Donald Trump remains the uncontested king of the Republican Party.
This will come as no surprise to those who’ve been watching the rise of extremist thought in American conservatism. Trump has engendered such fervent support on the right that he could ride the corpse of Ronald Reagan down Mount Rushmore, leave a trail of diarrhea down George Washington’s face, and one third of Americans would still consider him the second coming. Nobody going up against him in the Republican primaries has a chance, and to think otherwise is as silly as pretending the 2024 election is going to pass with no drama.
This week, that point has been hammered home emphatically. Ron DeSantis, long seen as the heir to Trump thanks to his horrifying social policies and ability to feud with cartoon characters, suspended his presidential campaign and endorsed Trump. This happened despite the former president spending the last year relentlessly bullying the Floridian and his family.
DeSantis was long seen as a “sensible” Trump, mostly because he has the ability to think before he speaks instead of simply spewing out whatever thoughts pass through his head. However, some might argue that makes the Yale-educated lawyer even more of a ghoulish prospect than the real estate nepo baby, as his calculated brand of politics might lead to even more damage than Trump’s Godzilla approach.
DeSantis isn’t the first person to take a volley of venom from the Apprentice star only to pucker up (Trump famously called Ted Cruz’s wife ugly, only for the Texan to spend the next few months lavishing compliments on Trump that might have been better spent on his insulted spouse). But among the usual childhood taunts, there’s one particular insult Trump threw out at DeSantis that is a little more troubling: that the governor of Florida used his position as a teacher to groom teens.
If this were literally anybody but Trump, he would probably be grilled in interviews about squaring his accusation with his acceptance of DeSantis’ endorsement — especially given Trump’s well known ties to notorious child traffickers Jefferey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. But he seems to be untouchable, whether he’s throwing tantrums in court, or doing a George Bluth and potentially committing some light treason.
It’s up for debate whether the allegations against failed Republican candidate have any merit, but the evidence seems to be on DeSantis’ side, which would be a nice thing if people still cared about things like that.
Two female former students of the private school DeSantis taught at have confirmed to the NYT that he attended parties with students where alcohol was present, but said there was no talk of his misconduct, adding “we didn’t really think too much” about his presence. His behavior is a bit weird, but considering what DeSantis has done to Florida, it’s low on the list of things to dislike about him. And, if this were Trump we were talking about, it wouldn’t even make the list.