{"id":10280,"date":"2023-03-26T02:23:23","date_gmt":"2023-03-26T02:23:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lonecandle.com\/?p=10280"},"modified":"2023-03-26T02:23:23","modified_gmt":"2023-03-26T02:23:23","slug":"the-many-reinventions-of-ron-desantis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/?p=10280","title":{"rendered":"The many reinventions of Ron DeSantis"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\n\n“Looking back through DeSantis\u2019s career in elected politics, the main through line isn\u2019t policy principle or ideological fealty, but rather apparent opportunism. In just over a decade, his persona has undergone a series of quite calculated shifts based on what DeSantis evidently felt could help him climb the next rung.”
…
“Being a Tea Party conservative got him into Congress. Becoming a staunch Trump defender got him the Republican nomination for Florida\u2019s governorship. Being a pragmatist who avoided national controversies helped boost his approval rating early in his governorship. Now, his latest reinvention as an \u201canti-wokeness\u201d culture warrior has helped make him the leading alternative to Trump in polls of national Republican primary voters. Each shift was optimized for his next political objective.”
…
“During those Tea Party years, defining yourself as a conservative champion meant pushing for cuts to government spending, so DeSantis embraced that cause, saying he wanted to partially privatize<\/a> Medicare and Social Security. He won the House seat and followed through on his commitments once in Congress, supporting the effort to shut down the government<\/a> (in an attempt to defund Obamacare) in 2013 and becoming a co-founder<\/a> of the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus in 2015.”
…
“Once President Trump was in office, DeSantis saw a new path for advancement: becoming one of Trump\u2019s biggest congressional defenders. In August 2017, he started a push to defund<\/a> special counsel Robert Mueller\u2019s investigation into the Trump campaign\u2019s Russia ties, and he grilled Justice Department officials<\/a> over whether the probe was politically biased. He then got to ride with Trump on Air Force One<\/a>, where, according to reports<\/a>, Trump pledged support for his bid for Florida\u2019s open governorship, saying, \u201cYou\u2019re my guy.\u201d A presidential endorsement came by tweet<\/a> in December 2017.
Still, DeSantis remained locked in a tight race with Adam Putnam, a better-known candidate tied to the state\u2019s traditional GOP establishment. So he hugged Trump ever tighter, to the point of absurdity, with an ad<\/a> showing him \u201cbuilding the wall\u201d of blocks with his daughter and reading The Art of the Deal<\/em> to his baby (\u201cThen Mr. Trump said, \u2018You\u2019re fired.\u2019 I love that part\u201d).
It worked: DeSantis won the primary by 20 points.”
…
“DeSantis recalibrated again when he took office as governor in 2019, and spent much of his first year winning praise for his approach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Initially, DeSantis \u201cseemed determined to govern from the center on the environment, education, marijuana, criminal justice and public accountability,\u201d and he won \u201cunexpected praise from both the right and the left for his efforts,\u201d Andrew Romano later wrote for Yahoo News<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 DeSantis focused on clean water<\/a>. He posthumously pardoned the Groveland Four<\/a> (four Black men who had been accused of rape in 1949 but are now believed to have been innocent). He pushed to raise teacher salaries<\/a>. He appointed some Democrats<\/a> to his administration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s not that he fully abandoned the right. He still, for instance, signed a bill<\/a> letting teachers carry guns in school and banned Florida cities<\/a> from protecting some unauthorized immigrants from deportation. But he stayed off Fox News, in what the Tampa Bay Times reported<\/a> was a concerted strategy \u201cto avoid questions that could suck him into polarizing partisan battles.\u201d”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“What came next turned out to be the Covid-19 pandemic and soaring conservative interest in culture-war issues, and these spurred DeSantis to abandon his conciliatory style and adopt his current persona.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The memory of DeSantis being a middle-of-the-road governor who avoided hot-button cultural issues seems like a distant dream because, in the past couple of years, he\u2019s deliberately leaned into one national controversy after another, focusing particularly on denouncing \u201cwokeness.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe woke is the new religion of the left,\u201d DeSantis said<\/a> at the Conservative Political Action Conference last year. \u201cAnd the problem that we face as conservatives is a lot of major institutions in our country have become infected with this woke virus.\u201d”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“he signed legislation or took executive action on all these topics. He banned trans athletes<\/a> from playing girls\u2019 or women\u2019s sports. He signed a bill, denounced as the \u201cDon\u2019t Say Gay\u201d law<\/a>, to ban classroom instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity for students in third grade and below, and then took aim at business benefits<\/a> for Disney”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“He signed an \u201canti-rioting<\/a>\u201d law that critics said could chill peaceful protest. He had migrants flown to Martha\u2019s Vineyard, Massachusetts<\/a>. He required<\/a> all books in Florida school libraries be checked for inappropriate content. He signed a law that would fine<\/a> social media companies for banning candidates for office from their platforms. He appointed conservative ideologues to overhaul<\/a> a small, progressive state college, and ordered<\/a> the end of diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives at others.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Political pragmatism and opportunism can be good traits if they align the politician\u2019s incentives with simply doing a good job for the country. But they can also be quite dangerous if the politician is willing to throw anyone under the bus to advance himself politically \u2014 for instance, by demagoguing marginalized groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DeSantis\u2019s views may be less authentic than other politicians\u2019, but that doesn\u2019t necessarily make them less menacing to liberals. The Trumpist right remains powerful and influential, and if DeSantis continues to view their support as crucial to his success, he\u2019ll likely do whatever it takes to get and keep them on his side.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.vox.com\/politics\/23622719\/ron-desantis-2024-presidential-opportunism<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Looking back through DeSantis\u2019s career in elected politics, the main through line isn\u2019t policy principle or ideological fealty, but rather apparent opportunism. In just over a decade, his persona has undergone a series of quite calculated shifts based on what DeSantis evidently felt could help him climb the next rung.”<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“Being a Tea Party conservative got him into Congress. Becoming a staunch Trump defender got him the Republican nomination for Florida\u2019s governorship. Being a pragmatist who avoided national controversies helped boost his approval rating early in his governorship. Now, his latest reinvention as an \u201canti-wokeness\u201d culture warrior has helped make him the leading alternative to Trump in polls of national Republican primary voters. Each shift was optimized for his next political objective.”<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“During those Tea Party years, defining yourself as a conservative champion meant pushing for cuts to government spending, so DeSantis embraced that cause, saying he wanted to partially privatize Medicare and Social Security. He won the House seat and followed through on his commitments once in Congress, supporting the effort to shut down the government (in an attempt to defund Obamacare) in 2013 and becoming a co-founder of the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus in 2015.”<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“Once President Trump was in office, DeSantis saw a new path for advancement: becoming one of Trump\u2019s biggest congressional defenders. In August 2017, he started a push to defund special counsel Robert Mueller\u2019s investigation into the Trump campaign\u2019s Russia ties, and he grilled Justice Department officials over whether the probe was politically biased. He then got to ride with Trump on Air Force One, where, according to reports, Trump pledged support for his bid for Florida\u2019s open governorship, saying, \u201cYou\u2019re my guy.\u201d A presidential endorsement came by tweet in December 2017.<\/p>\n

