Florida’s governor is growing to be the favorite for the 2024 US presidency. He’s the Republicans’ new darling: young, combative, conservative, quick-witted, power-conscious. Trump’s former favorite could become a political parricide.
Donald Trump is having a disastrous summer. His hopes of a comeback as US President in 2024 are fading. The polls are falling, partly because the investigative committee into the storming of the US Capitol unearths new evidence every week that paints the picture of Trump as a nefarious putschist. One Republican politician after another is distancing themselves, including conservative donors and journalists close to Trump. Even the “New York Post” and the “Wall Street Journal” – both newspapers are owned by Rupert Murdoch and have long supported Trump – scold Trump as “unworthy” of being president again.
(Democratic) committee chair Bennie Thompson sums up Trump’s guilt: “There can be no doubt that he ordered a mob – a mob he knew to be heavily armed, violent and angry – towards the Capitol march and try to prevent the peaceful transfer of power”. And further. “He lied. He bullied. He betrayed his oath. He tried to destroy our democratic institutions.”
But there is another reason for Trump’s decreasing chances of a comeback: Conservatives suddenly have an alternative in terms of personnel. Florida Gov. Ron(ald) DeSantis is becoming more visible every month as the new Republican darling. Just as eloquent as Trump, just as right-wing as Trump, just as power-conscious and fearless as Trump – only much younger and more professional. DeSantis is, it can be read, “Like Trump, only with intelligence”, “Like Trump, only with character”, “Like Trump, only serious”. Even the liberal “New Yorker” judges: “While Trump conveys a fundamental lack of seriousness with his lazy, circus-like personality, DeSantis has a strong work ethic, impressive intelligence and a comprehensive understanding of politics. He is articulate, quick on his feet – a Trump with brains.” The “New York Post” issues the slogan: Ronald instead of Donald.
DeSantis’ right-wing populist reputation stems primarily from its pandemic policy. The governor loudly resisted state contact bans such as lockdowns. He stylized himself as a freedom fighter against masks and denounced alleged outrages on a daily basis that a left-wing policy of prohibition and paternalism produced. When he also positioned himself loudly against the wokenes and gender fads and enthusiastically accepted every Kulturkampf, he became a complete folk hero of the right-wing masses.
For a long time, DeSantis moved unerringly in Trump’s wake: he presented himself as a loyal supporter of the president and relied on Trump’s issues – be it the rejection of corona measures or the building of a wall on the border with Mexico. Trump, for his part, supported DeSantis in the 2018 election campaign for the governorship in Florida and recommended the 43-year-old to his supporters. According to the New York Times, the ex-president sees himself as DeSantis’ foster father and claimed to have made DeSantis big in the first place. He’s reacted correspondingly offended to the competition from the Sunshine State recently. Trump recently appeared in Florida without mentioning DeSantis, who himself stayed away from the event.
National Review editor-in-chief Rich Lowry writes in an op-ed for The New York Times that DeSantis “embodies the new Republican party.” DeSantis is only 43 years old, his family is of Italian descent, Catholic, a climber who has developed a picture-book career: degrees from Yale (undergraduate) and Harvard (law), captain of the Yale baseball team, career as a Navy lawyer , military service in Iraq, several medals, including the “Bronze Star”, married to a well-known TV journalist and father of three.
Star TV host Piers Morgan comes to the following verdict: “I think that DeSantis would destroy the ailing Joe Biden – or any other Democrat – politically and become president. There is only one hurdle. He has to destroy Donald Trump first.” In fact, the lower poll numbers fall for Trump, the higher they rise for DeSantis. DeSantis is now even beating Trump in his domain: fundraising. DeSantis has raised an amazing $100 million for itself. And that is precisely in the state where Trump has so far been able to mobilize rich patrons from his golf club property Mar-a-Lago.
Unlike Trump, DeSantis didn’t have rich parents, he’s not a real estate tycoon, not even the small-talk type. Ex-classmates describe him as a stubborn, ambitious loner, “the opposite of a social butterfly.” He is extremely focused and goal oriented. Now his goal is to make “Ronald instead of Donald” part of the program. At a recent campaign rally in Florida, he called out to the crowd, “There is no substitute for courage in times like these. We need people across the country ready to put on the full armor of God.” As the crowd erupted in cheers, he vowed, “The fight has only just begun.” Trump, who once promoted him, will have to prepare himself for political patricide.
(This article was first published on Tuesday, July 26, 2022.)
