Pitching yourself to the reactionary base as a more competent, less legally encumbered version of Trump never looked like a winning strategy to me. But today, things have gotten even worse for DeSantis, because he has competition in the abjectly pro-Trump lane; Ramaswamy is even Trumpier than Trump in some respects. If the GOP electorate suddenly decides that Trump’s legal problems disqualify him, it may choose Ramaswamy over DeSantis. What is the Hungarian Candidate going to do now?
He can’t very well attack Ramaswamy on substance, since they are both completely aligned with the base, unless he is prepared to jettison his passive-aggressive approach to Trump and put his focus on winning over moderate voters. It is probably way too late for that. My guess is that he will engage in some mild criticism about Ramaswamy’s inexperience and hope that Christie, Haley, and Pence will discredit the guy without much help from him.
In other words, expect more of the same at the next debate.
A note to my readers: I will be on vacation next week. Regular posts will resume no later than next Sunday.