DeSantis Is No ‘Golden Boy’

Posted on by under education, Election 2022, Election 2024, History, Law and justice, Political commentary, Racism & Bigotry, Social commentary

It seems that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is on the path to becoming the Republican Party’s next ‘golden boy’, now that the former guy has perhaps placed the final straw on the camel’s back with multiple losses in the mid-terms and then his meeting with the ignoble white supremacist Nazi, Nick Fuentes.  But make no mistake … DeSantis is not worthy, perhaps no more so than the former guy.  One of my favourite columnists, Frank Bruni, tells us why.

He’ll be sold as a paragon of reason. Don’t buy it.

By Frank Bruni

01 December 2022

Elon Musk is a geyser of gibberish, so it’s important not to make too much of anything he says. But a recent Twitter thread of his deserved the attention it got, if not for the specific detail on which most journalists focused.

They led with Musk’s statement that he would support a Ron DeSantis candidacy for the presidency in 2024. That obviously disses one Donald Trump, though it should come as no surprise: Magnates like Musk typically cling to the moment’s shiniest toys, and DeSantis, fresh off his re-election, is a curiously gleaming action figure.

But how Musk framed his attraction to the Florida governor was revealing — and troubling. He expressed a desire for a candidate who’s “sensible and centrist,” implying that DeSantis is both.

In what universe? He’s “sensible and centrist” only by the warped yardsticks of Trump, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Kari Lake and the like. But those yardsticks will be used frequently as various Republicans join the 2024 fray. And therein lies real danger.

Trump’s challengers will be defined in relation to him, casting them in a deceptively flattering light. They’ll be deemed steady because he’s not, on the ball because he’s out to lunch, enlightened because they don’t sup with Holocaust deniers. They’ll be realists to his fantasist, institutionalists to his nihilist, preservationists to his arsonist.

None of those descriptions will be true. Some will be persuasive nonetheless.

That dynamic is already doing wonders for DeSantis as he flies high over a very low bar. “Look!” say Republicans eager to take back the White House. “It’s Superman!” Hardly. But his promoters are hoping that the shadow of Trump produces such an optical illusion.

“Plenty of Americans across the partisan divide would have good reason to root for him,” Jim Geraghty, the senior political correspondent for the conservative journal National Review, wrote in a recent essay in The Washington Post that praised DeSantis. Parts of it made DeSantis sound consensus-minded, conciliatory. That’s some trick.

Geraghty added: “Given the bizarre state of American politics during the Trump era, DeSantis would represent a return to normality.” The “given” in that sentence is working overtime, and “normality” fits DeSantis about as well as “sensible” and “centrist” do.

It is not normal to release a campaign ad, as DeSantis did last month, that explicitly identifies you as someone created and commanded by God to pursue the precise political agenda that you’re pursuing. Better words for that include “messianic,” “megalomaniacal” and “delusional.”

It is not sensible to open a new state office devoted to election crimes when there is scant evidence of any need for it. That is called “pandering.” It is also known as a “stunt.”

It is not centrist to have a key aide who tweeted that anyone who opposed the “Don’t Say Gay” education law in Florida was “probably a groomer or at least you don’t denounce the grooming of 4-8 year old children.” Those were the words of Christina Pushaw, who was then DeSantis’s press secretary and “transformed the governor’s state messaging office into a hyperpartisan extension of his political efforts,” as Matt Dixon noted in Politico, adding that she “used the position to regularly pick public fights with reporters on social media, amplify right-wing media outlets and conservative personalities and attack individuals who oppose or challenge DeSantis.”

DeSantis’s response to her derisive and divisive antics? He made her the “rapid response director” for his re-election campaign. Because that’s the normal, sensible, centrist thing to do.

DeSantis used his power as governor to punish Disney for daring to dissent from his political views. He used migrants as political pawns and sent two planes full of them to Martha’s Vineyard. He pushed for an extreme gerrymander in Florida that marginalized minority voters. He’s a darling of the National Rifle Association.

