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Opinion Ron DeSantis is finding a new path to right-wing stardom

cigaretteman

HR King
May 29, 2001
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The biggest surprise in Monday night’s debate between Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and his Democratic challenger Charlie Crist might have been that DeSantis was unprepared to answer an obvious question: whether he’ll promise to complete his four-year term if he’s reelected.

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DeSantis not only dodged the question, he had no witty riposte or clever one-liner to offer in response, suggesting he didn’t think one was needed, despite the fact that his eventual presidential run seems inevitable.

DeSantis’s trajectory toward a presidential bid reveals something beyond his own personality, or even the internal dynamics of the GOP: The way we think about governors of both parties running for president has changed.

For decades, conventional wisdom held that governors made the strongest presidential candidates. They could be untainted by whatever people didn’t like about Washington, and their jobs made them plausible in the Oval Office: Like presidents, governors deal with legislatures, they make decisions, they can be judged on results, and they’re the most important figures in their capitals.





Senators, on the other hand, mostly give speeches, which is one reason that relatively few of them get elected president unless they’ve worked in some other executive position. Only three in all of American history — Warren G. Harding, John F. Kennedy and Barack Obama — went straight from the Senate to the White House.

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But that’s not all governors have had to offer in the past. For many years, governors running for president made the argument, “Things are going great in my state, and it’s because I’ve brought people together, no matter their party, to solve problems and get things done.”

That was George W. Bush’s message in 2000; he was “a different kind of Republican,” he would say again and again, touting his work with Democrats in Texas. In 1992, Bill Clinton said he was “a new kind of Democrat,” more moderate than what voters were familiar with. Even Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter could tout accomplishments that transcended party.


The harbinger of change might have been Mitt Romney, who had been a governor in the traditional mold: a Republican in a liberal state who found success with moderate views and bipartisan achievements, most notably a health-insurance reform plan that would eventually provide a model for the Affordable Care Act. But when he ran for president, Romney had to disavow much of his record as a governor (especially that health-care plan).
Nevertheless, he got his party’s nomination on his second try. Today a few GOP governors still resemble what Romney was then, including Larry Hogan in Maryland, Chris Sununu in New Hampshire and Charlie Baker in Massachusetts.

But here’s what’s different: None of them could win the Republican presidential nomination. And it’s not just because they’re more moderate than someone such as DeSantis on the issues. It’s also because their success at state governing has made them anathema to the party base.


The way DeSantis became a national figure shows why. Why has he become the most frequently mentioned presidential contender? It’s not because his state has done so well, or even because he has staked out far-right positions; as conservative as he is, he’s hardly an outlier in the party.
It’s because he has been more aggressive than any other governor in using state power to punish the right’s enemies, staging high-profile fights that target immigrants, LGBTQ Floridians and companies such as Disney. That’s what thrills the GOP base, and what they now want to see from any governor.

DeSantis also has a media strategy aimed at conservatives. Early in his term, he became a fixture on Fox News, as the network promoted him as the next Republican star. Records obtained by the Tampa Bay Times show that the network asked DeSantis to appear 113 times from the week of the 2020 election through February 2021 — almost daily. This turned him into a star on the right and convinced mainstream media that he’s worth watching, even as he treats reporters with hostility and contempt.






On the other side, the governors Democrats most often mention as potential presidents are Gavin Newsom of California and Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan. Newsom has gone out of his way to start fights with Republicans in other states. Whitmer has been embroiled in intense controversies with her own state’s Republicans over abortion and other issues. In contrast, Democratic governors who run red states, including Laura Kelly in Kansas, Andy Beshear in Kentucky and John Bel Edwards in Louisiana, have garnered little national attention.
If anything, governors might now need to become more partisan if they want to run for president. The days of the “different kind” of Republican or Democrat, touting bipartisan success at the state level, are behind us.

