Ron DeSantis for Secretary of Defense?

Word from somewhere in the Trump camp is that Ron DeSantis is under serious consideration for Secretary of Defense if Pete Hegseth withdraws or his nomination is defeated. I can’t tell whether DeSantis actually might be picked or whether the prospect is being dangled at him, the way Secretary of State was dangled at Mitt Romney, in revenge for the Florida governor’s run for the presidential nomination.

DeSantis would be a great pick. He’s the wildly successful administrator of a large state. He has serious and, in my opinion, largely sound views about our national security.

DeSantis would be a far more effective opponent of wokeness in the military than Hegseth, whose views are sound but who has no track record of combatting it. No governor has done more to curb wokeism than DeSantis. Nor has Trump.

But would it be in DeSantis’ interest to serve as Secretary of Defense under Donald Trump? On the plus side, such service would boost the governor’s already sterling resume. For me, no credential better qualifies one for the presidency than effectively running a department so large and so central to the nation’s security.

Taking the job would also be a ticket back into Trump world, from which DeSantis was banished for having the audacity to seek the presidency. If Trump continues to dominate the GOP for four years, it will be difficult for someone he has exiled to make a strong run at the nomination in 2028. (On the other hand, if Trump has a successful second term, JD Vance might have a lock on the nomination.)

But the risks for DeSantis if he becomes Trump’s Secretary of Defense are considerable. In fact, I can’t think of a single member of Trump’s first Cabinet who left his/her job in as good a shape as he/she entered.

Even Mike Pompeo, who served loyally and effectively, reportedly was ruled out of future service for Trump, along with Nikki Haley. I understand why Haley wasn’t considered, but I’m not sure why Pompeo wasn’t.

I read Pompeo’s book and don’t recall anything but praise for Trump. Maybe his sin was taking too much credit for what he (Pompeo) achieved. Or maybe it’s because Tucker Carlson considers Pompeo a criminal.

There’s also the possibility that Trump will order DeSantis to take actions that are unlawful, or arguably so. If DeSantis refuses, he will be alienated from MAGA-world for all time. If he consents, he could eventually find himself on trial.

DeSantis’ position as a Cabinet member would be even more precarious than the average selectee because of Trump’s pre-existing animosity towards him. It’s easy for me to imagine Trump being even quicker than normal to accuse DeSantis of disloyalty or to shift blame to his Defense Secretary for a failure by the president.

But if DeSantis were to turn down a Trump nomination, for any reason, this would tend to further alienate him from MAGA-world. Trump, I assume, would deny ever having offered DeSantis the job, and follow up with nasty tweets about “DeSanctimonious.”

Perhaps the best outcome for DeSantis is this: Trump offers the job to someone else.

To find out what our readers think about this, I’ll open the comments section to all subscribers.