Posted originally on the CTH on March 25, 2023 | Sundance

...”The GOPe doesn’t quite realize, Donald J Trump isn’t the cause of their failure; he is the result of their failure”…

Before getting to the latest developments regarding the worries of the mid-tier donor class within the Republican apparatus, I want to provide some context for the overall Ron DeSantis (RdS) management agenda.

I can trace the origin of the RdS 2024 scheme to an originating timeframe in late fall 2021.  It may go back further than that, but it is at least in place by the late fall of 2021.  That means that everything within the professional Republican apparatus, those who manipulate the political events from the controlling wing of the Republican side of the UniParty, had RdS ’24 as the agenda throughout the 2022 midterm calendar.

With that context, the events around the 2022 midterms and the surprising lack of professional Republican gains in the midterm election, start to take on an entirely new Machiavellian light.  Not necessarily the RNC corporation; rather, the subsidiary weaponized groups including the Republican Governors Association and the Senate reelection schemes spearheaded by Mitch McConnell et al.  In hindsight, those were all done with the context of laying the groundwork for ’22 MAGA defeat and ’24 RdS rise as an outcome.

Throughout the first half of 2022, I was saying there’s no way the GOPe wing would be this stupid. This was based primarily by my own filter saying there had to be a limit to what they think they can pull off.

The Wall St, K-Street, multinational and billionaire funding into RdS during the spring of 2022 was massive, but I held a primary prism that RdS himself had to be smart enough to know it was a suicide mission.  However, with the events that unfolded in July and August of 2022, it became obvious that RdS was going all-in on a management program for a 2024 bid.

Perhaps taken in by the intoxicating allure of money, perhaps it didn’t take much convincing, I don’t know. But it was clear the ’24 race was the pretext for everything happening in/around the RdS orbit, including the 5-days in the bunker after the Mar-a-Lago raid and the rebranding national image launch thereafter.

We all know the GOPe operational motive for removing MAGA from the base of influence; it no longer needs to be repeated.

Quite simply the America First agenda puts *their* money at stake, and collectively that amounts to trillions of dollars in multinational globalist financial control.  The scale of the money behind the MAGA opposition is really the biggest challenge; it is almost unfathomable, and that scale is represented within the size of the war chest they assembled for RdS.

The top of this financial pyramid holds a grip on political power that is threatened by the worldview, outlook and economic nationalist policy of Donald Trump.  The top this system will not ‘lose’ with America-First Trump, they will only gain at a slower rate.  This group will not leave their throne, they only see a slower assembling within their vaults.

The Blackrock, Vanguard, State Street and WEF crews will follow the policy and invest in America, they will just hate doing it.  They will hate the best-play of slower gains because the returns are not as lucrative, expedient or fraught with the simple indulgences of their custom.

However, underneath that top-tier, there are many layers of vested financial interests at lesser but more generational risk. The Cornwallis crowd will see a much more difficult time with America-First in place advancing their affluence and influence.  Loss for them changes things.  This is the group being discussed by the NBC article.

Remember, ultimately despite the power dynamic, they are few – the MAGA army is many. It is within these mid-tier donor groups we now see worry about whether RdS can fulfill his assignment as protector of the realm.

WASHINGTON (NBC) – A number of the Florida governor’s donors and allies are worried his recent stumbles suggest he may not be ready for a brutal fight against Donald Trump. Some feel DeSantis needs to accelerate his timeline to run for the GOP presidential nomination and begin directly confronting Trump if he’s to have any chance of thwarting the former president’s momentum. Others believe DeSantis should sidestep Trump altogether and wait until 2028 to run.

At a Sunday luncheon following the annual Red Cross ball in Palm Beach, Florida, a group of 16 prominent Republicans, described by one attendee as a mix of DeSantis backers and Trump “skeptics,” discussed misgivings about the governor’s standing for the future if he tussles with the former president.

“They liked him — many of them might even support him,” the person who was at the event said of DeSantis. “But they thought on balance that his long-term future was better without him trying to take Trump head on.”

“He will get scarred up” by Trump, the person added.

Then there’s conservative billionaire shipping goods magnate Richard Uihlein and his wife, Elizabeth, whose $500,000 in combined contributions ranked them among the most generous donors to DeSantis’ 2022 re-election campaign. A person familiar with the strategy around Uihlein’s spending said that right now, “The brakes are pumped,” adding, “The polling really made different people pause.”

[…] A GOP strategist who has spoken directly with donors in Palm Beach said that this is a week that should be good for DeSantis, considering his chief rival for the nomination could be indicted any day now. And the fact that it’s been so tough for the governor has given some donors pause.

“DeSantis is doing a book tour. He’s barnstorming the country, and his polls are going down,” the strategist said. “Meanwhile, Trump’s potentially under indictment, and Trump’s going up. It’s just not a good look for DeSantis.”

This person added that donors who have given to DeSantis over the past year or two are still open to supporting him for president, but they’re also starting to take a look at other potential candidates like Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., as DeSantis has “fumbled” big moments.  (read more)

The problem for the DeSantis management team is the running for office while pretending not to run.  However, if RdS were to announce his intent, he would need to resign from the role of Florida Governor due to the “resign to run” rule.   Conversely, if RdS asks the Florida legislature to change the rule, it becomes essentially an admission of his intent. It’s the same thing…. So, this annoying pretending -which is obvious- is starting to really annoy voters even more.

As I think back to my own viewpoint in early 2022, I have completely changed my opinion on Ron DeSantis as a smart politician.   He is not as smart as I was giving him credit for.  In fact, this entire RdS 2024 operation simply affirms they really are that stupid.  Desperate and stupid.