Debate gives Florida’s DeSantis his best chance to soar — or to get shot down | Opinion
And then there was one.
When the candidates vying for the Republican presidential nomination take the debate stage on Wednesday, Gov. Ron DeSantis will be the only one from Florida.
There are two others — so far — from the Sunshine State. Miami Mayor Francis Suarez failed to meet the polling requirements to participate, after crowing prematurely that he had qualified. Former President Donald Trump is taking a pass, doing his own thing in a pre-recorded interview with former Fox superstar Tucker Carlson.
This is a tremendous opportunity for DeSantis to hit reset, to do away with the adjectives that have stuck to him like gum on the bottom of his shoe: unlikable, extreme, uncharismatic, opportunistic and, as the Editorial Board finds, inauthentic.
Suarez’s failure to qualify might be for the best. His political reputation is taking hit after hit. Tuesday, the Herald reported that the Florida Commission on Ethics is reviewing a complaint about the mayor’s attendance at exclusive and expensive sporting events in the past 18 months — and whether he paid to attend or if tickets, including to the Miami Formula One race in May, were gifted.
This comes on top of a county ethics investigation into Suarez’s relationship with developer Rishi Kapoor. He paid the mayor $170,000 in consulting fees while seeking city approvals on a real-estate project in Coconut Grove. Worse, at least for Suarez, the FBI is also investigating.
Rather than trying to convey that he’s the fresh, new, visionary voice of the Republican Party, these probes and complaints would make him a target during the debate, suggesting he’s just another ethically challenged politician. Only Trump can get away with that and still emerge on top. It remains to be seen if Suarez drops out of race. That’s what he said any candidate who fails to make the debate stage should do.
DeSantis may be running a distant second to the relentlessly popular Trump, but the governor will be the one other candidates try to take down.
Of course, Trump will be there in spirit, his candidacy the elephant in the room. Candidates will either tiptoe around it or, we hope, be emboldened by his physical absence, a love of our Constitution and a sense of duty, and call the former president what he is: the man wanted to cling to power so badly he tried to throw our democracy under the bus.
Former Vice President Mike Pence has been forthright on the campaign trail; and former Gov. Chris Christie, of New Jersey, couldn’t tiptoe if he tried. His candidacy is one loud siren that Trump is a dangerous autocrat who should never, ever, take possession of the Oval Office again. He’ll be fun to watch, expected to lob truth bombs and zingers — and possibly even improve his abysmal poll numbers.
In fact, compared to Trump, every other candidate’s poll numbers are abysmal, even DeSantis’ — though he remains the strongest candidate of the pack after the former president. Trump’s base of voters, growing stronger with each indictment, it seems, likely will not be persuaded to jump his ship. This finally dawned on the Florida governor’s flailing campaign. He has moved away from running to Trump’s right. He sounded like a man unhinged, with talk of slitting throats and shooting drug traffickers on sight. His culture-war rhetoric didn’t resonate, and big donors were closing their wallets.
Recent polls continue to show Trump garnering at least 50% of Republican voters’ support. DeSantis is mired at about 15%.
For the record, the Editorial Board has disagreed with DeSantis’ damaging policies in Florida and is horrified by Trump. That said, if DeSantis can begin to speak with more common sense, more concern to ground-level issues — and with more empathy and authenticity — perhaps he can give those outside of Trump’s base something to rally around.
If nothing else, democracy deserves a good fight.