DeSantis completely misunderstood his own popularity. Among his grassroots supporters, most were also Trump supporters. Attacking Trump alienated his own base of support. Vivek jumped ahead of him when he started defending Trump.
Trump is the elephant in the room. Trump is the only one running with actual organic support.
DeSantis was a shoo-in for 2028 based on his performance as governor. Now? He has soiled himself and it’s self-inflicted.
Trump destroyed DeSantis. But DeSantis never was able to recover.
“DeSantis completely misunderstood his own popularity. “
I agree, DeSantis started out to the right of Trump, with a good track record as governor and the right position with Disney and other social issues. Then he started taking money from RINO donors and listening to their advice. At one point I thought he might make a good VP to Trump. But now not so sure. He needs to rid himself of his advisors and most of his donors and go back to being a great governor.
Regarding debates, why should Trump expose himself to bias moderators and questions, while giving his competitors an a greatly increased audience. Just go with a live interview with Tucker during a competing time slot and steal what’s left of the audience away from the debate.