We’ve often expressed our dismissal of polls, believing they are but a momentary barometer of a political tendency. Even so, it is encouraging to learn that a recent poll released in Suffolk University/USA Today on Tuesday reports that Trump trails Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis by a 23-point margin among GOP voters to be the party’s presidential nominee.
That same poll disclosed that Trump would lose to Biden in a 2024 election. But DeSantis, on the other hand, leads Biden by 47 to 43%.
In other words, Trump is out but Trumpism appears to be still in play in the next presidential race, a race that is quite a bit down the road and we are sure to experience a flood of polls before the next election.
We are not surprised by any of this, and we know the GOP leaders and its followers will play down every victory Biden accomplishes. Check out the naysayers, led by Trump, who insist Moscow got the best of the prisoner swap that brought Brittney Griner home from a penal colony. Trump was beating his chest declaring that it was the worst exchange in history.
What we would like to see is Griner’s slam dunk on Trump’s head, demonstrating she has lost none of her skillset for the courts and is ready to resume playing, of course not in Russia.
Trump would be wise to listen to David Whelan, twin brother of the imprisoned Paul Whelan, whom Trump has praised and said it would have been a better choice to free him rather than Griner.
“I just wanted to call out the fact that during his presidency, Trump never, ever mentioned Paul’s name in public,” David told the press. “Not once in his many, many tweets or any sort of public statement. In a sense, you could say they did nothing.”
In a subsequent tweet, David wrote, “You judge a person by their actions or, in this case, inaction.”
Yes, dear readers, there are sure to be more polls than you can shake a stick at, and oh how we wish they would ask David Whelan his opinion on Trump’s candidacy should it hit the ballot. Any bets on how he would vote? All of this may be academic if the recent poll has any validity because 60% said he should not run. Of course, this means little to a man who continues to believe he won the last election.
