DeSantis should challenge Trump to a debate
Christopher Tremoglie
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Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) and former President Donald Trump are on a collision course as both are vying to be the Republican nominee in the 2024 presidential election. Along the way, there’s been an insufferable level of bickering between the candidates and their supporters. But it doesn’t have to be this way. There’s a really easy solution that could end all of the name-calling and insults. DeSantis and Trump should debate each other face-to-face. More specifically, DeSantis should challenge Trump to do one.
Think about it. What better way to compete for MAGA supremacy than an all-out, no-holds-barred, last-man-standing oratorical battle resulting from a challenge issued by DeSantis?
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Many have criticized DeSantis’s campaign as being stale and stagnant. Much has been made about DeSantis’s sagging poll numbers. Attempts to rejuvenate the campaign included a shake-up in management and staffers. But what better way to rejuvenate DeSantis 2024 than to throw down a challenge to the GOP front-runner? Sure, the campaign shake-up led to an agreement of a debate between DeSantis and left-wing radical Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA). But that helps Newsom more than it does DeSantis. Besides, that debate isn’t what Republican voters, and arguably the country, want to see.
No, the people want to see the Republicans’ two (supposed) alpha candidates square off against each other. This is why DeSantis should throw down the oratorical gauntlet. It would put the DeSantis campaign on the offense against Trump for the first time since Florida’s governor declared while also helping voters decide who to vote for in the GOP primary. Until now, DeSantis was correct to prioritize President Joe Biden’s failures while campaigning. But the time has come to challenge the big dog in the fight.
Now, Trump would most likely decline, and DeSantis probably knows this. However, this accomplishes two things. First, it would flip the script on Trump and put the former president and his campaign on defense. He would have to explain why he is ducking DeSantis and is reluctant to debate him. Second, it makes DeSantis look like the courageous, bold, and energetic leader he was during the pandemic.
Furthermore, it would remind everyone why he was so beloved in the first place and why so many people, including Trump, opted to relocate to Florida instead of any other state. And after Trump repeatedly declined, DeSantis could use that to his advantage and highlight that for all of Trump’s supposed machismo and bravado, it’s little more than a facade, and, in reality, he runs away from challenges.
Undoubtedly, it’s an audacious and aggressive move. But it would pay off in the long run. However, it’s the exact tactic necessary to show the entire country why voters should choose DeSantis over Trump. Plus, just think of the ratings, a metric everyone knows Trump loves to mention.
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And on the off chance that Trump accepted the challenge, it is still a win-win. No more hiding or dodging; all issues would be decided once and for all. It is the battle of the Titans that everyone wants to see.
It would show Republican voters and the country that DeSantis, once Trump’s protege, has the courage to go toe-to-toe with a president and that the “student has now become the teacher,” so to speak. And most importantly, it would allow DeSantis to show directly why he is the better option to be the GOP nominee to face off against Biden and his puppeteers.