January 2023 – when the new federal and state governments convene – is all that matters. Who winds up being president in January 2025 is meaningless if we don’t break the vicious cycle of conservative obsession with future elections and actually focus on governing effectively after the current election. This is something GOP voters and conservative influencers and commentators need to understand immediately. It is also something both Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis must understand. If they do so, it would largely make this nascent rift between them irrelevant, because it’s what happens now that matters a lot more than who wins the presidential nomination.

So, we wake up Wednesday morning and the GOP flips the House and Senate and expands its dominance in state governments. What’s next? The 2024 presidential election, right? Wrong! What’s next is to, for once, focus on the current mandate for governance, because we can’t afford to wait another two years for relief.

We can’t wait two more years to stop the FBI from rounding up political opponents and holding them indefinably pretrial.

We can’t wait through another two years of “died suddenly” with the bio-medical security state engaging in bioterrorism against our people.

We can’t suffer another two years of the education system turning an entire generation of youth into androgynous freaks through relentless grooming in the schools and culture.

We can’t languish another two years with hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens pouring over the border every month.

We can’t live another two years with violent repeat offenders roaming the streets attacking random victims.

We can’t wait another two years to address the locking up of our food and fuel sources in the states and the inflation that will make every middle-class family dependent on the state’s plan for scarcity.

In other words, we are no longer living in a time when the contours of debate were merely over the exact tax rates or spending levels of long-standing programs. We are fighting for our right to live and live freely – literally. Everything must be done, including extraordinary measures, with the power we will control to shut down these terrible policies. A soap opera GOP presidential fight for the next two years distracting from what must be done now is the worst thing for our cause.

This is where Trump and DeSantis come into play and can both work harmoniously toward this goal – whether they ultimately run for president or not. Here’s what I would love to see from the two of them the day after the election, and I suspect most of the party base who would support either of them for president over the establishment candidates would agree.

For DeSantis’ part, he would blow the ceiling off the limits of state sovereignty and take “Keep Florida Free” to the next level by declaring it a constitutional sanctuary from all unconstitutional and harmful federal policies. He would directly interpose against the federal surveillance of and persecution of political opponents, including using law enforcement to confront federal abuse of power. Together with the legislature, he would declare the federal education, health care, and energy mandates/policies null within the state and actively use state resources to go in the opposition direction.

But the problem is that we cannot continue with one man setting the bar when the party is so broken that nobody else cares to follow in his footsteps. This is where Trump comes into play. He can be that relentlessly focused outside advocate we so badly need. With the exception of Kari Lake, and possibly one or two others, the GOP governors are hopelessly in the tank for big business, will not do what it takes to neuter the federal tyranny, and, all too often, agree with it. Trump could relentlessly shame these governors into following in DeSantis’ footsteps (whether he wants to mention him directly or not). He could be that voice for the America First state legislators who are outgunned and outmanned by their respective leadership and governors in pushing legislation banning all transgenderism, prohibiting the state health departments from pushing the shots, and pushing interposition against the federal government.

Trump can be that great equalizer for all the MAGA legislators who need help advancing their ideas but have no money, media, star power, or platform to do so. He can hold rallies not just during election season, but during legislative season in support of good ideas. He can encourage governors to work together on more national issues like energy development and illegal immigration. For example, Gov. DeSantis has voiced support for a state-based “return to Mexico policy,” but he needs other governors to sign on. A name-and-shame campaign from Trump would go a long way toward accomplishing this on an issue that we cannot wait two years to address.

At the federal level, Trump can work on an immediate ouster of Mitch McConnell in the Senate and endorse the Freedom Caucus rules package in the House to empower the America First members to advance their ideas. He can be a voice for voting against the omnibus bill and ensuring that the GOP members use their budget leverage, which is perhaps the only purpose of winning back control of Congress under a Democrat president.

Most importantly, Trump can be a voice for the voiceless people – the vaccine-injured. If he were to demand compensation, hold rallies with the millions of people injured by the shots, demand an end to liability protection for pharma, and promise to completely overhaul the way our government promotes pharma’s products, he would go a long way in addressing some of the concerns the base has about his Operation Warped Speed and Fauci pushing lockdowns on Trump’s watch. Even more important than his or anyone else’s presidential ambitions, it would go a long way in saving lives now.

None of this means that one or both of them can’t or shouldn’t concurrently run for president. What it does mean, however, is that everyone must recognize that saving life and liberty now is more important than 2025, both of them have an important role to play in actualizing that outcome, and if they both do a great job of utilizing their platforms in furtherance of those goals, the 2024 presidential election itself would become less important. If they both compete in a way that maximizes their respective positions and influence to bring relief to our voters and change the party now, then we will all win. If one or both competes in a pissing match that distracts from the current policy fights in favor of a drama-laden political soap opera about the next election, we all lose.

Under the more hopeful and favorable scenario, each one would have competed with each other to try to deliver the most to their supporters in the way it matters, at the time it matters – all the while swimming in the same direction. Our only remaining problem at that point will be whom to vote for in that election, which, frankly, is an excellent problem to have.