The latest Fox News presidential primary poll shows former President Donald Trump, who has just been indicted, widening his lead among Republican voters over Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) to 30 points, 54% to 24%. This compares to 43% to 28% in the same poll a month earlier and wasn’t far off the 69%-24% Trump boasted about at a recent rally.
He brags about everything, of course, so one should not be surprised. But the way he touts poll results is odd and notable, for he seems to regard them not simply as snapshots of prevailing opinion but as persuasive arguments in themselves. He treats his lead in a survey as though it reflects a moral difference between himself and his rival in their suitability for high office. “You’ll see some numbers that are incredible,” Trump told the crowd, as though making a decisive point, “We just had one today — 69 [percent] for Trump, and I think 18 or 19 for DeSanctimonious.”
Another way of expressing the view that a lead justifies itself is to say, “Might makes right.” This captures one of Trump’s ugliest characteristics, which is that he thinks winning, no matter how, cannot be gainsaid on moral grounds. This partly explains his indifference to truth and his spasms of crudity and cruelty.
Such repellent qualities should prompt Republicans to abandon Trump, not to support him, as Nic Rowan argues in this week’s Washington Examiner magazine cover story (P.12), “Not the Good Shepherd.” This should especially be so among people of religious faith, most notably Christians, who flocked to Trump in 2016.
The other odd thing about Trump’s gloating over poll results is how needy it makes him seem. His real rivals are not yet properly or officially in the race. The declared candidates, former Gov. Nikki Haley (R-SC) and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, are impressive people in different ways, but they are not genuine contenders for the top job.
DeSantis, Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo would be, but they have not officially entered the lists and begun to joust against the former president. Besting them in polls 20 months before Election Day, when they are not yet asking publicly for support, not holding rallies, not advertising, all of which Trump is doing, is hardly cause for self-congratulation.
Trump has many weaknesses, but surely the clearest, despite his current (and endless) bragging, is that he is a proven loser. He lost to President Joe Biden in 2020, and he was decisively repudiated two years before that and two years afterward in midterm congressional elections. There is no argument for Republicans, who broadly want conservative governance, to choose this repetitious also-ran as their champion. Democrats alone would gain from that.
DeSantis is reportedly telling campaign donors that only he can beat Trump in the primary. That may be true; certainly, no other candidate looks a likely victor at the moment.
Trump would be the wrong choice, except for Democrats, from every point of view, whether you see the race primarily as a moral matter or whether you regard it from a more practical, tactical, and strategic standpoint.