No, DeSantis Did Not "Suggest" Trump be "Removed" from the Primary
/One thing that has really upset me during this primary process is watching influencers on the right have totally dishonest takes. Sometimes, we get things wrong. Sometimes, influencers can have bad opinions or be blinded by bias. But a post made Thursday by Jack Posobiec, Senior Editor of Human Events, is a lie. “BREAKING: DeSantis just went on MSNBC and suggested Trump should be removed from the primary if he is convicted in any of the cases against him.”
Either most of the people who quote retweeted knew that was a lie or they didn’t watch the clip and trusted Posobiec’s words. But there are some notable Trump allies who elevated Posobiec’s framing. Roger Stone said, “Ron now fully exposes who he is.” Richard Grenell, who dishonestly attacked Kathy Barnette in favor of Dr. Mehmet Oz in the 2022 midterms, said, “The Rick Scott endorsement of Trump has the whole DeSantis campaign melting down. He’s imploding.”
Mike Cernovich scolded the governor and offered alternative talking points. “‘We don’t do show trials in the US. I’m confident Trump will prevail.’” But DeSantis is probably not confident Trump will prevail, and no sane person should believe he’s going to escape all of his indictments unscathed or be found innocent of all of them, especially in D.C.
Here’s what actually happened. Ron DeSantis was being grilled about his pledge to support the nominee, and DeSantis said he would stand by his pledge. DeSantis has a plan to win, but “you can’t just take your ball and go home” if it doesn’t go your way. He’s not opting to pull a smug “vote your conscience” stunt like Senator Ted Cruz pulled at the RNC convention back in 2016. DeSantis claims he’ll stand by his word. But he also said if Trump is convicted, that would be toxic in a general election and the voters will realize that. “I don’t think the party should nominate in that situation.”
The “party” isn’t Ronna McDaniel and a bunch of dudes in a smoke-filled room. Which, by the way, Ronna and Trump are politically entangled. It’s unlikely she’d betray him in such a way because much of her focus is on her rumored future run for Michigan governor, and Trump helped to get her reelected to RNC Chair. The “party” is me. It’s my friends. It’s the delegates. It’s the voters. DeSantis is saying we shouldn’t elect Trump as our nominee, not that Trump should be removed from the ballot.
When I see a snippet of a Trump quote being passed around, I go watch the rally to find more context to see if people are portraying him honestly. In the snippet Jack shared, the context is clear.
DeSantis promised to support the nominee. To my knowledge, Trump has not promised to do that yet. Trump certainly didn’t sign the GOP loyalty pledge. He’s even floated around a 3rd party run. But the dishonest thing about all this is that political insiders know Trump doesn’t want a primary at all. Not only has he continuously called for his opponents to drop out and for debates to end; he’s been working with his allies in different states to change the election rules to help him. A Trump Super PAC also launched an ethics violation against DeSantis to get him removed from the ballot earlier this year.
You cannot attack DeSantis for allegedly suggesting Trump should be disqualified by the RNC (after being convicted of a felony) yet keep insisting the RNC should end debates and everyone should drop out before a single ballot is cast.
DeSantis critics appear to be upset that he got in the race expecting at some point, Trump’s legal issues would catch up to him and make Trump an unviable candidate. Primaries, in general, are good. It’s good for voters to have options—not just because the slight or drastic differences between candidates warrant debate—because unexpected circumstances also happen. A candidate might need to drop out due to family issues or health, a candidate’s health might come into question, or they may be convicted of a crime or caught up in a scandal. You don’t want a situation to arrive when the only candidate on your primary ballot goes into the general and forces Republican voters to vote for a Democrat. Primaries are not coronations. They are processes to weed out the best options to achieve electoral victory. So, even if DeSantis were waiting for the worst, it’s still good for the voters to have other cards to play. It’s as though his opponents want DeSantis to be punished for having common sense.
Lawyers Sidney Powell, Kenneth Chesbro, and Jenna Ellis have made plea deals in the RICO case against Trump. Former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows has been granted immunity and has met several times with Jack Smith’s team. What if someone reveals information that makes Trump unelectable in the general? In 2016, Judge Jeanine Pirro argued Hillary Clinton shouldn’t be elected president, even if she were innocent of mishandling classified documents. “We cannot have a country led by a president subject to ongoing criminal investigations, potential indictment, and never-ending hearings.” She literally said Clinton’s guilt was a “moot point,” and went on to say that in the private sector, when the head of the company is “plagued with scandal,” they step down and are replaced. If Trump voters knew this to be the case back in 2016 during a general election, how can they not consider it during a primary in 2024?
But it’s still very possible that DeSantis ran because Trump is old, he’ll be a lame duck automatically, he constantly outspent the Obama administration, didn’t like the way the pandemic was handled, and so on. It’s very possible that his differences are political, and DeSantis thinks he’s a better candidate with far less baggage to deal with during a general election.
Despite how you feel about DeSantis running, there’s no excuse to lie about what he says during interviews. Criticize policies—if you can—but don’t compromise your own integrity and deceive your audience just to attack a candidate.
