The Hopeless Delusion of Pining for a Trump-DeSantis 2024 Ticket
Hoping Ron DeSantis can mitigate MAGA while charting his own future by becoming Trump's running mate may be a nice thought, but it's simply not rooted in the reality of how either man makes decisions.
As often as it may seem like it, MAGA and the Left don’t have monopolies on fantasy, and one of the most vexing examples among those who should know better is the persistent chorus calling for Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis to join forces as running mates.
Perhaps it shouldn’t be surprising. It’s natural to want a serious influence somewhere in an administration guaranteed to be swarming with fools, fakes, and freaks, it’s true that DeSantis on the ticket would sway a few conservatives currently refusing to vote for Trump in November, and it’s tempting to want him ideally positioned to sail to the nomination in 2028—or, better yet, step in as president sooner if Trump’s legal woes ultimately derail his return to the White House.
But while those may be nice thoughts, they’re simply not rooted in the reality of either DeSantis’s long-term interests or Trump’s perception of his own—and not just because DeSantis has already said multiple times he’s not interested, or because Trump would have to change his primary residence to somewhere outside Florida.
It’s true that DeSantis would help Trump politically, from attracting Ron’s donors to winning back at least some conservatives driven away by MAGA’s vile antics. It’s also true that DeSantis, as a serious conservative and unmatched executive, could get a Trump administration to actually run competently and effectively for conservative ends...if he was allowed the necessary latitude.
But that last point is where the fantasy falls apart. Every move a Vice President DeSantis would try to make would have to compete with a motley assortment of grifters, sycophants, and family members (in case you missed it, Ivanka might be back after all, meaning Jared Kushner would probably return too) with their own agendas...none of which would have anything to do with long-term conservative reform. And considering that conservative causes mean nothing to the guy at the top, you can guess who would prevail most of the time. The pervasive MAGA swamp also means VP status wouldn’t keep DeSantis from having to fight an anointed sycophant for the 2028 nomination anyway. MAGA will want to keep the grift going as long as it can, the good of the party or country be damned.
DeSantis is also surely aware from Mike Pence’s experience that all it would take to be re-branded a traitor and lose every scrap of goodwill such a sacrifice might get him would be his hopeless moron of a boss deciding his vice president needs to clean up after him again through some hare-brained stunt DeSantis would recognize to be illegal, ineffective, or otherwise unworkable. Who in their right mind would put up with all that for such a miniscule chance of it paying off?
By the same token, in light of his endless personnel problems and his hatred of Pence, it’s extraordinarily doubtful Trump will accept anything less than a complete submissive for his running mate this time, someone without the independence to defy his most destructive requests or the self-respect to steer clear of Trumpworld’s ugliest manifestations. I still think Tim Scott best fits that bill out of the reported shortlist, but Ron DeSantis certainly doesn’t.
Trump as the Republican nominee again is a nightmare scenario for the future of American conservatism. There’s no clear path to a positive future that doesn’t involve some sort of disaster, whether caused by a second Biden term or a fully-MAGAfied Republican Party. The temptation to see a Trump-DeSantis ticket as a way to smooth the path to reform is understandable, but ultimately unrealistic. Ron’s best chance at someday being the one to pick up the Right’s pieces is still to keep himself outside the entity responsible for breaking it.