re: DeSantis Slammed for Using National Crisis to Criticize Trump: Poor Timing Criticized

I think Trump/DeSantis/etc. are in a tight spot on personnel.

DC corrupts. Or it attracts "compromised" people. No doubt.

Trump thought that he could get people to be personally loyal to him and that would override everything. He valued loyalty more than subject matter expertise and understandably so given his positioning. He's used to throwing money and the brand at people and having them do his bidding unquestioningly. I don't think he understood or appreciated how different the political class is in that regard.

So the result was that anyone who would pledge loyalty to him was considered, and experts were not. But he got the worst of both - people who feigned loyalty and used the gigs to grift, and people who didn't have any idea how to complete the tasks set before them. His biggest wins relied heavily on old hand political guys he's often warred with - like McConnell. All the "wins" from Trump insiders were fleeting or incomplete.

DeSantis is going to run on this weakness, which is a good political move. But he'll have similar issues. The entire GOP political class is corrupted, and DeSantis will have to regularly examine and purge staffers. He'll need the expert class to get anything done, but he'll have to limit them and keep them in line.

But one thing I think DeSantis might have going for him - subtlety/boredom/lack of drama. If DeSantis can win and govern in a dull but effective manner, it makes it far more likely he can limit the staff defections/betrayal. Trump is big and bold and dramatic so the defections and traitors were sexy to CNN, book deals, etc. It takes one conflicting tweet to set off Trump. Then you're some nobody feuding with Trump, which becomes a story to all the news outlets who can't get enough Trump drama. Getting fired by DeSantis because you broke ranks on some mundane policy issue will not have the same appeal.