It's a game as old as the hills: pitting two people against one another for whatever reason.  It can be done in jest, as it was when I was a young army dentist stationed in Da Nang, RVN, in the early seventies.  We had a mischievous dental assistant named Miss Cong (no relation to the elusive enemy, Viet Cong).  One day, Cong approached me and told me she didn't care what Miss Liu Tai Suu, another assistant, said about me.  Cong thought I was a nice guy.  Then, unbeknownst to me, Cong told Miss Suu that even though I had been saying terrible things about her to the rest of our clinic staff, she believed that Suu was a good person.

For two days, Miss Suu and I stared daggers at each other but never confronted Miss Cong's statements.  Finally, late in the afternoon of the second day, Miss Cong laughingly told both of us that she had made the whole thing up.  Suu and I both felt quite foolish for having fallen for the joke.  We were all one big happy clinic from then until the day I left to come home.

Sometimes, however, this game is played with vicious intent.  In 2024, Donald Trump will either be the nominee for president on the Republican ticket or a kingmaker, selecting his successor as the standard-bearer of the GOP.  No one having earned Mr. Trump's ire will head the ticket.  Besides Trump himself, the possible candidate most feared by the Democrats and their media buddies is Florida governor Ron DeSantis.

In recent days and weeks, the national media have attempted to create a feud between Trump and DeSantis, trying to foment discord between the two politicians.  Such a feud could only harm the party.  Fortunately for Republicans, neither man is taking the bait.  DeSantis has repeatedly stated that Donald Trump is his friend, a man he greatly admires, a man he has supported publicly and privately.  Trump, for his part, says he is a great fan of DeSantis and his sensible approach to the COVID crisis, and he is appreciative of the Florida governor's support both during and after his days in the White House. 

The media have made a great deal of the fact that DeSantis has not called a press conference to state he won't run for president if Trump seeks to reacquire the office from which he believes he was unfairly removed.  If, in fact, such a declaration might please the former president, he has given no public indication claiming that to be the case.  The left-wing national media will never laughingly admit that their attempt to create discord between the two men was a hoax the way Miss Cong defused my "feud" with Miss Suu.  The press will never make nice with Trump and his fellow Republicans.  They want no part of a big happy family on the right.

The Republican optimism regarding the upcoming midterm congressional elections is palpable.  A Trump-DeSantis feud would cause a tempering of that optimism.  Both men would do well to maintain their mutual admiration society.  Such amity can only help the cause of Republican victories.  I trust that Miss Cong and Miss Suu would both agree. 

Bill Hansmann wrhdds@aol.com

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