If
does what everyone expects him to do Tuesday night—never a sure bet with the 45th president—he will announce another run for the White House. Thus the spotlight moves back on him.
Like the first midterms of all presidents, last week’s were a referendum on
even as he denied it in the lead-up. But the unexpected results suggest they were also a referendum on Mr. Trump. The past 10 days especially have given voters a preview of what the 2024 election cycle might become if Mr. Trump decides to turn the GOP primaries into a civil war in which his Republican rivals must not only be defeated but destroyed. It doesn’t help the party that his targets this time will be the up-and-coming Republican officeholders with the most successful conservative records since 2020.
It’s no secret that Mr. Trump might respond to being denied the 2024 nomination by blowing the party up. In his answer to the first question of the first GOP debate during his first run, he alluded to this possibility when he declined to promise to support whoever emerged the Republican nominee. The question became academic after he went on to mow down all his opponents, one by one.
The threat is still out there, but this time Mr. Trump might be misreading his own supporters. The first sign came two Saturdays ago in Latrobe, Pa. Mr. Trump was there to fire up support for his candidates—Doug Mastriano for governor,
Mehmet Oz
for Senate—who would lose their races a few days later. Characteristically, the big news out of that rally was the new put-down he unveiled for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis: “Ron DeSanctimonious.”
Probably Mr. Trump expected a backlash. What he could not expect was how much of it came from voters who’d pulled the lever for him in 2016 and 2020 but didn’t appreciate an unprovoked attack on a fellow Republican and successful governor who had stood firm against many of the same liberal forces bitterly opposed to Mr. Trump.
Mr. Trump’s decision not to repeat the put-down the next day at a rally in Florida suggested he recognized the blunder. Even so, he was back trying to diminish Mr. DeSantis as late as election eve, telling reporters that if the governor were to seek the 2024 GOP nomination, he would release dirt on him.
Then came Election Day. The…
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