 
By Jennifer Rubin

Columnist |
October 26, 2022 a

If pundit-picked GOP front-runners performed as expected, former Wisconsin governor Scott Walker or former Florida governor Jeb Bush would have been the 2016 nominee. What makes for an electable governor in a red state doesn’t always make someone a viable presidential candidate. Candidates have to be appealing, lively, dynamic and adept at deflecting criticism. And that brings us to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), whose debate performance on Monday suggests that his advance billing as the top 2024 alternative to former president Donald Trump might be exaggerated.


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National reporters who cover developments in Florida have not necessarily spent much time actually watching or listening to DeSantis. If his plays for the base (Retaliate against Disney!) seem daring or clever to those used to MAGA pandering, observers might be surprised by his personal presentation: Sullen, moody and dull doesn’t scream “Presidential material!”
When confronted with the most obvious question from his opponent, former governor Charlie Crist, as to whether he would serve the full four years if he is reelected, he stared stiffly into space. All DeSantis could muster when it was his turn was an off-key insult (“The only worn-out old donkey I’m looking to put out to pasture is Charlie Crist.”). Crist casually brushed him off: “You won’t even say if you want to be the governor of Florida after this election.”







This does not mean Florida voters care about such things, nor does it mean in the increasingly red state that DeSantis (solidly ahead in the polls) won’t win. But watching the debate, Republicans could be forgiven for asking, “This is the guy who’s supposed to take down Trump and win back the White House?"

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As with many MAGA politicians, DeSantis has grown accustomed to hiding from tough questions and enjoying the cushy coverage afforded by a docile right-wing media. He routinely excludes the press from events. As a result, he has not learned to deflect difficult questions with aplomb.
In the debate, he seemed not to have thought through responses to weaknesses his opponent was sure to exploit, such as passing the buck to local officials regarding his failure to order evacuations before the recent monster hurricane. He was easily tripped up when bragging about his record on the coronavirus (which has killed more than 82,000 Floridians). His anti-business assaults on the cruise industry and on Disney were easy targets for a centrist Democrat like Crist.











And when it came to abortion, DeSantis seemed oblivious to the world of facts and public opinion that exists outside the MAGA universe. Reciting tired and blatantly false talking points about abortion up to the moment of birth (which, as the New York Times notes, “doesn’t exist, even in states without gestational limits”), critical race theory (which he insists is teaching children to “hate” America) and gender-affirming care (falsely suggesting that young children will be candidates for surgery) might fly at a Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) rally. But such hackery doesn’t work so well on the national stage. Nothing in his debate performance suggested the ability to project a positive, widely appealing national message that can survive even a modicum of fact-checking.
A certain tone-deafness (see the ad prompting an uncomfortable comparison to Michael Dukakis’s infamous helmeted appearance in a tank) seems to afflict DeSantis. And while such missteps do not spell defeat for an incumbent governor in a red state, they do suggest he might be an easy target (as Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio was in 2016) for more aggressive GOP competitors.
GOP donors and insiders have noticed he is “missing the sociability gene,” as Vanity Fair reported. “People describe DeSantis’s personality as a mix of extreme arrogance and painful awkwardness.” And apparently those who know him the best like him the least:
DeSantis’s offices have earned a reputation as very unhappy places to work. “When you work for Ron, he makes you feel like you’re just lucky to be there,” a former gubernatorial aide said. “I once had to drive him to the airport. We got stuck in traffic for an hour, and he didn’t say a word,” a former congressional staffer told me. “I describe him as having the personality of a piece of paper.” Last year, Politico reported ex-DeSantis staffers had formed a “support group” to commiserate over their bruising experiences. “He’s a terrible bully,” a past adviser said.
None of this is fatal to presidential ambitions. Lots of politicians are jerks. But missing charisma, a winning personality and verbal acuity might make a presidential campaign tough going for DeSantis. The qualifications that intrigue horserace reporters just won’t necessarily help him in the bright lights of primary politics. Just ask President Marco Rubio or President Scott Walker.

 
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