I'D SAY, "LET THEM FIGHT," BUT THEY WON'T

Axios and The New York Times are rooting for a big, gossip-worthy slugfest between Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis. From the Axios story:

Donald Trump is trashing Ron DeSantis in private as an ingrate with a "dull personality" and no realistic chance of beating him in a potential 2024 showdown, according to sources who've recently talked to the former president about the Florida governor....

The governor also hasn't been beyond tweaking his fellow Floridian.

DeSantis said on the "Ruthless" podcast, recorded Thursday, one of his biggest regrets in office was not speaking out "much louder" in March 2020, when Trump advised the American public to stay home to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

Also:

Reupping this - Trump has been telling a range of aides a version of, he isn't getting the deference from DeSantis that he wants in the pre-2024 leadup https://t.co/3s0t4riHgF

— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) January 12, 2022

I'd be delighted if these two guys bloodied each other. There's one problem, though: Their shared fan base isn't interested in a fight between them. In the comments to a Breitbart summary of the Axios and Times reporting, readers refused to join the fight. For one thing, they don't believe that Trump is trashing DeSantis, even though it's what anyone who knows anything about Trump would expect him to do when faced with a serious dominance challenge.

The source for Trump comments is the New York Times, yup that is completely believable.

HINT:
Attempting to DIVIDE CONSERVATIVES

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Cant talk about what Biden has "accomplished," but jump all over a made up story with no facts. Typical NYT.

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U BELIEVE THE N.Y. SLIMES ??

They love both of these guys:

Trump and DeSantis should be working together for the America First cause. DeSantis should acknowledge Trump as the leader of America First, and Trump should acknowledge DeSantis as the greatest America First Governor. They should be cooperating to find America First Republican replacements for Marco Rubio and Rick Scott. Tim Tebow should try out for Rino Rubio's position on the Florida Senate team!

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Nobody even Trump can deny that DeSantis has been the standout, best performing Governor in this country.

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President Trump has not denied it

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We’ve got both and we need both. Don’t sow division.

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It’ll never be a choice between the two. That’s what the media wants.

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Deciding between Trump and DeSantis is like having a football team with two good quarterbacks and only one can start. There'll be some drama between them, but it's a good problem for the team (us) to have. It's only really a problem if you don't know who to start because all of the QBs on the team are awful, which is the problem the Dems are facing for 2024.

They don't want a fight -- but if they're forced to make a choice, they'll choose Trump. I was planning to write a post explaining why, by Jonathan Last of The Bulwark has said everything I would have said and more:

You can’t beat Trump on “conservative” policy.

Remember back when Cruz, Rubio, Walker, and the rest were going to box Trump in because he didn’t hold the line on conservative policy orthodoxies? How’d that work out?

... Trump ran right over the GOP field in 2016 on matters of policy by beating them with attitude and affect. And he’ll do the same to DeSantis....

If you’re a Republican and you get crosswise with Trump, one of two things happens: You get pushed out of the party, or you eventually bend the knee in order to stay in the party....

What DeSantis should understand is that this choice is a trap. Because even the people who surrender after challenging Trump are politically maimed. They become damaged goods in the minds of Republican voters.

Marco Rubio. Ted Cruz. Lindsey Graham. Nikki Haley. Chris Christie. Kevin McCarthy. Mitch McConnell. Once you’ve bent the knee to Trump, you have to fight like hell just to keep your station. Moving up in the world? Forget about it.

Why is this? Because no one who has submitted to Trump after getting clobbered by him is capable of selling the dominance politics that Republican voters want.

The next leader of the Republican party won’t be a politician who challenges Trump and unseats him. The Republican party is a totalitarian state and in autocracies, you ascend to the throne by being loyal to the boss and positioning yourself to take over when he passes on.

Last is right: Trump will humiliate DeSantis if that's what he needs to do to be the nominee. I think, for the moment, DeSantis believes the mainstream media's delusions about a fading Trump who'll be beatable in the 2024 primaries -- but I also think he can read a poll. When it's time to announce, he'll realize that he can't win, so he'll defer. And MAGA Nation will tell itself that all that talk about a feud was just lies from the lie-beral media.