As President, I will end the weaponization of government, replace the FBI Director, and ensure a single standard of justice for all Americans.
While I’ve seen reports, I have not read the indictment. I do, though, believe we need to enact reforms so that Americans have the right…
— Ron DeSantis (@RonDeSantis) August 1, 2023
This is the type of mealy-mouthed garbage that has defined most of DeSantis’s public statements. It’s far too convoluted an idea to put before voters. It may define some contrast between DeSantis and Trump, but it’s a confusing and goofy one. He’s essentially saying that the indictment is proof that Trump failed to drain the swamp, that the Deep State goons who derailed his presidency are still there, and that all of this is a sign that it’s time for new blood who will be better at clearing out the corruption, albeit in unspecified ways. But what’s most notable about the spin that DeSantis has put on this statement is the way it kowtows to Trump’s exact argument: The system is rigged against him and needs to be destroyed.
This is, to put it bluntly, a stupid way to run against a candidate who is battering you in the polls by more than 30 points. In the presidential election cycles of a bygone era, it would be hard to imagine a serious presidential candidate not making use of this kind of ammunition: damning evidence of Trump’s criminality and lingering scandal, handed over on a plate. But we’re in the Trump era now, and DeSantis can’t use it. The GOP is upside-down on their mortgage to Trumpism and the risk of breaking with all of the sunk costs involved is just too great. Call Donald Trump a criminal and you will face his wrath, as well as that of his supporters and his many still-formidable allies in right-wing media and Republican politics.
This is hardly a problem unique to DeSantis. Every candidate not named “Donald Trump” in the 2024 Republican presidential primary is caught in this particular trap. Trump has a huge, possibly insurmountable lead; the only way to win the nomination is to slash that lead. But attacking Trump directly—or even, as DeSantis has, simply emerging as a rival—invites a furious response from both the ex-president and his die-hards. This has been axiomatic ever since Trump’s 2016 rivals allowed him to break containment: Going after Trumpmore often leads to to ritual humiliation, or worse, than any measureable success. Attacking Trump is and has always been a political suicide mission for Republicans. There is a good reason why few do it. It typically ends with exile.