Donald Trump faces legal jeopardy about payments to porn star Stormy Daniels, but his Republican opponents face political jeopardy about how to handle the issue. Ron DeSantis’s powerful response shows why he’s such a formidable candidate and why Trump fears him.
Most Republicans have opted for the easy answer to the hush-money story: criticize Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg for pushing a politically driven agenda. That agenda centers on snagging the former president on a minor, long-forgotten misdemeanor and converting it into a larger, more serious crime. Bragg apparently hopes to use a novel legal theory to upgrade the minor charge to a felony. Since the case would be tried before a Manhattan jury that loathes Trump, that legal legerdemain might work.
No neutral observer thinks the DA would prosecute anyone else for the same offense, much less try to amplify the legal peril. Federal prosecutors have already reviewed the main crime being alleged and declined to prosecute. Not our man Bragg, the Inspector Javert of Midtown Manhattan. First, he found his target; then, he looked for a crime. That’s never supposed to happen in our legal system. It’s political abuse of the law, and it needs to be called out. All Republicans, including DeSantis, are doing that.
But the Florida governor is doing something more — and that’s what makes it interesting. After slashing Bragg, he delivered a snarky, backhand blow to Trump. That blow tells us how DeSantis is likely to approach the primary campaign and how he will try to demolish the big, orange roadblock between him and the nomination.
After hitting Bragg, DeSantis avoided the usual, non-committal statement after the potential charges. Instead, he said, “I don’t know what goes into paying hush money to a porn star to secure silence over some type of alleged affair.”
Trump went berserk.
Trump posted his fury on his social-media platform, Truth Social: “Ron DeSanctimonious will probably find out about FALSE ACCUSATIONS & FAKE STORIES sometime in the future, as he gets older, wiser and better known when he’s unfairly and illegally attacked by a woman, even classmates that are ‘underage’ (or possibly a man!). I’m sure he will want to fight these misfits just like I do!”
That fulmination tells us nothing new about Trump. It is his standard response to criticism: a nasty, personalized attack, with a hint of threat.
But DeSantis’s response says something new about him, or at least about his approach to the coming campaign. He intends to go directly at Trump and to do it now, rather than to feign comradery, as all Trump’s opponents did in 2016. It didn’t help them if they had kissed his ring for months. As soon as he thought he could deliver a knock-out blow, he went after them. One by one, he picked them off.
DeSantis knows that history. He knows Trump will come after him sooner or later — probably sooner since Trump already considers him the most formidable challenger. That’s why Trump worked to damn him with a foul nickname: DeSantimonious. It wasn’t an inspired choice since it doesn’t highlight his opponent’s weakness.
Still, most politicians would hesitate to launch an early attack on Trump for two reasons. First, they know how Trump will respond. He is certain to double down on fury. He will fire an unending barrage of personal attacks, meant to demean an opponent rather than contest his ideas. That’s exactly how Trump responded this week. Since DeSantis knew that barrage was coming, he must have figured he could survive it and, better yet, that it would remind voters of Trump’s worst qualities.
Second, Trump’s opponents fear any attacks on him will cost them votes, that they cannot win primary contests if they alienate the largest segment of the party. After all, some 35-40 percent of Republican voters still say they support the former president.
It’s difficult to say what DeSantis thinks about capturing those voters. He might think they are beyond his grasp and he should simply focus on the remaining 60-65 percent. My hunch, though, is that he thinks he can capture at least some Trump supporters, but only if he embodies the qualities they yearn for.
What are those qualities? Two stand out. First, they want an outsider, someone fundamentally at odds with the permanent state and lobbyists in Washington. Second, they want someone who is tough as nails, who won’t bend under constant pressure from bureaucrats, lobbyists, elite newspapers, government contractors, and their fellow travelers if he is elected.
Trump’s supporters believe he personifies those qualities. The irony is that DeSantis’s attack on Trump shows he embodies them, too. If he’s not afraid to go after the Big Dog in his own party, he won’t be afraid to take on the Washington Post, the New York Times, the Anthony Faucis and the US Chamber of Commerce. He’s already shown he’s not afraid to go after entrenched interests in Florida — and to do it effectively. What he must do now is demonstrate those qualities on a national stage.
DeSantis began doing that almost immediately. In a lengthy interview with Piers Morgan, the Florida governor differentiated himself from Trump and went after the former president’s obvious vulnerabilities.
[Our] approach to Covid was different. I would have fired somebody like Fauci. I think he got way too big for his britches, and I think he did a lot of damage… I also think just in terms of my approach to leadership, I get personnel in the government who have the agenda of the people and share our agenda. You bring your own agenda in, you’re gone. We’re just not gonna have that. So, the way we run the government, I think, is no daily drama, focus on the big picture and put points on the board — and I think that’s something that’s very important.
Body blow after body blow. DeSantis is saying that he can get things done and do them without Trump’s histrionics and tumult. Highlighting the differences on Covid is especially shrewd. Florida was successful where the Trump administration was not. The subtext is “I don’t back down from even the biggest challenges.” Today, that’s Trump. Tomorrow, that’s the administrative state in Washington.
Trump responded with a long list of what he considers Florida’s failures under DeSantis. Trump’s True Believers will undoubtedly nod in agreement. But the statement looks like mean-spirited, personal pique, aimed at a popular Republican governor, who has passed an ambitious policy agenda and turned a purple state into a red one. Trump’s characteristic “take no prisoners” assault damages the party, alienates many voters, and could very well damage the former president’s own candidacy.
As for DeSantis’s (undeclared) candidacy, the key is to show Republicans that his attack on Trump is a response, not an unprovoked first blow; that he shares the voters’ priorities, and that he has the track record in government to actually fulfill his promises. The more Trump fumes, the more he highlights his own defects — the chaos and narcissism that undermined his administration. DeSantis can capitalize on that opening. His response to Trump’s entanglement with Stormy Daniels shows he’s willing to face the challenge head on.
