I’m not one to be the pretentious guy who likes to say, “I told you so,” but umm … I told you so.

If you remember when the speculation had only just begun on who may or may not get into the GOP presidential primary season, I predicted a Ron DeSantis run would prove disastrous.

I publicly begged him not to do it unless the strategy was to simply get a presidential campaign under his belt, increase his name recognition, tout his successes, but no matter what – don’t alienate the Trump base.

DeSantis should have used this campaign to secure favor of the Trump base for a 2028 run, not alienate it as he has done lately by essentially implying that Trump supporters can’t see the bigger picture of the Conservative cause.

Say what now? Trump supporters can’t see past the man to understand the Conservative cause?

Poppycock.

Do people still use that word? I don’t think I have ever written the word “poppycock” before but it seems appropriate in this case.

What DeSantis fails to understand is that Trump supporters see the man, themselves and the Conservative cause as one in the same.

Trump is essentially the poster child for the Conservative cause and those that support him see the former president, the cause and themselves as intertwined.

This fundamental reality cannot be ignored.

Trump is us, we are Trump and we are all the Conservative cause. The true Conservative cause, I might add.

And what I mean by that is Trump governs from that all important common sense and it’s almost never political. That’s how DeSantis started. He governed Florida to freedom using common sense, but he has made the mistake lately of putting aside common sense for the political realm where common sense goes to die.

When you abandon common sense to play politics instead, well, we can smell that kind of BS a mile away. We know when people are being genuine and we know when politicians are being … well … politicians.

It’s why we don’t like politicians. We like real people making real policies that will affect positively real American lives.

And we don’t care that Trump is a narcissist. We don’t care Trump can be rude. We don’t care that Trump has an ego the size of the universe.

What we know and what we care about is that Trump fights for us, which is why we see him as us. Trump does things that we know we would do if we had the opportunity.

Why is this so hard to understand? It’s definitely not about the man. It’s truly about the cause and it just so happens that Trump represents that cause through real and proven action.

So I’m afraid our great governor clearly never got access to my advice for him, but who am I?

I’m not a high-paid chief of staff or a paid political strategist. I’m just an average American who pays attention and sees everything around me in the colors of common sense.

When the DeSantis debate prep was leaked, implying that DeSantis would indeed defend Trump while attacking Vivek Ramaswamy, I was confident that the DeSantis strategy was back on track.

But then he made those comments about Trump supporters to the Florida Standard and it just came off as whining and insulting. To say I was disappointed is an understatement.

Ramaswamy, in the meantime, is catching DeSantis and I’m not sure how this is happening. Ramaswamy is a likable guy but his foreign policy statements thus far have been dangerous.

He reminds me of a Bill Clinton, who was actually a decent domestic policy president but a disaster on the world stage. Ramaswamy would be good on the domestic front, but saying things like he’s OK with Russia defeating Ukraine and that the U.S. should reduce aid to Israel because “They’re nothing special,” is beyond concerning.

It shows that Ramaswamy’s foreign policy expertise is severely lacking and he is not ready for prime time.

But I did not think DeSantis would have such a lack of understanding about Trump supporters and he has essentially put the nail in the coffin of his presidential bid to a point where even he may have squandered a legitimate 2028 bid.

To assume Trump supporters aren’t loyal to the Conservative cause because they can’t see past the man himself is just nonsense.

DeSantis does not understand that when Trump is attacked, it’s an attack on us. That’s why with each indictment, Trump’s polls surge again.

Again, Trump is us, we are Trump and we are all intertwined because we know Trump began this journey for us and for this nation.

We know Trump loves this country as much as we do.

Do I wish Trump would act more like a grown up? Of course, but his policies represent everything I believe in as a Conservative.

And I feel the same way about DeSantis but his recent comments have left me questioning whether a DeSantis presidential bid is about me and you as Americans or more about him and his own political ego.

And yes, there is no bigger ego than that of Donald J. Trump, but he didn’t get into politics to serve his own needs. Can any other politician say that?

I don’t think so. Trump’s base isn’t just a political thing. Average hard working Americans who have had their fair share of being screwed over by bad politicians have a deep connection to Trump.

Once again, Trump supporters see themselves in Trump and more importantly, they feel each attack against him on a personal level because they truly understand what Trump means when he says they aren’t coming after him, they are coming after us and everything we believe.

As someone blessed with common sense, I find it hard to believe that this can’t be understood by DeSantis who has simply got horrible campaign advice from the start.

The first piece of bad advice was to run. He should have listened to me.

If you’re reading this Gov. DeSantis, I’m for hire. You could use a common sense Conservative in your corner. I still believe in you and I still believe DeSantis would make a great president.

I fear the choices that have been made will make that much, much more difficult certainly now, but into the future as well.

It’s a shame Trump will sit out the upcoming first debate, but it will still be very interesting. I remain a DeSantis fan and I hope he will take advantage of this very important opportunity to right a sinking ship.

Stay vigilant my fellow Patriots. We are being attacked from all sides. Keep informed and keep sharing our truth.