That's the take from Steve Deace, who cut his teeth as a popular conservative talk show host on Iowa's massive AM station WHO radio. Now he's a Blaze TV host and best-selling author.
Trump, who continues to hold a commanding lead in polling for the 2024 Republican presidential primary, elected not to take part in The Family Leadership Summit which featured six other candidates* in a one-on-one 25-minute sit-down with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson. (Replay the Leadership Summit on YouTube)
While Trump was absent, Carlson allowed him to remain absent. He questioned the GOP candidates on their ideas and positions – not about the former president, his positions, the lingering lawsuits against him or his opinions about his Republican opponents.
Some withered under Carlson's blunt approach, but DeSantis has gotten good reviews for his handling of questions about Ukraine, abortion and other topics.
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"Well, he didn't tell Tucker Carlson that he's willing to give (Ukraine President Volodymyr) Zelensky even more weapons than Joe Biden is, as Donald Trump did yesterday on Fox News," Deace said on American Family Radio Monday morning.
Deace told show host Jenna Ellis the Florida governor was the only candidate who faced real pressure.
"Trump was not there. [DeSantis is] the next alpha – he had to be dominant, he gets the cleanup spot; so he's got to go in there and be Ron DeSantis," Deace offered. "People have to see how he managed to pull off what he did in Florida because if you don't live there or follow it, it's hard to translate that into a message."
Continuing his reference to DeSantis, Deace argued that "people need to see you as the leader who could do this stuff that your reputation proceeds. So, I thought given the amount of pressure on him to go in there, [and given] whom he was getting questioned by, I thought that he clearly got the hardest interview of the afternoon session."
Trump opens the door for DeSantis
Trump's commitment to increase aid to Ukraine and his antagonization of Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds, a popular Republican, could pave the way for a strong DeSantis showing in January's Iowa caucus, something that most observers say is a must for the DeSantis campaign.
Deace admitted he is particularly puzzled by Trump's attacks on Reynolds. "He's trying to provoke her to come in against him, and that would not work well for him. She has more juice than any Republican statewide office holder has," he noted.
"In most caucus cycles, I would want the Republican senator or governor to endorse against me because they're total RINOs [Republicans In Name Only], and that would help me convince my own base. [But] she has a great amount of cachet with our base and has earned it all. I just don't understand why the former president keeps trying to provoke her to come in after him because if he does that, he's not going to give the speech on January 15th on Caucus Night that maybe he's anticipating."
While DeSantis scored well with Carlson, he still has work to do, observers say, and some of it with how he connects with voters.
Ramaswamy's Hindu question
Businessman Vivek Ramaswamy (pictured below) seems to connect with voters. He has shown a deft ability to answer pointed questions while in hostile environments. In fact, it was Ramaswamy's composure in his exchange with former CNN host Don Lemon that led to Lemon's dismissal.
Voters appear to resonate with Ramaswamy's youthful energy, his ability to engage. He entered the field as a relative unknown but has managed to rise to third in some polls behind DeSantis but ahead of better-known names like Mike Pence and Nikki Haley.
Delano Squires, a Blaze contributor and research fellow for life, religion and family at The Heritage Institute, believes Ramaswamy's message can overcome his faith.
Ramaswamy is a professing Hindu, but more than 500 pastors and other evangelicals liked what he had to say in his one-on-one with Carlson, Squires told Ellis. "I don't think it really impacted his reception. I think people seemed to be pretty open to what it is that he had to say, but think the first question is a fair question," he said.
It's a situation not unlike evangelicals' support for Trump, who presents himself publicly in a way that troubles many Christians but has governed in a way that supported many Christian political ideals such as his appointment of conservative Supreme Court justices.
Squires pointed out that many Christians supported Mitt Romney, a Mormon, in his presidential bid against Barack Obama in 2012.
"As a believer, would I prefer to vote for someone whose biblical worldview actually informs their policy positions? Yes, I would – but I also believe in common grace and [in] a candidate who affirms the dignity of human life, who affirms that we are all made by our creator [and] that there's a power higher than civil government. [And] I would prefer a candidate who affirms that marriage is between one male and one female for one lifetime.
"That's a person who I'm at least open to because even though they don't have the same foundation that I do, they can at least agree with many of my sort of core convictions and positions," Squires said.
Squires said he would prefer "someone like this" – a reference to Ramaswamy – to someone who says they attend church then votes or governs in ways that oppose the beliefs of their church. That's a problem Biden, a professing Catholic, faces right now, according to Squires.
"A Hindu who affirms and promotes biblical perspectives on what I call sort of the facts – family, abortion, culture, and the truth about sex – to me is someone I could probably work with more than a CRINO – a Christian In Name Only – who soft pedals Leftism and wraps it in conservative colloquialisms," Squires said.
Candidates who talk about their faith but don't practice it publicly, he added, may not be the ones who govern in the way Christians hope.
"It's important to understand the foundation upon which a person builds their political positions because that actually does matter a lot," Squires said. "… Over the last couple of years, [we've seen] people who say they're Christian – [but] if their foundation is not solid, they can be moved."
The importance of Carlson's role
Carlson as the media host guaranteed that the Republican candidates would face questions on important conservative topics, Deace said. That's not been the case in debates where the moderator was a left-leaning media member who wished to help Democrats retain control of the narrative.
"Why do we let the left-wing media host our debates? It's not a bug, it's a feature. They don't want [their] candidates hit from the right. They will fall apart. The wheat and the chaff will be separated very quickly. [Instead] they want them hit from the left so that you think that Asa Hutchinson is indistinguishable from Ron DeSantis, [or] so you think Mike Pence is indistinguishable from Donald Trump," Deace said.
The Blaze TV host compared Carlson's line of questioning on topics like election integrity, the LGBTQ agenda, Ukraine and more to his interviews with Iowa Republican leadership on WHO in Iowa.
"They'd have to come on my show, and I got to hit them from the right with questions – and they would collapse," Deace recalled. "That's exactly what you saw Tucker do on that stage on Friday."
* FL Gov. Ron DeSantis, former VP Mike Pence, Vivek Ramaswamy, former SC Gov. Nikki Haley, Sen. Tim Scott, and former AR Gov. Asa Hutchinson.
