DeSantis being floated for Secretary of Defense?

No one but Team DeSantis is floating the idea... for now, at least

The Wall Street Journal, citing anonymous sources with “knowledge of discussions,” followed up on a previous story with anonymous sources by former Politico-and-DeSantis-adjacent reporter Matt Dixon claiming that Ron DeSantis is under consideration for the role of defense secretary.

The current nominee for secretary of defense is Pete Hegseth, a FOX News weekend host and Iraq and Afghanistan combat veteran.

Hegseth, mired in his own controversies, may be the second Trump nominee to be axed before the administration even takes over in January.

Trump officials involved with the decision deny that they’re planning to replace Hegseth, but have floated Joni Ernst (Iowa), Bill Hagerty (Tenn) and Mike Walz (Florida) as potential alternatives. None of the Trump team mentioned DeSantis as a contender.

So why is this story circulating on the far-right media?

Because Team DeSantis wants it to.

After trying and failing to secure the vice presidential spot, the attorney general spot, and likely other positions requested and rejected by Trump, DeSantis is desperate for relevance and a future in politics beyond his authoritarian experiment in Florida.

When DeSantis failed to secure the Vice President spot, he falsely claimed that he was rejected because Trump wanted to play “identity politics,” before later claiming he never wanted it at all. JD Vance is the slightly less nasally version of DeSantis, so not much “diversity” in that pick.

I’ve been watching (and have been subjected to) the online team of hype-men who have made DeSantis a pariah in the MAGA world long enough to know what game they’re playing.

Simply put:

It’s a cynical ploy to plant the idea in the public’s mind and pre-condition them to accept DeSantis in a Trump cabinet role, even though DeSantis is one of the least popular governors in the country, was humiliated in his disastrous campaign for president, and is absolutely loathed by Trump.

Despite whatever attempt his flailing PR team makes at normalizing him as a potential nominee, there’s another group of people who likely won’t take the appointment of someone like DeSantis seriously: the military.

Despite his current problems, Hegseth has something DeSantis doesn’t: actual combat experience.

DeSantis never saw combat while serving as a lawyer in Guantanamo Bay, where he volunteered to torture the prisoners he was assigned to represent.

And a DeSantis appointment wouldn’t necessarily rid the office of accusations related to sex crimes and trafficking - the man who made DeSantis king in Florida committed suicide days after discovering the police were investigating him for sex trafficking minors.

Need to catch up on DeSantis’ secret, sordid past? Read this and this.

DeSantis, who Trump has rightly shredded for turning Florida into a place of “misery and despair,” knows his influence as a lame-duck governor is waning. Someone — likely his team of extremely online trolls — has convinced him to get some kind of Trump nomination to stay politically alive.

By flooding the online and conservative news world with completely unverified and unsourced claims, DeSantis’ extremely online cyber gang hopes to reach influential conservatives who will sit Trump down and force him to consider DeSantis’ nomination. By creating the illusion DeSantis is under consideration, they hope to influence reality.

But the reality has never panned out too well for DeSantis.

DeSantis has lost every major “culture war” lawsuit brought against him. He’s been exposed as a liar, for stolen valor, and for being inept at managing his state.

He’s even losing to me in court, with each desperate attempt to limit or otherwise dismiss my case against the state flatly denied by one of the most extreme conservative judges on the circuit.

DeSantis is and always has been a loser.

And if Trump goes with his gut, as he almost always does, he won’t bring the man any closer to himself than absolutely necessary.

After Matt Gaetz’ nomination crashed and burned, Senate Republicans are flexing their muscles and testing the limits of Trump’s power in nominating key cabinet members.

And the Senate GOP types think they can control DeSantis, which they like.

But Trump doesn’t (and never has) liked DeSantis.

Fingers crossed that Trump won’t feel forgiving of the Florida Fuhrer’s attempts to usurp him.