Was Tuesday supposed to be a turning point for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ presidential campaign, the moment when he emerged from behind former President Donald Trump to lead the Republican Party toward a triumphant return to the White House?
If so, yikes.
After shunning the mainstream media for several months, DeSantis agreed to a 15-minute sit-down interview with Jake Tapper on CNN — a rare appearance on the non-conservative, “corporate media” that he has tried so hard to vilify.
But Tuesday also turned out to be the same day that Trump took social media by storm to announce he expects to be indicted and arrested on charges related to the Jan. 6 insurrection. That was on top of other breaking Trump news: a hearing in Florida federal court where lawyers sparred over when the ex-president’s trial will be held on charges he violated the Espionage Act and kept classified documents in his Mar-a-Lago home after he lost the 2020 election.
Instead of a statesmanlike moment for DeSantis on Tuesday, it was Trump, Trump and more Trump — even on CNN. Once again, DeSantis found himself being defined by The Former Guy. This, after DeSantis’ polling numbers have barely budged and amid reports that some campaign funders are getting nervous.
It should be noted that Trump said on his Truth Social website that he received the “horrifying news” on Sunday that he is a target of a grand jury investigation led by Special Counsel Jack Smith. But he waited until Tuesday — minutes before DeSantis’ interview was set — to announce it. Coincidence?
DeSantis’ response, when Tapper inevitably asked him about the announcement, was to downplay the former president’s mounting legal problems — and deflect. He attacked the Department of Justice and the FBI as being weaponized and “criminalizing political differences.” He said he hoped that Trump wouldn’t be indicted because it would be bad for the country. He insisted he was going to look forward, not back.
Earlier in the day, at a press conference in Columbia, South Carolina, he’d sounded a bit tougher on Trump. He said the former president should have “come out more forcefully” against the rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. “But to try to criminalize that,” DeSantis added, “that’s a different issue entirely.”
Maybe so, but what if we were talking about former Democratic president or current President Joe Biden? No doubt DeSantis would be all in on prosecution.
Though Trump is bogged down by two other indictments — the hush money case for Stormy Daniels in Manhattan and the top-secret documents case in Florida, as well as the E. Jean Carroll case in which he was found liable in civil court for sexual abuse and defamation — he marches along without a discernible difference, seeking the spotlight, basking in the attention. There are other cases that may still be filed, including one in Georgia. Yet nothing, so far, has shaken his core support. That must be maddening for DeSantis.
DeSantis was supposed to be Trump without the liabilities. But as the baggage piles up, DeSantis — like us — has to be wondering when, if ever, it will finally be too much.
—The Miami Herald Editorial Board