Still, DeSantis remained locked in a tight race with Adam Putnam, a better-known candidate tied to the state\u2019s traditional GOP establishment. So he hugged Trump ever tighter, to the point of absurdity, with an ad showing him \u201cbuilding the wall\u201d of blocks with his daughter and reading The Art of the Deal to his baby (\u201cThen Mr. Trump said, \u2018You\u2019re fired.\u2019 I love that part\u201d).<\/p>\n

It worked: DeSantis won the primary by 20 points.”<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“DeSantis recalibrated again when he took office as governor in 2019, and spent much of his first year winning praise for his approach.
\nInitially, DeSantis \u201cseemed determined to govern from the center on the environment, education, marijuana, criminal justice and public accountability,\u201d and he won \u201cunexpected praise from both the right and the left for his efforts,\u201d Andrew Romano later wrote for Yahoo News.<\/p>\n

DeSantis focused on clean water. He posthumously pardoned the Groveland Four (four Black men who had been accused of rape in 1949 but are now believed to have been innocent). He pushed to raise teacher salaries. He appointed some Democrats to his administration.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not that he fully abandoned the right. He still, for instance, signed a bill letting teachers carry guns in school and banned Florida cities from protecting some unauthorized immigrants from deportation. But he stayed off Fox News, in what the Tampa Bay Times reported was a concerted strategy \u201cto avoid questions that could suck him into polarizing partisan battles.\u201d”<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“What came next turned out to be the Covid-19 pandemic and soaring conservative interest in culture-war issues, and these spurred DeSantis to abandon his conciliatory style and adopt his current persona.”<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“The memory of DeSantis being a middle-of-the-road governor who avoided hot-button cultural issues seems like a distant dream because, in the past couple of years, he\u2019s deliberately leaned into one national controversy after another, focusing particularly on denouncing \u201cwokeness.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe woke is the new religion of the left,\u201d DeSantis said at the Conservative Political Action Conference last year. \u201cAnd the problem that we face as conservatives is a lot of major institutions in our country have become infected with this woke virus.\u201d”<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“he signed legislation or took executive action on all these topics. He banned trans athletes from playing girls\u2019 or women\u2019s sports. He signed a bill, denounced as the \u201cDon\u2019t Say Gay\u201d law, to ban classroom instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity for students in third grade and below, and then took aim at business benefits for Disney”<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“He signed an \u201canti-rioting\u201d law that critics said could chill peaceful protest. He had migrants flown to Martha\u2019s Vineyard, Massachusetts. He required all books in Florida school libraries be checked for inappropriate content. He signed a law that would fine social media companies for banning candidates for office from their platforms. He appointed conservative ideologues to overhaul a small, progressive state college, and ordered the end of diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives at others.”<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“Political pragmatism and opportunism can be good traits if they align the politician\u2019s incentives with simply doing a good job for the country. But they can also be quite dangerous if the politician is willing to throw anyone under the bus to advance himself politically \u2014 for instance, by demagoguing marginalized groups.<\/p>\n

DeSantis\u2019s views may be less authentic than other politicians\u2019, but that doesn\u2019t necessarily make them less menacing to liberals. The Trumpist right remains powerful and influential, and if DeSantis continues to view their support as crucial to his success, he\u2019ll likely do whatever it takes to get and keep them on his side.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[1281,509],"class_list":["post-10280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article-share","tag-desantis","tag-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10280"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10280\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10281,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10280\/revisions\/10281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}