Is DeSantis immune to Trump effect?

 Michael Goodwin:

On the night of Ron DeSantis’ campaign rollout, I was at a dinner talking politics with one of his supporters. As the man prepared to leave, he joked that “I’m going home to watch Ron DeSanctimonious.” Laughing and pointing to his head, the supporter said, “See, he’s even up here.”

“He” is Donald Trump, and he is in the head of every Republican voter and candidate. That’s what 800-pound gorillas do.

“DeSanctimonious” is, of course, Trump’s favorite put-down tag for the Florida governor. The mocking technique has served Trump well, just ask “low energy” Jeb Bush.

But DeSantis is no Jeb Bush and while it’s too soon to predict the outcome of a nomination race that will last a year, it’s certain that Trump is facing the best-funded, most successful and most prepared GOP opponent he’s ever faced.

For a host of reasons, including that Trump soon will turn 77 and his schtick is tired while DeSantis is a party superstar at just 44 and eager for a fight, insulting nicknames aren’t going to do the trick this time.

In fact, to judge by DeSantis’ first days on the trail, he aims to flip the script and force Trump to play defense about his White House record. It’s a bold move that aims to undercut Trump’s claims of being a successful president despite being unfairly hounded by the media and Democrats.

Already the challenger is accusing the former president of being a big contributor to the enormous national debt, saying, “We’re $31 trillion in debt — and he added almost $8 trillion in debt in just four years as president.”

He also slammed Trump’s support for COVID lockdowns, saying “he turned the country over to [Dr. Anthony] Fauci in March of 2020 that destroyed millions of people’s lives.”
...

It should be an interesting contest.  Either would be better than Biden or any other Democrat. 

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