With months to go before the first primary is held, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is in deep trouble — lagging the former president by 30 points in the polls, struggling to hold together his campaign operation, and miring himself in white-hot controversies like suggesting slavery gave Black Americans useful skills. His only theory of the case for his victory appears to be waiting for former President Donald Trump to be destroyed by his current and impending legal charges, allowing himself to step in and fill a void.
But that was always a pipe dream, argued former Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) on CNN Monday.
"Congressman, the DeSantis campaign are talking about pivoting to a 'leaner and meaner' operation, after obviously failing to gain traction in this early polling," said anchor Anderson Cooper. "Did the governor miscalculate, leaning into culture war activities right out of the gate? Was not being lean and mean the issue?"
"I think his issue was thinking — and I think his plan was Donald Trump will be indicted, this is what he was hoping — he will naturally, through miracles and unicorns and the man on a white horse that doesn't exist, be kind of taken out of the race," said Kinzinger, a consistent GOP critic of Trump. "And DeSantis, then, he's Trump-lite, he's a younger version of Donald Trump. That was his play. It's not working because if you want Donald Trump, guess what, you're going to vote for Donald Trump."
"I think DeSantis is DOA in this election," Kinzinger continued. "I think the only people — this is just a wag, a wild guess, I think the only people who have a shot besides Donald Trump, potentially Tim Scott. Tim Scott is the guy who I think really could surprise people, similar to Bill Clinton in '92. Chris Christie actually has a shot if there is a widespread kind of understanding that Donald Trump is utterly unfit for office, and he's been the one that has really taken Donald Trump head on. It's a very small path, of course, and then I think, you know, I think it's people like that that may have a shot. But no, this is Donald Trump's campaign, this is Donald Trump's race. He's probably going to win this primary."
Incidentally, Kinzinger continued, "that doesn't mean ... other Republicans listening to this that don't like Donald Trump, stay on top of this. Try to save the party. Because it's a noble fight, and frankly, the Republican Party will burn down in the general election in 2024, if, in fact, it is Donald Trump, and that's when you can rebuild."
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Adam Kinzinger slams DeSantis' plan to win the nominationwww.youtube.com
