Facing the dire scenario I laid out in the last post, Republican Presidential wannabes will attend their first debate on Wednesday, August 23rd. Former President Trump may or may not show. I believe he won’t. Why take incoming from the likes of no-chance Chris Christy? Let the former New Jersey Governor and others continue to beat up on Trump’s closest challenger, Ron DeSantis.

As I’ve pointed out, the Florida Governor has faced an unprecedented attack from all sides since he scored a resounding reelection victory. Trump spent millions on negative ads long before DeSantis could wind up his Florida duties and declare. Democratic allied media never let a day go by without several negative stories. When given a chance, other Republican candidates joined in.

While several of the debaters have executive experience as successful governors, not unexpectedly, the two getting the most pre-debate buzz are the two without government administrative experience: Senator Tim Scott and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy. 

Besides echoing some standard Republican boilerplate like “energy independence” and sealing the border, Scott offers little of the toughness to turn the government away from its present anti-democratic course. Having a sunny disposition and trying to be everyone’s friend indicates more of the same.

Joining Vice-President Kamala Harris in her phony attack on Florida’s Slavery curriculum to play the race card on DeSantis shows that under his likable guy persona is a dark side. It reminds me of Joe Biden.

Ramaswamy is auditioning for vice president on Trump’s ticket. Promising to pardon Trump is a giveaway. Writing and talking about being “anti-woke” and being in the trenches getting actual legislation and policies to combat the movement is a different thing. A governor has to do stuff. Vivek is this election cycle’s, Mayor Pete. North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum’s record is far more impressive if you want a successful tech tycoon. 

So long as Trump dominates the news with his endless indictments and court appearances, any story out of the debate will have a short life. The Democratic plan is working perfectly. The candidate they fear most is Ron DeSantis bloodied with plenty of Republican help. Trump will lock up the Republican nomination on Super Tuesday or earlier. As soon as he’s locked in, Joe Biden, either for health reasons or because of a smoking gun proving he’s a crook, will throw open the nomination.

The ’24 election is likely to be seminal, and not in a good way, not only because of changes in the future but with further increases in alarming trends already in place. Instead of a sudden turn to a less free society, it will give further impetus to what is already in motion. 

For instance, the Department of Justice is already politicized and weaponized against those standing in the way of an imperial government. In 2016, Donald Trump, a political outsider, was elected president. Immediately he was assigned a special counsel embroiling his administration in a bogus investigation for years.

If this wasn’t enough harm, when the 2020 race was at its height, damming information on Trump’s opponent showed up in Hunter Biden’s laptop. The Justice Department’s FBI had possession and authenticated the computer. Yet, it remained silent when Joe Biden and his allies claimed it was Russian disinformation. This DOJ deception might account for Trump’s narrow loss.

Instead of telling the truth when the New York Post broke the story, the FBI pressured media platforms to suppress the account. If this wasn’t election interference, what is?

Suppressing information opposing the preferred narrative wasn’t restricted to this one instance; it was a Covid feature. Media platforms quashed truthful details on the pandemic’s origins and better policy positions with implied government pressure on their businesses. Laid out when Elon Musk set free the “Twitter Files,” government entities used private companies to do what it prohibited from doing itself.

“Thank you to everyone!!! I have never had so much support on anything before,” Trump wrote in an all-caps message on his Truth Social app. This message was in reply to his latest indictment. The former President is well aware of the benefits of his multiple court cases. If, as expected, he adds a charge in Georgia, he will probably be in court throughout the nominating process. With cable news already following each courtroom journey, this will be wall-to-wall Trump. 

As I predicted, Democrats load the Republican’s weakest candidate with questionable charges to minimize coverage of Trump’s opponents for the nomination while rallying Republicans to his defense. The result is both the ex-president and the Democrats get the candidacy both want.

Anyone will want to run against a candidate who never polled or received votes tallying over 50%. Once Trump has locked the nomination, putting old, corrupt Joe Biden out to pasture in favor of someone young and unsullied will follow. The trap set for the Republicans will snap shut.

Of course, a young accomplished Republican candidate puts the plan in jeopardy. Hence, the full court press on any leading young Republican appearing in the polls. Without Biden’s baggage, California Governor Gavin Newsome or Michigan Governor Gretch Whitmer look much more palatable against the old, largely disliked, encumbered Trump than a young, highly successful Florida governor Ron DeSantis.

This circumstance tells us why the Florida Governor has faced unrelenting derision from the Democrats and their media allies. Reelected by a close to 20% margin and one who appointed a blue-ribbon panel to create a mandatory course teaching the true story of slavery, they paint him as an unlikable racist.