Wouldn’t it be nice to catch a political breather after these midterms? Nope, Trump won’t let it happen

I wonder how the republican party would react if a MAGAt assassinated DeSanctimonious?

Was wondering the same - DeSantis paints a gigantic target on his own back if he goes against The Donald. Any Republicans who oppose The Don make themselves the target of a special kind of MAGA vitriol that even Democrats usually don't get.

It doesn't make any logical sense. DeSantis is as neo-fascist as they come. His record in Florida, as appalling as it is, thrills conservatives. And yet - merely by standing against Trump, DeSantis will be seen by MAGA-world as the equivalent of the Party Establishment and the Leftist MSM and the "globalist bankers" (code for Jews) and the Chinese Communists and every other freedom-hating entity.

DeSantis had better be ready. Or, he can whiff and take a pass.

Fascism is a psychological reaction, not a rational, consistent ideology.

It's totally founded on double-think.

--Trump is *both* the all-conquering hero, the model of a successful Real American, *and* he is constantly under severe peril of being dragged down by the Enemies of America: the blacks, the Jews, the Chinese, the Godless unbelievers, the whomever.

--Trump is *both* a calm and rational mastermind of political chess, *and* he's a delicate emotional flower who needs to be saved from his own feelings and spared from hearing difficult news. And if he lashes out at you, then it's obviously your fault.

There's all kinds of this going on when you really scratch under the surface.

It's also a complete lost-cause and abuser-abused dynamic. Despite all the scandals, despite all the losses, despite the daily degradations and compromises, they keep coming back to Trump anyway, because he's convinced them that he's the only one who "really gets them."

He's had a solid seven years to build these toxic ties with the MAGA base. DeSantis now has a successful track record and a national profile name, but other than that, he's got nothing.

In fact, DeSantis's argument-from-victory rests implicitly on the idea that Trump is a loser (even if DeSantis doesn't dare say that). Against the mesmerizing hold of Trump's "Big Lie" of election theft in 2020, that could prove fatal to DeSantis. In fascist/mafia systems, you don't outshine the boss.

Matter of fact, Trump has already started chipping away at this bedrock of the DeSantis brand, by alleging that he personally intervened to "fix" DeSantis's election as governor in 2018. While total bullshit, that lie does three things: casts DeSantis as subservient, casts Trump as powerful, and reinforces Trump's Big Lie that all elections are meaningless.

https://www.factcheck.org/2022/11/factchecking-trumps-bizarre-claim-of-stopping-desantis-2018-election-from-being-stolen/

The Trump-DeSantis Cold War is already getting very, very ugly behind the scenes, and we haven't even had an announcement yet.