Widmore never disliked Desmond by Sweetpea2720

I think earlier in the series they tried to portray Widmore as a man that clearly thought that Desmond wasn't good enouph for his daughter but I think he was just trying to protect his daughter from heartbreak. I think he always knew that Desmond was destined for what I believe are great things.

I don't think he encouraged Desmond to go on the sailing race to get him away from Penny but to get him on the Island to be the one who didn't push the button on time to get the candidates on the island.

If Widmore really hated Desmond purely because he wasn't good enouph he had plenty of opportunity to kill him himself or even to have someone else kill him.

I'm not sure he knew that Desmond would leave the island or knew how determined Penny was but once Desmond did it seemed that Widmore had somewhat accepted their relationship and just wanted them all to be okay while obviously still planning on how he would get Desmond back on the island.

I'm pretty baffled as to how Desmond will defeat the man in black, I wonder if he can still see the future and widmore will use that to his advantage but I believe there is something even more special about Desmond and he will do something much greater than see the future.