Now that Trump’s been roasted, who will be the Next One?

HALIFAX—Now that Donald Trump, like most weenies, has been roasted, the burning question south of the border is who will be the Next One. Why roasted? Simple. Trump has proven himself to be a Losing Legend. First the House and Senate in the 2018 midterms, then the White House after one term, and finally the debacle involving his hand-picked candidates in the Nov. 8 midterms of 2022. And don’t forget that his big-ticket donations, like Lake Mead, are drying up. No small development, since money is the mother’s milk of politics. When you are expecting a feast and get a pie in the face, as the GOP did in the midterms, anger and disillusionment are inevitable. In the first real sign of Trump fatigue from both rank-and-file Republicans and Conservative news agencies, like Fox News and the New York Post, number junkies are reflecting growing support for Ron DeSantis. Coming off a blowout re-election, Florida’s governor has a lead in the polls over the Orange One for the party’s presidential nomination in 2024. Trump clearly feels the threat to his delusions of a second term in the White House. Channelling his inner viper, Trump has already begun to attack the man he has dubbed Ron “DeSanctimonious." First Trump gives you a nickname, then the claws come out. Without Trump, the ex-president claims, DeSantis would never have become governor of Florida. And as governor, he has been just “average”— a classic example of damning with faint praise. At first, DeSantis took the shots from his former mentor without even putting up his guard, let alone throwing a punch. Then he directed a zinger of his own at Trump: “Go check out the scoreboard," a pointed reference to the GOP’s dismal showing in the midterm elections. You may be sure Trump is already sticking pins in a Ron DeSantis doll. The main reason DeSantis’ political star is in the ascent for now is that he appears to be Trump without the baggage. He has the same sort of bristling conservative values, but no porn stars or state secrets in the closet. This is a man who fought against mask mandates and pushed hard to reopen schools closed during the pandemic. DeSantis used the restrictions imposed during COVID to bludgeon Joe Biden, referring to the president’s creation of a “biomedical security state.” Almost 83,000 Floridians died from COVID. DeSantis also scored points with Trump supporters, and earned catcalls from human rights activists when he chartered two planes and sent unwanted Venezuelan immigrants from Florida to Martha’s Vineyard. And then there was the governor’s promise to make Florida “the freest state in the United States.” Did Pierre Poilievre copy this guy’s homework? Canada as the “freest” country in the world? Incredibly, it also looks like former vice-president Mike Pence is looking for Trump’s old job. His new book, So Help Me God, will doubtless appeal to the Republican Party’s God Squad. And he may have something to say about the Florida governors messianic inference that on the eighth day God created Ron DeSantis. Comedian Jimmy Kimmel devoted a segment to what he called, Pence’s “stocking stuffer” book. “Hang it on the mantle, just like Pence almost was.” On the same program, there was a reference to Pence “surrendering his testicles” to Trump over the course of his four years as vice-president. Out of the mouths of comics. The truth of Kimmel’s ribald reference was echoed in a more sedate arena, a televised town hall featuring Pence and CNN’s Jake Tapper. If ever there was living proof that the heart of a bureaucrat, not a leader, beats in Pence’s chest, the CNN broadcast provided it. Although Pence had a ringside seat Trump's moral demolition of the GOP, he could not bring himself to say that his former boss should not be president. Tapper later reported on a CNN news show that Pence seemed to think that everything was alright with the Trump presidency until the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol Building. Remember the roving band of Trump supporters who wanted to lynch Pence because he intended to confirm Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory that day? Pence admitted that he was angry about that, particularly since his wife and daughter were exposed to the mayhem. But then, according to Pence, his Christian values kicked in and he realized that however reckless the president’s words had been on Jan. 6, it was not right to remain angry. The two men patched things up and ended on a amicable note. So here’s the question: where were Pence’s Christian values when Trump became the first serial liar to hold the U.S. presidency? I'm pretty sure the Ten Commandments cover that territory. Where were Pence’s Christian values when Trump spoke up for white supremacists in Charlottesville, Virginia? And where were the vice-president’s Christian values when Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, laid out in detail how he paid hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels to keep her affair with Trump quiet? Pence says he found the Lord in university. He apparently lost him at the White House. Besides DeSantis and Pence, there are a lot of other former Trump supporters sniffing the political wind. That group includes former UN ambassador Nikki Haley, former secretary of state Mike Pompeo, Senator Ted Cruz, former New Jersey governor Chris Christie, and even Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who is, after all, already in politics. No matter who ends up leading the GOP in 2024, the bottom line is this: on his way out the door of the White House, Trump decamped with classified documents; on his way out the door as top dog of the Republican Party, he will make sure there is not much of a party left to lead. Michael Harris is an award-winning author and journalist. The Hill Times

Now that Trump’s been roasted, who will be the Next One?

No matter who ends up leading the GOP in 2024, the bottom line is this: on his way out the door of the White House, Trump decamped with classified documents; on his way out the door as top dog of the Republican Party, he will make sure there is not much of a party left to lead.

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Now that Trump’s been roasted, who will be the Next One?

No matter who ends up leading the GOP in 2024, the bottom line is this: on his way out the door of the White House, Trump decamped with classified documents; on his way out the door as top dog of the Republican Party, he will make sure there is not much of a party left to lead.

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