has tried to build his reputation on 鈥渘on-troversies鈥� as a culture warrior.
If you want somebody who鈥檒l fight to ban books, insult drag queens, engage in strict gender classifications, or battle a major American corporation over his sense of what is or is not 鈥渨oke,鈥� DeSantis appears to be your man.
Those folks who aren鈥檛 interested in voting for any of the 2024 Republican presidential candidates might be amused by the amount of jockeying that鈥檚 about to take place.
Meanwhile, Trump continues to be Trump. His Truth-Social message for Memorial Day was a classic reminder of why he鈥檚 no longer occupying 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
鈥淗APPY MEMORIAL DAY TO ALL,鈥� he wrote in ALL CAPS.
Trump doesn鈥檛 understand that Memorial Days aren鈥檛 Christmas or Birthdays. That they鈥檙e about paying tributes to our fallen military men and women 鈥� with deliberate reverence. Not with party hats.
But aside from that, Trump made sure his Memorial Day message included a comparison of his political and legal entanglements 鈥淭O THOSE WHO GAVE THE ULTIMATE SACRIFICE FOR THE COUNTRY THEY LOVE 鈥� 鈥� was the first part of a sentence that seemed reasonable. That is, until you read the second part of the sentence 鈥�
AND TO THOSE IN LINE OF A VERY DIFFERENT, BUT EQUALLY DANGEROUS FIRE 鈥︹�� meaning himself!
So much for reverence.
He concluded by writing, 鈥淲E MUST STOP THE COMMUNISTS, MARXISTS, AND FASCIST 鈥淧IGS鈥� AT EVERY TURN AND, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN.鈥�
Edward A. Owens is a multi-Emmy Award winner, former reporter, and anchor for Entertainment Tonight, and 50-year TV news and newspaper veteran. E-mail him at freedoms@bellatlantic.net.