You Have to be Present to Win

For John, BLUF:  Why have so many made some gesture to enter the Republican Presidential Primary?  Because they believe lightening can strike and they want to be there if it does.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Why all the DeSantis panic?

From Hot Air, by Blogger Ed Morrissey, 10 July 2023, 6:01 PM.

Here is the lede plus five:

Has the Republican presidential nomination contest finished before it started?  That narrative has gripped the traditional media of late, with constant references to stagnant national polling.  Does that mean that DeSantis has utterly failed in his attempt at the nomination and that his campaign is near collapse as a result?

Even conservative media outlets have concluded that DeSantis has flopped so far and that the issue has already become existential.  Daniel Flynn warns at the American Spectator that DeSantis will need a John McCain-esque comeback now:

Does Ron DeSantis want to be the nominee?  From the disastrous online launch met with technical difficulties to the ill-advised ad attacking Donald Trump for basically expressing a live-and-let-live attitude toward homosexuals, Florida’s governor does not so much run as he stumbles for president.

The good news?  Bill Clinton, John McCain, Joe Biden, and others struggled early before winning the presidential nomination of their parties.

Flynn based this off of DeSantis’ response to Maria Bartiromo yesterday in a very good, tough, and interesting interview.  Bartiromo asked DeSantis, “what’s going on with your campaign?” DeSantis laughed out loud at the idea of collapse (via Gary Gross, around the seven-minute mark):

GOV. DESANTIS:  Maria, these are narratives.  The media does not want me to be the nominee.  I think that’s very clear.  Why?  Because they know I’ll beat Biden but even more importantly, they know that I will actually deliver on all these things.  We will stop the invasion at the border.  We will take on the drug cartels.  We will curtail the administrative state.  We will get spending under control.  We will do all the things that they don’t want to see done and so they are going to continue doing the type of narrative.  I can tell you we understand that this is a state-by-state process.

In the end, I expect the Republican Party nominee to be former President Donald J Trump.  I expect the Democratic Party nominee to be Governor Gavin Newsom.  That said, a lot could happen between now and 5 November 2024.

As to the others in the Republican race, as Mr John McDonough likes to say, they are wasting their Summer.  Or are they.  If President Trump is the nominee it is unlikely former Vice President Mike Pence will be invited back onto the ticket.  Some of those people running are looking at the second slot.  Some may be auditioning for a Cabinet slot.  And all want to be there in case President Trump somehow implodes, be it from natural causes, Federal Indictments or a shift in the views of the Voters.  As the saying goes, you have to be present to win.  Or, in the words of Author Napoleon Hill, “A quitter never wins-and-a winner never quits.”

Yes, most will be disappointed, but some will grab personal victory and one just might grab the Golden Ring, if they hang in there.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff