It's time for DeSantis to focus on the job he has, not the one he won't get

On Monday night, the absolutely predictable and expected, at least for those of us living in reality, happened: Donald Trump won the Iowa caucus. In fact, he didn't just win, he dominated. It was so decisive that no legitimate argument can be made to justify the continuation of any campaign other than the Trump campaign going forward. Primary school is over.

Before the Iowa caucus results, DeSantis campaign surrogates in particular had insisted that polls showing Trump's lead for the GOP nomination were fake or even rigged. I don't blame the campaigns of DeSantis, Haley, Ramaswamy, etc. for insisting – however desperate – that the polls were not votes or caucuses. “Wait until Iowa when we shock the Trump campaign and the world with an upset victory,” the Desantis campaign seemed to argue.

Well, the Iowa caucuses have now been held and the results confirm the polls: Trump is the winner. DeSantis campaign surrogates themselves are desperately looking for excuses for DeSantis' humiliating, even laughable, defeat. loading the media with election interference to call the Iowa caucus before all the votes had been counted; even though the accusers themselves refuse to acknowledge election interference in the 2020 election.

Remarkably, in any DeSantis analysis of the Iowa results is an admission that DeSantis simply isn't as popular as they or he thinks he should be. But no matter how desperate the supporters of DeSantis, Ramaswamy or Haley—or the candidates themselves—to want their respective candidates to win the nomination; Iowa reaffirmed that there simply aren't enough like-minded voters to agree, at least for this election.

Trump's victory should serve as a reality check for never-Trumpers in the GOP. These delusional supporters of Haley, DeSantis, or Ramaswamy, those in particular, who not only supported, but believed his alternative candidate could or would beat Trump in the primaries; now he has to swallow and accept the reality that Trump will be the candidate. But will they?

Most importantly, these reality laggards must conquer any previous misgivings they have about Trump, both real and perceived, and become champions of his re-election. The stakes of the 2024 presidential election demand it, but can they do it?

Perhaps the only surprise in Trump's historic victory in Iowa was DeSantis' defiant — and completely delusional — response to his own shellacking. No candidate did more to win the Iowa caucus than Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Notably, neither the endorsements of Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds nor alleged evangelical mogul Bob Vander Plaats convinced Iowans to ditch Trump and support Ron DeSantis.

Despite DeSantis' heroic — and very expensive — effort, DeSantis finished 30 points behind Trump, while Trump won more than 50% of the vote, the largest margin of victory in Iowa caucus history. But instead of admitting defeat, accepting reality and exercising some humility—as Ramaswamy did—DeSantis has doubled down on the deception; somehow insisting that Iowa was a win for him. “We got our ticket out of Iowa,” DeSantis claimed after losing

DeSantis has as good a chance of winning the GOP nomination as the Dallas Cowboys have of winning the Super Bowl this season. Imagine the Dallas Cowboys celebrating their humiliating playoff loss to the Green Bay Packers on Sunday; that's what DeSantis did after being humiliated Monday in Iowa.

By the way, it's DeSantis who out of desperation turned the typically meaningless Iowa caucus into the Super Bowl, hoping that an Iowa victory could be made to combat the existing narrative that DeSantis can't win the nomination and, thus resurrecting his dying campaign.

But now that DeSantis hasn't been able to win in Iowa, he wants to move the stick. Suddenly, it's a long election season with many more games to play, and very soon DeSantis will prove his prowess and popularity in some future caucus, so DeSantis says.

If DeSantis couldn't win Iowa with his dream endorsements, tens of millions of dollars spent on advertising and 154 campaign stops in all 99 counties, how will he win elsewhere? He bet the farm on Iowa and lost.

But instead of cutting his losses, DeSantis wants to double down. He's like a gambling addict in a Las Vegas casino, who can't stop. “Oh, I lost this round, but I'll win the next one.” It's clear that DeSantis is obsessed with becoming president and 2024 is haunted.

While I have no problem with his personal ambition per se, I am deeply troubled by DeSantis' clear and reckless willingness to gamble away the future of America in pursuit of his own selfish and unrealistic goals. Iowa proved this is not DeSantis' year: Trump will be the nominee. So why is DeSantis committed to staying and campaigning until the end?

The DeSantis campaign—and the Haley campaign as well—serves only one purpose at this point: to distract and prevent the GOP from focusing on the important and necessary task of beating the Democrats in November.

2024 is America's last stand. As I write in my book, America's Last Stand: You will vote to save or destroy America in 2024“Our current conflict is unprecedented in the history of our own nation and in our own lifetime and marks the third major test, which will determine whether America lives or dies.”

Given these stakes and Trump's inevitable nomination, GOP voters face an easy decision: support either Trump or Biden and the Democrats. The sooner we unite, the better chance we have of saving the country.

At this point, Trump is running to save America and DeSantis is running to save face. Trump is running to win a general election and DeSantis is running to win a caucus. Trump is running because American voters want him to run and DeSantis is running because his donors want him to run.

It's time for Ron DeSantis to focus on the job he has, not the job he won't get.

Drew Thomas Allen is the author of America's Last Stand: You Will Vote to Save or Destroy America in 2024.

Allen is the vice president of client development at Publius PR, a premiere communications firm, where Allen has worked as a publicist for many of the biggest names in politics: Peter Navarro, Dr. Naomi Wolf, Dr. Ben Carson, Alan Dershowitz and Kari. Lake, to name a few.
In addition to running public relations campaigns for some of the most recognizable names in politics, Allen is a widely published columnist, an in-demand political analyst on radio and television, and host of the popular Drew Allen Show podcast.