Ron DeSantis has bet the house on MAGA. The Trump wave was invincible, clearing all debris on the conservative beach, leaving only the MAGA crowd with its menacing energy about to take control of the U.S. He had prepared himself to inherit the empire, standing behind the leader, faithfully echoing his many positions including the risky ones to say the least. A presidential life lasts at most eight years, and at the end of the expected Trump presidency, he would be still under 50, still in the prime of his life. He could wait – with a plan.

Of course, many have seen the MAGA trend and thus many pretenders emerged. How to be standing apart from other pretenders was the question. Every pretender knew the answer: showing the MAGA world that he or she was as, or even more MAGA than the MAGA leader. But action speaks louder than words. Others could only talk. Mr. DeSantis alone had the incredible luck of being in an exceptional position at the right time to act because he was (and still is) a state governor. And he did not hesitate to prove himself to be dictatorial, uncivilized, (calculatedly) whimsical, and practicing to-your-face (as opposed to the traditionally civilized and gentlemanly American) politics to his political opponents. He charged forward like a hurricane in Florida trying to show that he was more royal than the king himself.

Then, Mr. Trump did not win in 2020. No matter. Mr. DeSantis would plunge forward (he had) because he had to take the MAGA banner and run. He was now the front runner and the heir apparent. The king, still a formidable force in American politics, would back him because he had shown that he was the king’s devoted follower. He could not see how his destiny would not be sitting behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office. His plan worked so well and so smoothly.

Until November 2022.

The former president, the MAGA dear leader, announced his candidacy for president of the U.S.A. The news was a bombshell inside the Florida’s Executive Office of the Governor. It was a disaster. In politics, the worst punishment for a politician is being irrelevant. And that’s what he is now that the real deal, the original king of MAGA, is standing in the room.

But Mr. DeSantis must make a choice to protect his political future: he could have openly supported the king and tried to preserve his heir apparent fortune, which is now not a choice anymore because he has declared his own candidacy. So, his only choice is to fight, truly fight for his candidacy, meaning the inevitable attacks against other candidates including the king. That would be very awkward and, truth be told, unwinnable approach with the MAGA crowd. And without the MAGA crowd, his candidacy would make no sense.

Legend has it that the women behind the scenes in the Orient, in China and the Ottoman Empire, had excellent ideas to assist the rulers in governing. Mr. DeSantis may have learned something about that wisdom and may win in the end.

JOHN P. LE PHONG                                                                                                            June 3, 2023