There’s a classic Peanuts cartoon showing Snoopy asleep atop his doghouse when a couple of snowballs go flying by. He stands up and makes a gesture to both sides for peace. The final frame shows him ducking for cover as a barrage of snowballs whizz past him in both directions. One strongly suspects Marjorie Taylor Greene can relate to this scenario, after her tweet regarding the omnipresent online spats between Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis supporters.
The online personal fights between Trump and DeSantis influencers needs to stop.
It makes everyone look bad and helps no one.
We are in $31T in debt, our border is out of control w/ 300+ people dying daily from drugs, our economy sucks, our kids are being groomed and…
— Marjorie Taylor Greene 🇺🇸 (@mtgreenee) April 14, 2023
The online personal fights between Trump and DeSantis influencers needs to stop.
It makes everyone look bad and helps no one.
We are in $31T in debt, our border is out of control w/ 300+ people dying daily from drugs, our economy sucks, our kids are being groomed and indoctrinated by Pedos, we are fighting a war in a foreign country against a nuclear armed superpower that has caused skyrocketing inflation and changed the balance of world alliances creating BRICS that may destroy our dollar.
Focus on the real enemies causing all of these extremely serious problems.
The reactions have been as expected. Here is one of the milder ones, from former Trump- and now, DeSantis-supporting Jenna Ellis:
Otherwise people like Alex and Loomer and their ilk believe they’re licensed by him to escalate the vulgarity. This is not the way forward.https://t.co/A3zyHxtUJA
— Jenna Ellis (@JennaEllisEsq) April 14, 2023
I haven’t seen any DeSantis influencers sexually harassing Trump people the way Loomer, Bruesewitz, and others have. The problem is that Trump himself started the personal attacks against DeSantis, accusing him of being with underage girls and “maybe a man.” Tell HIM to stop too. Otherwise people like Alex and Loomer and their ilk believe they’re licensed by him to escalate the vulgarity. This is not the way forward.
It is worth noting that Greene has not yet endorsed Trump, DeSantis, or anyone else.
While The Notorious MTG has never proven herself averse to tossing red meat, this is an example of how clear-headed pragmatism minus compromise makes sense. It also ably demonstrates the shortcomings of our current primary system.
As Bonchie noted here on March 21, 2023, DeSantis has been relatively sparing in his criticisms of Trump, a status which Trump cannot claim regarding DeSantis who, although as yet unannounced, is generally assumed to be shortly tossing his hat into the 2024 presidential campaign.
I’m far too advanced in age to be a dewy-eyed dreamer regarding the body politic. That duly noted, having made more than a few trips around the sun while riding this dusty orb has provided some observations on how the process of primaries—as presently practiced—is often stunningly counterproductive.
There are two ways to approach a primary. One is attacking the other party, or candidate should the latter be known, as stridently as possible while simultaneously laying out your proposed policies and platforms, making a case for them and yourself. An example of this is Vivek Ramaswamy and his “America First 2.0” program that, regardless of your preferred Republican candidate should you have one, embodies the substance of active conservatism.
The other is excessively focusing on your primary opponent or opponents. Of course, a candidate should make a case as to why they are the best qualified to take on the other party in the general election. However, it has never been, and never will be, wise to go overboard with mud bucket utilization. It provides easy ammunition for the other side, and unless your primary opponent is from the Nathan Fletcher School of Sleaze, there is no need to go there. Keep it professional. As to the vitriol, quoting my March 20, 2023, post regarding Trump vs. DeSantis:
Enough of the personal garbage. Joe Biden is the enemy. Attack him and the Democrats. Ron DeSantis hasn’t even announced yet. As Gary Cooper, playing the late Yankees legend Lou Gehrig, said in “The Pride of The Yankees” when he came across two teammates fighting, “Save it for the other team, boys.”
It is natural that a candidate’s supporters will follow their lead. Also, a flamethrower such as fervent Trump supporter Laura Loomer is going to, well, throw flames.
This is hilarious to me.
.@GovRonDeSantis skipped the @nra convention today because he was scared of being booed.
But he ended up getting booed in NH by two Yentas in New Hampshire instead. https://t.co/nowHYwmHsJ
— Laura Loomer (@LauraLoomer) April 15, 2023
This is hilarious to me.
.@GovRonDeSantis skipped the @nra convention today because he was scared of being booed.
But he ended up getting booed in NH by two Yentas in New Hampshire instead.
Yeah, helpful.
Primaries attract more fringe elements than general elections due to the general public’s political apathy, unless something is so overwhelmingly directly affecting them they can no longer ignore what is going on. Therefore, they are more susceptible to the noisemaker approach working. That does not make it the best practice. Marjorie Taylor Greene is right. We cannot afford to lose the White House in 2024 because a section of voters ostensibly on our side sits out the general election in a snit over what went down in the primary. Focus, people. And candidates. And candidates’ people.
