The GOP nominee for president will be Donald J. Trump.  Not Nikki Haley, not Ron DeSantis.  Who else is running?  Yeah, none of them, either.

Nikki Haley has staked out the “establishment” wing of the UniParty and has been gaining steam, but unless every Democrat operative in the early primary states changes his registration, she will not garner near enough support to unseat the incumbent (Donald Trump).

Ron DeSantis has been in a tailspin for the past couple months and has tried to stake out a couple of different tacks, as his handlers try to message him to victory.  This has harmed his authenticity with the Republican base and has further alienated him from the MAGA base of the Party.

Nikki Haley, it seems to me, will go scorched earth (à la Chris Christie) when things don’t go her way in the early primary states.  She will join the dozen or so other NeverTrumps strewn across political the landscape in opposing her party’s presumptive candidate. 

Ron DeSantis is in a quandary. If he joins Haley in going full NeverTrump, any future consideration he might have in running for president will be tarnished among the MAGA base of the Party.  If Donald Trump loses, DeSantis will in part be blamed for the loss.  If Donald Trump wins (praise be to God), Ron DeSantis will be seen as yet another turncoat who abandoned principle for cocktail party popularity.

Ron DeSantis can save face upon his exit and full-throatedly endorse Donald Trump for president.  While his (UniParty) handlers won’t offer him this advice, I will.

Be a man.  Put America first and your political aspirations second.

Throwing your full support behind Donald Trump will help him with some in the GOPe and will also help you, if you decide to run for president four years hence.

If you want to get behind the president in a big way, offer to work with him on securing votes in battleground states as you have in Florida.

A win for Donald Trump is a win for the American people.  Those who work with him in achieving this objective will be seen favorably by the American public.  A loss will be dire for America and won’t get you any closer to Pennsylvania Avenue.

Do the right thing. Not what your (ahem) advisers advise you to do.

Image: Ron DeSantis.  Credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0.