And the signature line from his stump speech is that Florida is “where woke goes to die.” I’m with him on the destructiveness of peak wokeness, but base-camp wokeness has some lessons and virtues, which a sensible centrist might acknowledge and reflect on. Can’t Florida be where woke goes to decompress in the sun and surf and re-emerge in more relaxed form?

DeSantis himself might currently reject the labels that Musk gave him: It’s the right-wing-warrior side that promises to propel him most forcefully through the primaries, should he enter them. But he or any nominee not named Trump would likely segue to the general election by flashing shades of moderation.

In DeSantis’s case, there’d be chatter galore about his 19-point re-election victory as proof of his appeal’s breadth. But another Republican, Senator Marco Rubio, won re-election in Florida by sixteen points, suggesting that forces beyond DeSantis’s dubiously pan-partisan magnetism were in play. And Florida is redder than it used to be.

The extremists and conspiracists so prevalent in today’s Republican Party have distorted the frame for everyone else, permitting the peddling of DeSantis as some paragon of reason. Be savvier than Musk. Don’t buy it.

23 thoughts on “DeSantis Is No ‘Golden Boy’”

    • I don’t think that with their current ‘leadership’ they will. I think the party needs to be dismantled and rebuilt from the ground up, but that will only happen once they finally hit rock bottom. I thought Trump would be the thing that caused them to take a step back and realize they have a problem, but … nope. Not happening. Sigh.

      Liked by 2 people

  3. I’ve been appalled for a while by both DeSantis and the people who claim to be rational and find him acceptable, even wonderful. I’m encouraged, though, by two recent wise commentators who have pointed out his inadequacies as a politician. He’s abrasive, has no sense of humor, and is anything but fast on his feet. Mark Leibovich wrote an Atlantic piece titled “Just Wait Until You Get to Know Ron DeSantis” that includes this fun line: “He would launch any charm offensive unarmed.” Norm Ornstein pointed out how terribly DeSantis did in his debates against Charlie Crist. To Ornstein, the greater threat is that the Republicans push Virginia Governor Youngkin, whose appeals to the crazies have been subtle but dreadfully effective. He looks reasonable, but he’s scary as can be. I think Ornstein may be on to something. And Florida is an entity of its own; the fact he won there doesn’t mean he’s a winner.

    Like

  5. Jill, citizens of Florida deserve better governance than they are getting from this elected official. My former state is surrounded on three sides by water, the city of Miami is the most at risk city to climate change in the world, and hurricanes pummel the state, yet the focus is telling people what they can read, who they can love and what teachers can teach. The focus is telling people they cannot vote. The focus is to throw a hissy fit at corporations who don’t kowtow to the governor’s wishes. The governor’s antics long preceded his election to this seat. In my view, with him and the states’ two Senators, Florida is poorly led. I had much higher hopes from Marco Rubio until he decided to stop being the future of the party and be just like the MAGA fans. I never had such hopes for Rick Scott whose history should be more widely known to voters. Keith

    Liked by 1 person

    • Agreed on all counts, and Rick Scott is every bit as bad as DeSantis. Rick Scott ought to be in prison for his role in one of the largest healthcare frauds in U.S. history! The GOP seems to favour con artists and criminals, doesn’t it? Grrrrrrrrr.

      Like

    • It is fascinating and I might find it humorous if it were happening elsewhere, but … sigh. I do NOT wish to live in a nation where by law one must be of one religion or another … in fact, I do not want religion comingling with government at all! I think, though, that I am in the minority on this. Sigh. Yes, sheeple they are … far too many of them.

      Liked by 1 person

    • I’m betting there are plenty of church leaders who would be happy to proclaim that DeSantis is not god’s choice, and I’m surprised a number of them didn’t call him out over that advertisement his wife posted! It might change some of the Christian’s minds about him, but a lot are sheeple, following blindly and doing as they are told.
      Cwtch

      Liked by 1 person

Comments are closed.