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Tags: party unity | donald trump
OPINION

This Is No Time for Name-Calling and Purity Tests

trump on stage wearing a maga hat with his trump plane in the background
Former President Donald Trump at a Pennsylvania rally on Saturday where he called the GOP governor of Florida "Ron DeSanctimonious." (Getty Images)

Michael Dorstewitz By Monday, 07 November 2022 11:07 AM EST Current | Bio | Archive

Former President Donald Trump mocked Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis at a Saturday night rally. He called him "Ron DeSanctimonious,” which could be a sign of growing tension between the two potential presidential candidates.

"We're winning big, big, big in the Republican Party for the nomination like nobody's ever seen before,” Trump told the Latrobe, Pennsylvania crowd at his Save America rally. Then he ran down the latest 2024 hypothetical presidential polls.

"There it is, Trump at 71%,” he said, eliciting loud cheers from the crowd. “Ron DeSanctimonious at 10%," Trump continued, prompting a huge drop in crowd approval. He then read off the numbers of other Republicans.

Until 2024, tomorrow will be the most important election of our lives. In addition, Trump chose the night before another scheduled rally in Miami, Florida to take a swipe at the wildly popular Florida governor.

So what’s going on here? Trump endorsed DeSantis for Congress, and later for governor.

DeSantis isn’t a political rival. He hasn’t so much as hinted at a 2024 White House run, and he’s savvy enough to know that the moment Trump makes an announcement, the nomination will be his.

Perhaps the schism began forming late last month when DeSantis endorsed Republican Senate nominee Joe O’Dea and recorded a robocall for his campaign, stating “I’ve watched Joe from a distance. And I’m impressed.”

He did this despite Trump urging conservatives to turn their backs on O’Dea, calling him a “RINO” (Republican In Name Only) because the Senate hopeful has repeatedly distanced his politics and himself from Trump.

But O’Dea is running in Colorado, a blue state where Republicans rarely win statewide office — not exactly “MAGA country.”

The Cook Political Report calls the race “leaning Democrat,” while both Inside Elections with Nathan Gonzales and Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball rate it “likely Democrat.”

Moreover, Trump only took 41.9% of Colorado’s popular vote in 2020, down from the 43.25% he earned in 2016.

Nevertheless, the latest Trafalgar Group poll has O’Dea in a virtual dead heat, 46.1% to incumbent Democrat Sen. Michael Bennet’s 47.6%. He couldn’t have done that running as a Trump clone.

But it’s not just Trump.

In September popular conservative commentator Michael Knowles urged Republicans to be a no-show for Pennsylvania’s U.S. Senate race, where GOP candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz is facing off against Democrat Lt. Gov. John Fetterman.

“PA Rs should strongly consider staying home in Nov. This guy is such a loser,” tweeted Knowles of Oz. “Is there any evidence he'd even reliably side with a GOP majority? If cons not only fail to conserve but actively cheer on the destruction of the basic political institution, who cares if they win?”

Knowles took issue with Oz’s stance on same-sex marriage. Oz said, “I believe that same-sex couples should have the same freedom to get married as straight couples.”

Most conservatives would probably agree with Knowles on that issue. But the only way to find a candidate that’s 100% in agreement with yourself is if you yourself are the candidate.

Purity tests may be fine for selecting candidates. But once the party has made its nomination, such tests need to be thrown out.

That’s especially true this year when it comes to the Senate. That’s the chamber that confirms major presidential appointments, including federal judges and Supreme Court justices.

Can we really afford another Ketanji Brown Jackson sitting on the high court? She couldn’t define the word “woman” when asked, and her record on the U.S. District Court demonstrates that she’s soft on child predators.

It appears that Trump may have had second thoughts about bashing DeSantis after Saturday’s rally.

Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk tweeted, “Miami-Dade rally erupts as Trump tells them to re-elect Ron DeSantis Governor of Florida.”

The crowd cheered wildly when the former president told them to re-elect Sen. Marco Rubio — the person the rally was primarily for. The cheers went up in pitch and in decibels when he told them to re-elect DeSantis.

Trump developed a reputation in 2016 for assigning unflattering nicknames to rivals. It’s one thing to call former Secretary of State Clinton “Corrupt Hillary,” or Vermont’s senior U.S. Sen. Sanders “Crazy Bernie.”

But going after your own is a bit much. Examples include Florida senior Sen. Rubio “Little Marco,” Texas junior Sen. Cruz “Lyin’ Ted,” and former Florida Gov. Bush “Low Energy Jeb.”

Politics has been described as a rough and tumble, tooth-and-nail bloodsport. There’s no need and little reason to draw the blood of other Republicans. Even primary rivals ultimately want the same thing — a GOP win.

More than that, it violates the late President Ronald Reagan’s Eleventh Commandment: “Thou shalt not speak ill of thy fellow Republicans.”

It was sage advice then, and it still applies today.

Michael Dorstewitz is a retired lawyer and has been a frequent contributor to Newsmax. He is also a former U.S. Merchant Marine officer and an enthusiastic Second Amendment supporter. Read Michael Dorstewitz's Reports — More Here.

© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.


MichaelDorstewitz
Purity tests may be fine for selecting candidates. But once the party has made its nomination, such tests need to be thrown out.
party unity, donald trump
828
2022-07-07
Monday, 07 November 2022 11:07 AM
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