Avowed ‘Never Trumper’ Jennifer Rubin Gleefully Celebrates Trump’s Strong Polling Performance

Washington Post columnist and avowed “Never Trumper” Jennifer Rubin celebrated Donald Trump’s strong performance in Republican primary polling on Friday morning, even mustering a mirthful digital cackle to celebrate the former president’s prospects.

“Bhahahhahahahhahahah,” added Rubin to the Yahoo News headline “No bump for DeSantis from 2024 launch as Trump continues to climb.”

Bhahahhahahahhahahah : No bump for DeSantis from 2024 launch as Trump continues to climb https://t.co/hDSzRPXLbV via @YahooNews

— Jennifer Rubin (@JRubinBlogger) June 2, 2023

The article cites a recent Yahoo/YouGov poll conducted from May 25-30 that shows Trump garnering the support of 53% of potential Republican primary voters, with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) in a distant second place with 25%. That marked a five-point improvement for Trump and three-point drop for DeSantis from early May.

Were the primary to be between just the two leading candidates, Trump would prevail, 55%-31%.

DeSantis announced his campaign on May 24, but his kick-off event with Elon Musk on Twitter Spaces was marred by technical difficulties. Still, early polling rarely reflects the final results of presidential primaries, as Jeb Bush, Hillary Clinton, and Newt Gingrich might attest.

Rubin’s uncontained expression of joy at Trump’s success comes amidst a wave of self-professed “Never Trumpers” appearing to imply that their preference is that Trump wins the Republican primary.

The Bulwark’s Bill Kristol recently waxed poetic about Trump’s “Alpha” mindset while panning DeSantis as “Beta.”

“DeSantis was always on Fox when Rupert [Murdoch] was for him. Now he announces on Twitter when Elon’s for him. Kind of Beta, no? Trump does CNN town hall, goes into the (pseudo-) lion’s den. Looks kind of Alpha, no?” he remarked last week.

In a puzzling letter for a group that introduced itself as a group of Republicans who “want Trump defeated,” the Lincoln Project published an open letter on the day of DeSantis’s declaration of his candidacy predicting that “Trump will wreck you,” and delighting in that possibility. “There’s no reason this can’t be fun! We’re sure going to love watching you crash and burn,” asserted the staff of the “Never Trump” PAC.

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