For the past four decades, Donald Trump’s mastery of self-promotion has relied on citing examples of savvy choices made throughout his career in real estate, television and politics. During the 2000’s, Trump’s TV persona on “The Apprentice” was entirely built on the premise that Trump had an innate ability to see untapped raw talent, the diamonds in the rough who had unmatched potential among their peers at the table.
During the 2016 Presidential Election cycle, with no political record to gauge at that time, voters and pundits asked Trump who he may choose for cabinet and other leadership positions. They were assured by Trump that he would pick “only the best people ” to serve in his administration. Within the first year of Trump’s term in the White House, it became clear that his selections of Michael Flynn, Paul Manafort and Carter Page were ill advised, and enough to draw criticism for his judgement while choosing leaders, but unlike Trump’s current top topics of scorn, none of those appointees were running to be governor or President.
Trump also effectively used nicknames to label Republican primary opponents voters who struggled with likability issues, such as Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.
In the past two weeks, Trump has taken to Truth Social to condemn DeSantis as a Republican in Name Only (RINO) globalist and coined the nickname “Meatball” Ron. The meatball nickname is the second nickname he’s given to DeSantis, with the first nickname being “Ron De-Sanctimonious. “Neither nickname has gained the traction Trump enjoyed against his rivals in 2016. Unfortunately for Trump, GOP voters are not only familiar with DeSantis, but they strongly approve of DeSantis’ performance as Florida’s governor.Trump likes to claim that his endorsement of DeSantis over then Florida Sec. of Agriculture Adam Putnam in the 2018 Florida Republican Gubernatorial Primary was what made DeSantis’ career, despite the fact that DeSantis had already been elected to congress. Trump stated that had he known more about DeSantis in 2018, he wouldn’t have given his endorsement. If Trump’s endorsement of DeSantis carried such weight, then it’s fair to assume that Trump would know where DeSantis stood on key issues. As DeSantis’ popularity and national name recognition has soared, Trump has not only backtracked on his compliments of DeSantis, he has stepped up his criticism.
Fast forward to 2022, and Trump’s handpicked candidates in Georgia, Herschel Walker and David Perdue, lost their respective Senate and Gubernatorial races. Jody Hice, who lost in a landslide t Georgia’s Secretary of State, marked another endorsement loss for Trump in the Peach State. Following their landslide losses, coupled with losses of other endorsed candidates such as Dr. Oz in Pennsylvania, DeSantis said his opponents should “check the scoreboard”, an indirect rebuttal to Trump downplaying of DeSantis’ 19-point win without Trump’s endorsement for a 2nd term.
TRUMP VS. HALEY
FormerSouth Carolina Governor Nikki Haley was appointed as the U.N. Ambassador by Donald Trump. Haley announced her candidacy this week, and didn’t say a single negative remark about Trump, but that didn’t prevent Trump from firing-off a criticism within 24 hours of Haley’s official campaign launch. In an email titled “The Real Nikki Haley” sent minutes after her official campaign launch event, the Trump campaign noted Haley supported former Speaker Paul Ryan’s (R-Wis.) plan to eliminate Medicare and turn it into a voucher system. Trump also cited 2010 Fox News interview where Haley indicated Congress should be looking to cut Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.
In a recent interview with Hugh Hewitt, Trump offered a similar talking point. “She’s a very ambitious person. She just couldn’t stay in her seat,
Inevitably, Republican voters who aren’t staunch defenders of Trump must ask: If Trump cannot trust his own judgement, why should we continue to trust his judgement in a second term?