Suddenly, Trump is ahead of DeSantis

His team declined. Waco was only chosen as the location for Donald Trump's first campaign appearance because it is so conveniently located, it said. In the heart of Texas, not far from Houston, Dallas, Austin and San Antonio, the cities deep in the heartland of Republican voters.

The choice of location has nothing to do with the 30th anniversary of the Waco massacre. But many Trump supporters will see things differently when their idol performs at 5 p.m. local time on Saturday. Waco is seen in some circles as evidence that the "deep state" oppresses dissenters and dissenters.

On April 19, 1993, the FBI and police tried to storm the ranch of the end-time sect "Branch Davidians". The security forces had besieged the property for 51 days, and in the end there was a major fire. Four police officers and 84 cult members died, including 25 children.

Although the fire is believed to have been set by members of the cult, extremists continue to spread the claim that the state wiped out the cult. Conspiracies are also part of the strategy ex-President Trump is trying to get back into the White House. On his social media platform "Truth Social" he pours out abuse and shame on the US judiciary, mostly in capital letters. It was a "witch hunt" that the authorities were investigating in four independent cases against him.

A New York jury could rule as early as next week that Trump has to go to court for paying hush money to a porn star. Charges are also approaching in three other investigations.

The crucial question is whether Trump can score points with the Republican base from the constant confrontation with the judiciary. Or whether voters are fed up with a candidate who makes more headlines with court dates than with politics. A recent survey by Morning Consult pollsters, who are considered independent, sees Trump at 54 percent for the party's internal primaries, which begin early next year. His closest competitor, Ron DeSantis, only got 26 percent. A few weeks ago it was the other way around. Trump's former Vice President Mike Pence would vote only three percent.

To maintain his lead, Trump hits his rival DeSantis particularly hard. The governor of Florida, more than 30 years younger than the ex-president, is seen as an acceptable alternative to Trump in the party's right wing. His approach is "politics without the daily drama, focusing on the big lines and results," DeSantis told Fox News, adding, as a dig at Trump, "You just have to acknowledge that there's a certain reality."

The talk, which aired Thursday, was with British journalist Piers Morgan, confidant of media mogul Rupert Murdoch. He owns Fox News, which was once a reliable stage for Trump. Now DeSantis gets the best slots. The British "Times", which also belongs to Murdoch, recently published a large portrait of DeSantis.

Trump, on the other hand, can hardly be seen on Fox News anymore, and Murdoch has distanced himself. When Trump announced in mid-November that he was running for the Republican nomination, Murdoch's New York Post had a mocking headline: "Florida Man Makes Announcement."

Meanwhile, DeSantis is still looking for his political path. Last week, the 44-year-old shocked Europe when he dismissed Russia's attack on Ukraine as a "territorial dispute" that was not in America's strategic interest. The reactions from his party were so harsh that he backtracked later in the Fox News interview. He was referring to the fighting in the east and in Crimea, "where many ethnic Russians" live. "Which is not to say that Russia has a right to do what it is doing."

When it became clear last weekend that Trump was very likely to be indicted in New York, DeSantis dutifully joined the top Republicans who condemned the court and its prosecutor as a "political mafia" who would rather deal with "actual crimes" than evasion past episodes of an ex-president should care.

Trump follows every appearance and every statement made by his rival with eagle eyes. “Florida was successful long before DeSantis. His results on Covid, crime and education are below average," Trump said of the man he once considered a political foster son.

The ex-president actually has other things to do. US media agree that charges could be brought in the coming week. Trump's former attorney Michael Cohen paid porn actress Stormy Daniels $130,000 in hush money just before the 2016 election. Trump paid back the amount in tranches disguised as legal fees. He may have violated campaign finance laws.

The prosecutor responsible, Alvin Bragg, gets to feel the bandages Trump uses to defend himself. On Thursday, he indignantly rejected the demand by leading US Republicans to release documents and records from the investigation as illegal. Trump ranted on his social media account that the prosecutor was doing the work of "anarchists and the devil who want our country to fail."

"Radical crazy bomb thrower Jack Smith has to go immediately," Trump added. Smith is the special counsel investigating the ex-head of state's role in the January 6, 2021, storming of the Capitol. Smith wants to subpoena former Vice President Pence - who was in close contact with Trump that day - and could reveal incriminating details.