[NOTE: this article may contain commentary reflecting the views of the author.]
The long wait is over.
The will-he/won’t-he waiting of the last 8 months since he ran as Governor has finally ended.
There is no more wondering. No more watching from the sidelines.
As of the Twitter Spaces launch of his campaign last night where he ‘melted the servers‘ [opinions remain divided over whether it was a big win or an epic failure] the fight for the GOP nomination is officially open.
Say whatever you like about the various people already in the race with Trump before now (some of them even have some great ideas that would make fantastic fodder when it comes time for the debates) but for more than a year now all eyes were looking at two heavyweights vying for the support of Conservative voters.
In one corner, we’ve got the Defending Champion, Mr. MEGA-MAGA himself, the 45th President of these United States of America fighting to reclaim his crown… President Donald J. Trump!
In the other corner, fighting out of Florida’s Big Red Wave, two-term Governor of the State where Woke Goes To Die and heir apparent to the MAGA empire… Governor Ron DeSantis!
The time for DeSantis staying above the fray and ‘putting points on the board’ in Florida while very obviously touring the rest of America in a prelude to a political campaign is all over.
Now the warm-up act of various proxies trading jabs is over… now we get to see the main event as the contenders step into the ring to trade punches.
Even our merch shows some interesting trends with our readers.
When we unveiled our Tucker Carlson shirts some were Tucker Carlson for President or Tucker 2024, some were DeSantis/Carlson 2024, and some were Trump/Carlson 2024.
What surprised us was the fairly even split between the different choices.
Our Florida-themed Merch (including examples like ‘Where woke goes to die‘, ‘Citadel Of Freedom‘, and ‘Make America Florida‘) has done very well…
But so has our Trump-themed merchandise (including ‘shut up Marxist‘, ‘Trumpinator‘, and ‘Rebel‘ among others)
It’s easy to make assumptions based on what the polls are saying, but a lot can happen once contenders start really slugging it out. One solid punch slipping past the guard can change the whole complexion of a fight… in the ring or at the polls.
At the end of the day, I’ve learned an important lesson from 2016 where I correctly predicted the great success of the guy who finished… in second place. I’m out of the predictions game.
Forget about everything ‘conventional wisdom’ tells us. The only thing that really matters is who gets enough support so secure the nomination. And that will take a consensus of the will of the people.
Who do you think will win the GOP nomination?
— Wes Walker (@Republicanuck) May 25, 2023
With so much use of the ‘fighting’ metaphor, we’d really be remiss not to showcase one art piece by our own Doug Giles:
It’s titled ‘In The Arena’ and, like the rest, can be found in our store.
