Maybe it’s just because we’re deep into the World Series, but the latest twist in the race for the Republican presidential nomination feels all baseballesque to me.
No, really. Supporters of He Who Sullies Everything want voters to believe the contest for the Republican presidential nomination is just another pennant race. They also want you to believe the race is already over. And because of that, barely a day goes by that they don’t tout the insight of some pundit or group demanding the second-place team concede already.
Beat the trade deadline. Sell off your assets. Prepare for the future. Tip your cap and wish the frontrunner well in the playoffs.
Never mind that in the presidential campaign schedule, pitchers and catchers have only just begun reporting for preseason drills. Nothing is decided. Nothing is written. Anything — even a billion-to-one Texas-Arizona World Series — could happen.
Nonetheless, the plainly ephemeral state of the campaign nearly 12 weeks before the Iowa caucuses did not prevent MAGA World from endorsing the demand by a Florida group with an imposing and official-sounding name that Ron DeSantis must abandon his pursuit of the White House and get back to Tallahassee to fulfill his gubernatorial duties. From the release above the declaration by the Florida Republican Assembly:
DeSantis has not done well in the primaries but no GOP candidate has done well in the primaries other than President Trump. Now the Florida Republican Assembly is calling for his return. They released a declaration requesting that DeSantis come back to Florida and begin governing the state again.
The usual suspects piled on.
BREAKING REPORT: Florida Republican Assembly approves resolution DEMANDING Gov. Ron DeSantis END HIS PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN and return to Florida to fulfill his duties.
“We elected our Governor to a 4-year term to take care of Florida. NOT PAY HIM TO CAMPAIGN for higher office.” pic.twitter.com/A63omIQtmh
— Chuck Callesto (@ChuckCallesto) October 28, 2023
Worth noting with extreme abundance: The Florida Republican Assembly is a political action group that is in no way affiliated with the Florida Legislature. Part of the National Federation of Republican Assemblies (23 states plus Puerto Rico), the Florida chapter hosted the national convention in Orlando two weeks ago.
Instructively, FRA’s homepage link to its store takes visitors here:
Nothing says “disinterested observer advocating in the best interest of conservatives” like being delivered to the entrance of The MAGA Mall.
In short, for all its camouflage, FRA is simply another affiliate of MAGA, its majestic, whereas-laden declaration nothing more than an attempt to join those running interference for Donald Trump.
At the risk of contorting a metaphor, if the race is already so completely over, FRA’s demand is like the guy who clips a pursuer 15 yards behind the punt-returner who’s already home free for a touchdown. Why do that?
Probably, and we’re just spit-balling here, for the same reason Trump-supporting super PAC Make America Great Again Inc. recently scheduled a million-dollar advertising buy mostly attacking DeSantis as — spit-take alert — “insufficiently conservative.”
Because hyperbole never takes a holiday during presidential campaign seasons, a DeSantis spokesman seized on the news to declare a shift in momentum.
“After months of pounding their chest that they already had the race won, Team Trump is now being forced to publicly admit that Ron DeSantis is climbing in Iowa and is a dire threat to their chances of securing the nomination,“ Andrew Romeo, communications director for the DeSantis campaign, said in an emailed statement to The Gazette.
“At a time when Israelis and Americans are still held hostage by Hamas, while millions of Americans are suffering under high inflation, and when our southern border continues to be invaded, Team Trump inexplicably has decided to levy false and hypocritical attacks on Ron DeSantis … about Puerto Rico,” Romeo said.
The punditry also took note.
“It is notable that Donald Trump is advertising against Ron DeSantis again on television — that suggests they're not totally content the race is over and done with," says POLITICO's Alex Burns. pic.twitter.com/1AG5q9qvcL
— DeSantis War Room 🐊 (@DeSantisWarRoom) October 29, 2023
It’s all a little problematic for a MAGA cult unironically obsessed with appearances … which, to regular folks’ fascination, achieved boil-over status Tuesday with Politico’s breathless analysis of DeSantis’ preference for cowboy boots.
Meanwhile …
Why is DeSantis getting hassled about his height when the de facto boss of the Republican party wears high heels, orange makeup and lies ridiculously about his weight?https://t.co/v0PWHxDjoF
— S.V. Dáte (@svdate) October 31, 2023
To wrap this up: We remember, because we are ancient, when we became devoted fans of the St. Louis Cardinals. It was September 1964, and the Redbirds, once 11 games behind and tied for seventh in the National League, surged past everyone, including the heavily favored Philadelphia Phillies, claiming the pennant on the final day of the regular season, then beating the New York Yankees in seven games in the World Series.
Those Cardinals personified the most axiomatic of Yogi Berra’s Yogi-isms: It ain’t over ’til it’s over. In the case of Ron DeSantis — who, said admiringly, has a bit of Tim McCarver‘s grit in him — vs. He Who Sullies Everything, it’s only just beginning.
