(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Anna Marie Cox's TNR Article on the OVERRATED Ron DeSanties. [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-03-13 Ana Marie Cox has a brutal article up on Florida Governor Ron DeSantis being grossly overrated by the media with regards to his strength as a Republican presidential candidate. In the article, there are examples of DeSantis being the anti-charismatic man (and if you want, there is Hunter’s diary as a shining example of what a train wreck DeSantis is) from other sources, but my opinion is that the media is wedded to its narrative that DeSantis is the greatest thing since sliced bread. Essentially, the media is ignoring the growing mold on DeSantis. Despite the obvious green on DeSantis, I want to highlight the lie that DeSantis is a political titan in Florida because he is such a foe of “wokeism.” DeSantis and Republicans hold political sway in Florida because of voter intimidation and supression of POC and Democratic voters. DeSantis and his evangelists have depicted the governor as a man with momentum, harping on how he widened his margin of victory between 2018 and 2022, from a hairsbreadth of a half percent against Andrew Gillum to almost 20 points against Charlie Crist. Leaving aside the fact that running against Crist is about as close as you can come to running unopposed with there still being another name on the ballot, let’s remember the other massive shift between the two cycles: Voter turnout went from 63 percent in 2018—including record-high midterm participation from minorities and young people—to 54 percent in 2020, with turnout for Democrats specifically dipping 20 points, according to the Florida Public Opinion Research Lab. In fact, DeSantis may owe his success more to finger-on-the-scale electoral skullduggery than to any innate political instincts or personal charm. Florida’s more diverse 2018 electorate had approved a ballot measure that restored voting rights to previously incarcerated people. DeSantis and the legislature engineered a series of red tape hurdles for those people and then gleefully ordered a spree of arrests for voter fraud, often wrapping up people who had no idea they’d violated the law. This had the intended effect: As one Florida resident told the Palm Beach Daily News: “I’d be scared to go vote,” he said, “and I don’t know if I would or not. I don’t want to get into any trouble.” This does not get much play in the national media. Joy Reid of MSNBC brought up that 1.3 million voters went missing from the 2022 Florida midterms. Think of that. DeSantis was able to scare a bunch of black voters and others from going to the polls because they might be arrested for voter fraud. This is something right out of the old segregationist playbook in the South. But DeSantis and his supporters in the media portray the midterm election results in Florida as Republican policies being strongly supported in the Sunshine State. Here is more on that point: If you are reading this, you probably already know that the conventional wisdom about DeSantis’s strength as a contender against Donald Trump for the GOP nomination has started to congeal: DeSantis has turned Florida into a laboratory experiment, fighting—as he puts it—“the woke mind virus.” His showy battles with reporters, teachers, and even the Disney corporation over Covid policies and educational standards provide him with a résumé of recent real-world victories in the culture war that an ousted Trump lacks. Sure, the thinking goes, Trump’s presidency set the stage for a Republican nomination contest that looks to hinge on banning drag brunches and books, but Trump has been stuck in the wings squeezing out Truth Social posts for the past three years, while DeSantis’s stunts took Fox News’s center stage. Look at Ron go! He’s Trump “without the baggage.” He’s Trump “with a less crass delivery.” He’s “someone who gets them [Republicans] out of having to defend Trump.” He’s “Trump with brains” or, more modestly, “Trump with a brain.”… And this is where we get the “Let’s turn America into Florida” bit from DeSantis. And because he won in a “landslide” in the last election, Floridians must LOVE all of his policies. Therefore, DeSantis has found the magic to winning in 2024. Popular Trumpism without Trump! And like Stuart Stevens, Rick Wilson, and Matt Dowd, Cox pops that magical thinking bubble. It’s a great argument if you think that today’s Republican voter—which is to say, a Trump voter—thinks that there’s anything wrong with Trump just how he is. You think they want a day off from defending Trump? Defending Trump is the entire GOP brand. Republicans sort both one another and their news (“news”) sources through a prism of Trumpiness. And as for DeSantis being the “smart Trump,” well, I’m not sure there’s anyone in the GOP base who actually asked for such a thing. I’ve harped on this before. Only about 15% of the Republican voter base on a good day is even remotely “anti-Trump.” Why the fuck they are all still Republicans, I do not really know, except it must be tribalism. The rest of the GOP voter base is either hard core Trump fans (would leave the GOP to vote for Trump as an indepedent) or love Trumpism (might think or day dream about Trump being not so over the top, but the feeling fades when it comes time to vote). But Cox sums it up as the Republican voter is a Trump voter. When given the real deal, why switch? Anyway, I wanted to highlight that the DeSantis myth is based upon thuggery at the ballot box. And once DeSantis is outside of the Florida in Republican primaries, he won’t be able to rig the results. And the rubber won’t be the only thing hitting the road. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/3/13/2157879/-Anna-Marie-Cox-s-TNR-Article-on-the-OVERRATED-Ron-DeSanties Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/