The stock response in the NFL is “next man up” when a player is hurt.
Similar trends are being observed in the liberal media. Despite signs that the GOP may be shifting from Donald Trump to Ron DeSantis’s, the MSM seems to respond with “next target up!”
CNN This Morning showed us a good example. Scott Jennings, a Republican analyst, was joined by Abdul El-Sayed, a far-left CNN contributor.
Jennings tweeted several things suggesting that DeSantis should become the future leader of the GOP. El-Sayed suggested that the governor could be the “next evolution of the Republicans.” El-Sayed replied by saying that DeSantis was an expert at “weaponizing culture” and that he “worries about where our country goes in DeSantis’s hands,” as he will be more efficient than Trump at “tearing each other apart.”
Poppy Harlow asked Jennings to explain why El-Sayed’s comment made her laugh. Jennings replied:
“This is not surprising. “This is so expected.
Don Lemon, co-host, chimed in to add:
Scott, “Both can be true.”
Lemon said that Trump is so awful that the GOP should get rid of him, but DeSantis could be even worse!
Paging Chris Licht, new CEO of CNN!
Lemon is the man you have appointed to run your morning show, with the aim of moving it towards the center. Chris, both of these statements can be true. Brianna Keilar and John Berman, former morning show hosts were liberals who slanted news in this way. Don Lemon is worse!
CNN This Morning: Don Lemon said it could be true that Republicans must move on from Donald Trump. However, Ron DeSantis would make things worse. This was sponsored in part, according to Etsy and Liberty Mutual.
Here’s the transcript.
CNN
CNN This Morning
11/10/22
6:34 am ET
KAITLIN COLLINS : Scott, however, you had a Twitter that went viral, shall you say? It was about something you were discussing —
DON LEMON: That tweet.
COLLINS — What we’ve heard so many Republicans say, and what I have heard over the years from so many Republicans. But now, people are saying it publicly. This is the unusual criticism of Trump after Tuesday night and what happened there. But the question is, will this criticism last?
SCOTT JENNINGS: Yeah, good question. It’s his lowest moment politically since January 6th. Some of us thought that January 6th was the best day to move on someone. There were all the reasons to do so, but the Republican party hesitated and he filled that void.
The reason I believe this is because there was no other option. Who is actually going to lead this party? There was no pending elections. There is now a pending election: The ’24 election has begun.
But, more importantly, there is someone to fill the void. Florida was the only thing that made Tuesday night a great night for the Republican Party. Ron DeSantis won a huge victory and sent a powerful message about the potential for a governing coalition. He made a purple state red.
So, for the first time, I believe Republicans are actually seeing the next lilypad on which to hop. They’ve never seen that before. We’ll see what the future holds. We’ll see if DeSantis makes it work. His instincts are very good. He may be the next evolution for what Republicans are looking to, which is some of Trump’s fight, but none of the drama and baggage.
COLLINS: I have one more question for you. Because I know you’re very close to Senator Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, he wanted the position of Senate Majority Leader. Yesterday, he answered a question about Tuesday’s results and said that he doesn’t feel the need to express his feelings.
JENNINGS: Yeah, that’s accurate. He does not. He deals in reality. He deals — and just plays the hand he’s dealt. But, I can tell you that if you look at all the polling and the CNN exit polling and how the country feels about the economy, you will see the results. People don’t love Joe Biden either. It’s a travesty if we don’t have a Senate majority. It’s a complete travesty. All the indicators were present. We didn’t win the whole thing. And I know that —
HARLOW: McConnell said candidate quality.
JENNINGS: Absolutely. Mitch tried to tell them. You can see that it was there to be won if you look at the races. We’ll see if there are lessons learned by the party. Sometimes we do, sometimes not.
DON LEMON: There is also a doctor in this room.
ABDUL EL–SAYED: They say that admission is the first step to recovery. This was definitely an addiction.
LEMON: I have a question for you. People were out and about last night and said that Trump is gone. I was like, “I’m not so sure about that.”
We’re in what used to be a blue bubble in New York. But, I’m not so sure now considering the changing demographics. What do you think? Is this the beginning of something? Is this a blow? What is it?
EL-SAYED : If admission is the first step there are 11 more. The problem I have is that I don’t see how the choreography can lead to Donald Trump being the Republican nominee. It must go through a whole primary process.
This man has questioned an entire general election. Is there any way he can’t question the results of a primary in which a party is his thrall, and thereby, the outcome of a general election? So, I don’t know that I see that.
I believe that Donald Trump will remain a hanging question for the country and our politics until he is clearly, soundly, 100%-beaten by 10, 20, points. If he does run and is elected, I believe that’s what’s likely to happen. He is not a popular politician.
People could run from Trump’s stench in almost every election that he won. Trump is the only person who can see it and must see it.
The DeSantis playbook is competent, local, and technical leadership. I can’t take that away. He has demonstrated competence in leading the basic principles of governance.
He has a great instinct for finding ways to weaponize culture wars in a way that benefits the communities he’s trying. His fear of change in schools, for instance, has been a key part of his ability to argue to a latino community in Miami-Dade.
I believe that the bigger question that this raises for Democrats is that we need to ask big-picture questions about the reasons we are losing communities like these, even though we have long been advocates for issues that should unite different types of people around the bread and butter issues that we’ve always discussed.
That’s a question that DeSantis can manage that kind of politics and that Democrats can address it.
Last, I want to mention that I worry a lot about what happens to our country under DeSantis.
Many people believe that Donald Trump’s exit means that the spell has ended.
Ron DeSantis is a far better version of Donald Trump’s work. It tells us to tear each other apart and that we cannot accept each other for who they are.
POPPY HARLOW – Why is that so funny?
JENNINGS – This is what we expected. As if the Republican party is saying, “Well, maybe it’s now time to move on from Trump”, and my friend has come along with me to tell us that DeSantis’s worse than Trump.
LEMON: Both are possible, Scott.
