Briefing | A bungled coup

Ron DeSantis has little chance of beating Donald Trump

Hopes of depriving the former president of the Republican nomination are fading

Image: The Economist/Getty Images
|Washington, DC

BELATEDLY and nervously, the would-be assassins have been lining up. On May 22nd Tim Scott, a senator from South Carolina, became the latest Republican to announce a run for president. Greater fanfare accompanied the official declaration (on Twitter) on May 24th that Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida, is joining the race for the Republican nomination. He has been widely heralded as the candidate with the best chance of defeating the favourite, Donald Trump. But even as more plotters step forward, the chances of a successful coup to overthrow Mr Trump are growing slimmer by the day.

This article appeared in the Briefing section of the print edition under the headline “A bungled coup”

From the May 27th 2023 edition

Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents

Explore the edition

More from Briefing

A photo collage about plastic surgery boon, featuring public figures like Joe Jonas and Kim Kardashian

Young customers in developing countries propel a boom in plastic surgery

Falling costs and converging beauty standards spur new habits

The torn down statue of former Syrian president Hafez al-Assad.

The Assad regime’s fall voids many of the Middle East’s old certainties

What if Syria abandoned its hostility to the West and stopped menacing Israel?


Top rebel commander Abu Mohammed al-Golani speaks to a crowd at Ummayad Mosque in Damascus

Syria has exchanged a vile dictator for an uncertain future

It is not clear how stable or how benign the new regime will be


Gambling is growing like gangbusters in America

Technology and legal changes are spurring a betting bonanza

The Adani bribery case could upend Indian business and politics

The allegations against the corporate champion may end up being resolved diplomatically rather than in court

The war in Ukraine is straining Russia’s economy and society

Despite advances on the battlefield, pressure is growing