With the latest poll in Iowa showing President Trump with a commanding 51/14 lead over Ron DeSantis, the people in control of the DeSantis operation are now lowering the bar to say a second-place finish is good enough to continue.

Team DeSantis has essentially camped out in Iowa for the past several weeks, pulling all their resources from other states as the polling for their candidate has consistently gotten worse.

The goal of reboot 4.0 was to focus heavily on Iowa and to a lesser extent New Hampshire.  However, after weeks of campaigning in Iowa, the polling has only gone backward.  DeSantis has lost half the support he originally carried as the Florida Governor tours the state.

(Politico) – […] “We believe it’s already a two-person race,” a top DeSantis campaign official granted anonymity to discuss strategy told POLITICO. “But the reality is, on the ballot there are other choices, and our goal is to get this down to a two-person race on the ballot, especially as we head into South Carolina and beyond into March.”

Speaking ahead of DeSantis’ weekend trip to Iowa, the official said “a strong second-place showing gives us an opportunity to go in[to] New Hampshire and show success.”

Expectations-setting is a tried and true element of every campaign, and DeSantis’ team remains bullish about his ability to make up ground. But coming four months before the first votes are cast in Iowa, the sentiments from the DeSantis campaign official reflect the yawning gap that’s emerged between the Florida governor and former President Donald Trump in both national and Iowa polls.

DeSantis’ operation has looked to Iowa as a springboard. Shortly before the first primary debate, the head of his allied super PAC, Never Back Down, privately told donors that they anticipated a win in the state. (read more)

With the increased desperation and the retreat of big donors, the DeSantis operation really needs the Bush network to step up big for the Fox Business Debate scheduled this month at the Reagan Library in California.  Dana Perino has moved into position.

The Bushes, Prescotts, multinationals and professional Republicans funded by Sea Island billionaires will now start to overemphasize the “chaos Trump” narrative, in order to wear down the psyche of the base Republican voters.  They really need mental fatigue to erode the Trump support, and you can see the efforts taking place in the alignment of narratives shared by the Democrats and the Republicans.

The big problem the GOPe face is that now the larger voting base have caught on to the “illusion of choice” playbook.  Ordinary voters can see how the schemes are being constructed, and the support for Donald Trump continues to grow.  This was evidenced in the Iowa -vs- Iowa State football game earlier today.

Crowds in the Iowa football sphere were heavily enthusiastic about President Trump, and Ron DeSantis at the same event seemed even smaller than usual.  Whoever keeps coming up with these efforts to compare and contrast is really not helping DeSantis at all.  The Florida Governor looks small and silly despite being supported and carried around by Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds.

Share