To date the 2024 presidential campaign has been notable for its absence of grace or common sense.  Up until Governor DeSantis’ departure yesterday, the GOP candidates have spent most of their time perfecting the circular firing squad rather than elevating the debate or even improving their aim.

President Trump has taken potshots at Mr. DeSantis and Ambassador Nikki Haley. Mrs. Haley has gone after Mr. DeSantis and, lately, President Trump (the senile master of chaos?).  Listening to them one would hardly know that they might actually be running against President Biden.  He is rarely mentioned.

In particular, Mrs. Haley’s attacks on Mr. DeSantis are hard to comprehend.  If it becomes, as she claims it will, a two-person race, she will need the backing of his supporters.  Yet she is doing a splendid job of driving them into the Trump camp.  Go figure.  

Yesterday, Mr. DeSantis, to his credit, finally injected a little grace and a lot of common sense into this campaign. He resisted the temptation to trash his erstwhile opponents on the way out. On the contrary, he endorsed Mr. Trump, a rare act of good sportsmanship. Mr. Trump responded appropriately by promptly decommissioning the mocking nickname “DeSanctimonious.”  

This unusual act of political courtesy will go a long way toward uniting the GOP and accelerating Mr. Trump’s nomination. The sooner the party coalesces around the 45th president, the sooner resources of money and creative vituperation can be redirected at the 46th president and his fellow travelers.

Mr. DeSantis also deserves applause for his common sense in recognizing, after Iowa, that his chances of success teetered between slim and none. Any politician running for office has to be abnormally optimistic to even undertake such a journey.  It is probably a fine line between manic optimism and self-delusion.  

So it is to Ron’s credit that he recognized a distant second place finish in Iowa was not enough to fuel the next stage of his campaign.  Rather than waste more of his backer’s money, and further muddy the GOP message, he had the uncommon good sense to withdraw.

This is not always the case. Harold Stassen and Governor Christie come to mind.  Ron’s act of political statesmanship will stand him in good stead.  Aside from his new best friend, Donald J. Trump, numerous messages praising his action have poured in, like this from Governor Mike Huckabee: “I’ve been a Donald Trump supporter since he entered the 2024 race but salute Ron DeSantis for his classy and timely exit and unifying endorsement of Trump.”

There is, of course, no reason grace and common sense can’t be self-serving.  Perhaps Ron DeSantis just laid the foundation for his 2028 campaign.