ALL THEY ASK OF YOU IS ONE THING THAT YOU'LL NEVER DO

Donald Trump returned to the campaign trail yesterday, with appearances in New Hampshire and South Carolina. Commenters at right-wing sites are underwhelmed. Here's a sampling of Fox News comments:

I supported him in the first two elections but not a 3rd. Time for new blood and if he runs I believe DeSantis is the strongest candidate with proven executive skills running a large state. He communicates well and I do not agree with Trump’s stand on Ukraine. Let the sunshine on DeSantis for president yin 2024. We need strong leadership that has the skills, moxy and ability to make change without making chaos everyday.

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if republicans choose Trump for 2024 election, they deserve to lose. He is on several criminals investigations, and very high percentage of voters hate him. People usually vote against who they hate the most. In 2016 people vote against Hillary. and in 2020 people vote against Trump.

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Trump needs to back off. If he runs, Republicans will lose. Trump isn't what our country needs anymore. He loves America but needs to support other candidates.

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Recent polls show that roughly 30% of Republicans want Trump to run in 2024, while 100% of Democrats want the same thing.

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Sure the Dems want him to run because they know he can't win. They are scared of DeSantis, though, which accounts for the recent attacks in the mainstream media.

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Trump Nominee = Dem Whitehouse

It's a little better in the comments to a Breitbart post about the appearances. There's some support:

Historic support for American farmers.

Trump > Successfully negotiated more than 50 agreements with countries around the world to increase foreign market access and boost exports of American agriculture products, supporting more than 1 million American jobs

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Trump is owed another term in office with no fraudulent Russian Collusion probes and fake impeachments and fake Whistle-blower hearings. Etc.

But there's a lot more of this:

Trump is a done Tom Turkey. Only a handful of die hard BB commenters don’t seem to get that. He’s whining about DeSantis running against him. He starts whining because he knows he’s toast so he tries to avoid competition. It’s becoming sad to watch.

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DeSantis has Trump policies plus a whole lot more. But without the Trump immaturity, toxic ego, and hate.

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In addition, no one fires up the Democrat crazies like Trump. He did a lot for us as president but it's time for him to pass the baton. DeSantis has a better chance of winning.

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Agreed, many here wont listen to and they refuse to admit trump will not win. Nothing has changed from the last election as women can't stand him.

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DeSanis. No stupid Trump bs.

There's dissent on DeSantis ("Desantis is a puss"; "De Santis is a great gov but he has big swamp establishment donors"), but if there's support for anyone else who might get in the race, I don't see it.

What much of the rank-and-file wants is what they'll never get: both Trump and DeSantis. Trump talked some trash about DeSantis yesterday, referencing his endorsement of DeSantis in the 2018 Florida gubernatorial primary:

After his South Carolina speech, Trump told The Associated Press in an interview that it would be “a great act of disloyalty” if DeSantis opposed him in the primary and took credit for the governor’s initial election.

“If he runs, that’s fine. I’m way up in the polls,” Trump said. “He’s going to have to do what he wants to do, but he may run. I do think it would be a great act of disloyalty because, you know, I got him in. He had no chance. His political life was over.”

Many of the Gateway Pundit commenters want Trump and DeSantis:

Would love to hear DJT announce DeSantis as VP!
Springboard for ‘28 & ‘32 to DeSantis!

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Exactly. Pull DeSantis into the tent and that also give him four years to learn the ropes. There is a big difference between governor and president.

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I was thinking along similar lines. DeSantis as VP, with Trump doing what he does best, but fading into the background to cue up DeSantis for president in 2028.

I can think of nothing better for our country. I can dream, can't I?

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Trump 2024
Then

DeSantis 2028

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Or Trump retires... DeSantis 2024.

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He will do the smart thing....serve out his 2nd term in FLA, which is crucial for the USA, and then take the job in the Trump admin of his (DeSantis) choice in 2026, and then cruise to election in 2028.

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Still hoping for a Trump/DeSantis 2024 ticket, a sure winner. Then DeSantis can run for President in 2028 and 2032.
FJB!

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Both the President and the VP pick cannot be from the same state.

Maybe a Trump/DeSantis 2024 ticket could be possible IF Trump moves to somewhere in Nevada or some state other than Florida where his Real Estate business has property.

(Trump could change his residence to New York again, or Bedminster, New Jersey.)

There are comments in which both of them are called RINOs:

I want to support Trump badly, but he keeps doing stupid anti-MAGA things like choosing Dr Oz (a liberal who spent years on the Oprah Winfrey Show) or hanging out with Lindsay Graham (Mitch McConnell's mini-me). Trump wouldn't dump Ronna Romney McDaniels for RNC Chair, DeSantis did. McConnell & McDaniel both sabotaged MAGA candidates in 2022. I have to question Trump's judgment. Trump has a bad habit of choosing bad people (ex: Jeff Sessions, Bill Barr).

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HE HAS DONE GOOD THINGS IN FLORIDA BUT WHAT BETTER WAY TO FOOL THE PEOPLE WITH A RINO . ASK dESANTIS WHY HE GAVE FEMA FULL CONTROL OF THE STORM HIT AREA OF FLORIDA AND FEMA WAS CAUGHT RANSACKING HOMES FOR ANYTHING WORTH MONEY AND GUNS AND GOT BAGGED BY SPECIAL FORCES WATCHING THEM .

(The belief that U.S. Special Forces battled FEMA employees who were looting guns and other property comes from a couple of stories published at a site called Real Raw News, which specializes in "spinning a narrative of military arrests and executions that reads like a wish list for diehard believers of the QAnon conspiracy theory," according to PolitiFact. "In the alternative universe of Real Raw News, former Vice President Mike Pence has been on the run for months in an escape that saw him seek asylum in Qatar and take a bullet to the chest.... The military has arrested dozens of public figures — including Hunter Biden, former Attorney General William Barr, and billionaire Bill Gates — and several of them have been hanged, sent to the guillotine, shot by a firing squad or otherwise executed.")

What I'm seeing in all these comment sections is that Trump will struggle to win the nomination, though he still might have enough support to pull it off, and there's no one rejecting both Trump and DeSantis in favor of any other aspirant. Maybe there'd be excitement about someone other than these two if a true MAGA crazy got in the race apart from Trump -- Mike Lindell, Mike Flynn, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Matt Gaetz ("Gaetz would be a better choice. He hasn't been purchased like Ron," says one Gateway Pundit commenter).

But for now all the interest is in Trump and DeSantis -- and we can be sure that Trump won't give DeSantis the running mate spot, because DeSantis clearly wouldn't be the kind of meek beta Trump wants. Horrifyingly, this could be a unity ticket on the right. But it won't happen.