Trump And DeSantis Are Fighting Over State Legislators— And Santos Fights For His Political Life

A state Rep in New Hampshire has approximately 3,425 constituents (and that includes new-born babies and people who have never voted in their lives). Yesterday was a slow news day so there was a lot of reporting on a tug of war between the Trump and Meatball Ron over these representatives of 3,425 New Hampshirites. Meatball should have stuck with the early morning report that shows him consolidating his hold on the members of the Florida state legislature— where each Rep has around 156,000 constituents. Keep in mind that Trump is sweeping endorsements from the Floridian members of Congress, none of whom are backing Meatball but one lady, a freshman backbencher, who used to work for him.

Endorsements from Florida House Speaker Paul Renner and Senate President Kathleen Passidomo both came in yesterday, “a move,” reported Matt Dixon, “that is expected to unleash a wave of public endorsements that will help reassert the governor's sway in the state that both he and his primary competitor, former President Donald Trump, call home.” One crackpot outlier in the state Senate, Joe Gruters, best known for his endemic corruption, endorsed Trump and heads up the Trumpanzee Florida endorsement team, which has come up with… no one else so far. Steven Cheung, Trump's spokesman, said “DeSantis has terrorized the entire legislature with the threat of his veto pen if they don’t acquiesce to his demands. Those who he can’t control— almost the entity of the Florida congressional delegation— have endorsed President Trump because he’s the only candidate who can beat Joe Biden and take back the White House.”

Before dawn yesetrday NBC News reported that New Hampshire state Rep Juliet Harvey-Bolia was one of 4 New Hampshire Reps to withdraw their endorsements of Trump to back Meatball. NBC got that from Team Meatball. The other 3 are Brian Cole, Lisa Smart and Debra DiSimone. Then Harvey-Bolia told the media that that wasn’t technically true because she is endorsing Trump and Meatball. And Lisa Smart said she hasn’t endorsed DeSantis at all-- a lie-- and is sticking with Señor Trumpanzee. Smart told NBC that she “was so incredibly proud to join many of my colleagues in endorsing President Donald J. Trump last month and my support for him has not changed. I’m dismayed by the games being played by Never Back Down and I will NOT be participating in any activities with Ron DeSantis."

The unusual dual endorsement and Smart's reiteration of her support for Trump added intriguing twists to DeSantis' efforts to show momentum as he nears making his bid official. Last week, his super PAC revealed endorsements from 37 Iowa legislators just before he launched a three-city tour of the state.

…[T]he drama surrounding Harvey-Bolia and Smart also points to an intense behind-the-scenes battle for endorsements— and the immense pressure on lawmakers to avoid making an enemy in the eventual nominee— as Trump and DeSantis jockey for position. The two other New Hampshire Republicans who endorsed Trump in April and DeSantis on Tuesday didn’t return calls seeking comment.

Smart did not reply to NBC News' request for comment Monday on her apparent backing for DeSantis, or phone and text messages sent Tuesday about her decision to restate her support for Trump. But Never Back Down shared her pledge to support DeSantis, which was signed on May 9.

Max Greenwood noticed the silly bickering too— and noted that the Meatball SuperPAC “pushed back against Smart’s denial, providing a copy of an endorsement pledge form she signed committing her support to DeSantis.”

DeSantis only has four members of Congress on his endorsement list, the lady from Florida who used to work for him and 3 complete kooks who are widely considered to be insane: Thomas Massie (R-KY), Chip Roy (R-TX) and Bob Good (R-VA).

The most recent public polling— yesterday’s Reuters poll by Ipsos shows Trump maintaining a commanding lead over Meatball, 49% to 21%— with Pence at 5% and everyone else below that. (The poll also shows Trump losing to Biden again in the general.)

The other topic is George Santos, a gay Hispanic freshman Republican. For most of his life, Robert Garcia was also a gay Hispanic freshman Republican. Fairly recently he got rid of the shameful part of that description and is now a Democrat. He’s also a frequent sparring partner— on social media— with Santos. Yesterday, he offered a privileged resolution calling for Santos’ expulsion from Congress. Scalese has no choice but to bring it up within two days— today or tomorrow— or table it, which I’m guessing McCarthy will tell him to do.

Unless the Freedom Caucus pulls the plug on Santos, the resolution is expected to fail. There just aren’t enough Republicans with the guts to defy their leadership and vote for expulsion. I’d bet that Long Islanders Anthony D’Esposito, Nick LaLota and possibly Andrew Garbarino will and possibly Mike Lawler (NY), Brandon Williams (NY), Marc Molinaro (NY), Tony Gonzales (TX), John Duarte (CA), Nancy Mace (SC) and Max Miller (OH). But that’s probably about it and I doubt all of them will. Fighting for Santos are his pals Marjorie Traitor Greene (GA), Elise Stefanik (NY) and Matt Gaetz (FL). In his statement, Garcia reminded Republicans that “Santos is a fraud and a liar, and he needs to be expelled by the House. News that federal prosecutors are filing 13 criminal charges against George Santos should have been the final straw for Kevin McCarthy, but he refuses to act. Republicans now have a chance to demonstrate to Americans that an admitted criminal should not serve in the House of Representatives.”