While the White House is clearly terrified of Gov. Ron DeSantis in Florida because he represents a clear and present danger to Democrat hopes in 2024, Jen Psaki wants you to know that some Republicans are out there “getting it right.” Yes, apparently, there are GOP governors that are bad enough at their jobs to garner the approval of Joe Biden.

Honestly, this might as well be a list of people not to nominate in 2024.

At this White House daily press briefing, Jen Psaki was asked who are the GOP governors who are getting it right. She ticks off Govs.:

∙ Hogan (could run in 2024),

∙ Hutchison (could run in 2024 too!)

∙ Baker (unlikely but has polled as most popular gov in America)

— Daniel Strauss (@DanielStrauss4) August 6, 2021

When I first saw this, my response was to laugh out loud.

Let’s first note that Charlie Baker is governor of a state with the 3rd highest COVID death rate in the nation. By the numbers, he’s clearly not “getting it right.” I realize this is Massachusetts we are talking about, so the term “Republican” is applied pretty loosely to Baker, but even still, he’s managed to embrace Democrat policies like lockdowns and mask mandates to little or no effect. By what metric has he done a better job than DeSantis or Greg Abbott, for example?

Then there’s Asa Hutchinson, whose spine has compressed into dust over the last few years. This is the same guy who claimed it was government overreach to stop the chemical castration of children but he’s now lamenting that he can’t reimpose a mask mandate. How’s that for consistency? There’s a reason Psaki praised him.

By the numbers, Hutchinson’s state of Arkansas is 15th in the nation in COVID death rate, ten spots higher than much-maligned Florida. So again, how is he “getting it right?” Because he’s willing to virtue signal over ineffective mask mandates? Is that really the bar now for succeeding against COVID?

Finally, last and definitely least, there’s Larry Hogan of Maryland. The anti-Trump figure has spent the better part of the last several years demonstrating exactly how to not be a good Republican. But once COVID hit, he really upped his game, embracing lockdowns and mask mandates longer than many Democrat-run states. Right now, it’s still not clear all of Maryland’s schools will be open this year. Never mind that Baltimore has descended into a level of chaos that would make Afghanistan blush during Hogan’s tenure.

With that said, at least Hogan’s state does have a death rate below Florida’s, if only slightly (163 vs. 182 per 100,000). I suppose that’s got to count for something, but when you consider how much Marylanders have suffered to garner nearly the same results, obviously Florida’s model was better.

I know it’s a long way off, but I’m partially looking forward to 2024 just to see these establishment figures get rejected. If you’ve got Jen Psaki singing your praises, you are doing something wrong. That should be obvious. In a healthier Republican Party, Hogan, Hutchinson, and Baker would be defending DeSantis instead of being pawns to be used by the White House to attack him. That they’ve remained quiet shows just how much delusion they are operating under to believe they have a future in the GOP outside of their current positions.