Never Trump? Longtime Critic Bill Kristol Praises Trump as the ‘Alpha’ of the GOP Primary Race
The Bulwark’s Bill Kristol expressed a strange new respect for Donald Trump on Tuesday, calling him an “Alpha” in the growing GOP presidential primary field.
Kristol has long been an outspoken critic of Trump, first from a traditional conservative perspective at the The Weekly Standard and now from the left at the Bulwark. In 2016, Kristol reportedly sought to recruit a third-party candidate to run against Trump. Four years later, he enthusiastically supported Joe Biden’s third bid for the White House.
But in the lead-up to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s declaration of his candidacy on Wednesday evening, Kristol was not as enthusiastic about the entrance of a viable challenger to Trump’s de facto leadership of the Republican Party as one might have expected.
“I tend (perhaps foolishly) to discount the Alpha/Beta Male stuff,” began Kristol. “But: DeSantis was always on Fox when Rupert 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?”
I tend (perhaps foolishly) to discount the Alpha/Beta Male stuff.
But:
DeSantis was always on Fox when Rupert 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?
— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) May 23, 2023
Kristol’s biblical evaluation of Trump’s courage came after he submitted to a townhall event with Republican primary voters in New Hampshire. The event was moderated by CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, formerly of Tucker Carlson’s Daily Caller.
At the event, Trump repeatedly doubled down on his conspiracy theories about the 2020 presidential election, mocked the woman he has been found civilly liable for sexually abusing, and called Collins a “nasty person.”
DeSantis is set to introduce his campaign in a Twitter Spaces session featuring Twitter owner and Tesla CEO Elon Musk at 6:00pm eastern time on Wednesday. Musk has praised the Florida governor in the past, but has not yet endorsed any candidate in the 2024 race.
