It’s official:  God-Emperor Donaldus Magnus is running for President in 2024.  It’s a Thanksgiving Miracle!

We all knew this announcement was coming, but making it official seals the deal and ends any lingering speculation.

Here’s another announcement of far less significance or magnitude, but one of importance to yours portly:  The Portly Politico officially and formally endorses President Donald J. Trump in the Republican primaries and for President of the United States.

I was disillusioned by the recent midterm election results, and see in them grave signs of the continued rigging of election results in a number of key States.  I also interpret them to be a critique of the Republican Party, which has waffled on the MAGA agenda and is actively anti-Trump.

Critics might point to those races as Trump’s fading star and influence, but that’s a misread of the situation.  There’s no way the Arizona gubernatorial and Senate races were fairly counted.  That State has failed roundly to clean up its voter rolls and its voting practices, and we’re all paying the price for their sloppiness.

By contrast, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is a rising star, and electrified his State to carry him to a massive victory, winning with 1.5 million votes after clinching the governship four years ago by a margin of around 30,000.  That is truly remarkable, and DeSantis has a promising future in national politics, no doubt.  I admire his wonkery and his tenacity—two qualities that are rarely combined in one person—and his willingness to fight the culture war, which is the real battleground in our long, cold civil war.

But DeSantis’s victories in Florida does not mean that Trump is a political has-been.  DeSantis’s policies have attracted flocks of like-minded Americans to Florida, padding out his political support in the State.  He’s also worked diligently to clean up Florida’s election laws and processes, making electoral malfeasance like ballot harvesting far more difficult in the Sunshine State.

DeSantis running for president in 2024 is a classic divide-and-conquer strategy.  All the wrong people are plumping for DeSantis.  That’s unfortunate for him, but he should resist the siren song of Establishment, Inc. neocons and bide his time.  2028 is his time to shine.  This current moment is Trump’s.

Of course, I can understand why DeSantis might want to get in now.  Fortune favors the bold, and he is in the limelight now.  Four years is a long time in politics, and some charismatic flavor-of-the-month might pop up in the interim to challenge him as heir apparent to Trump.

But in the interest of the nation, DeSantis should cede this election to Trump.

I do not think Trump is a perfect candidate by any stretch, but his supporters (myself included) need vindication.  They want Trump back in office, in part because they love him and his policies, but also because he was robbed in 2020.  That feeling is intensely strong among his supporters, just as Andrew Jackson’s supporters believed John Quincy Adams and Henry Clay stole the 1824 election.

The Republican Party as an institution is doomed unless it gets behind Trump, fully and completely.  Right now, they’re praying hard for DeSantis to muck up the proceedings.  That would rend the GOP asunder, giving further fuel to the Democrats.

Regardless of what DeSantis or others decide, Trump will walk away with the Republican nomination swingin’.

MAGA MAGA MAGA!

—TPP