A very lengthy piece in the New York Times Magazine, allegedly compiled from 100 interviews, asks if Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is the future of the Republican Party, using a graphic of DeSantis’ face taped over Donald Trump’s to make the point clear. We were wondering when this was coming — with the walls closing in on Donald Trump, DeSantis could very well be the Republican Party’s 2024 nominee for president, so it’s important to get the hit pieces rolling now.
“With his early bet on reopening & his concede-nothing posture, DeSantis has plainly won the political argument on Covid. The economic advantages and day-to-day freedoms of his hands-off approach were undeniable“ -NYT Mag provides unexpected campaign ad https://t.co/kpJBtRliiz
— Kyle Smith (@rkylesmith) September 17, 2022
So, what distinguishes DeSantis?
Yet what distinguishes DeSantis, elevating him for now above the Cruzes and Cottons and Mikes Pompeo and Pence, is a central insight into where the party is and where it is headed. If a DeSantis campaign would be a referendum on which parts of Trumpism voters value most — the burn-it-all fury at elites? The perpetual grievances? The blunt-force magnetism of Trump himself? — DeSantis’s read is that the signal trait worth emulating, and then heightening, is more elemental. It is about projecting the political fearlessness to crush adversaries with administrative precision.
Kyle Smith has picked one pull quote from Florida Democratic megadonor John Morgan, who has decided that America is full of unruly children.
LOL at his critics –
“I’ve decided that America is full of people with oppositional defiance disorder that you find in some unruly children,” Morgan told me. “DeSantis’s base has a lot of it: Don’t. Tell. Me. What. To. Do.”— Kyle Smith (@rkylesmith) September 17, 2022
And?
If you don’t like being told what to do you’re a toddler. Or, y’know, an American.
— Kyle Smith (@rkylesmith) September 17, 2022
God knows, societies built around people giving orders and other people being too scared to disobey are really the ideal ones
— Kyle Smith (@rkylesmith) September 17, 2022
Cc @DavidAFrench sorry buddy. Your boy Gavin might not be as popular nationwide as you think.
— Ben Wiele (@WieleBC) September 17, 2022
A Republican with balls. Go figure.
— DeSantis 2024 (@RHTiger1992) September 17, 2022
I’d be more willing to do what I was told if it was in any way correct or beneficial. When the experts are wrong about everything, I take what they say with a grain of salt or in some cases outright do the opposite.
— Diet Dr. Prepper (@rh0023) September 17, 2022
Has this writer ever met Americans?
— Shawn, Tired Dad (@Shawn_on_Games) September 17, 2022
This writer wants Americans to be more like Europeans. These guys always forget why we decided to stop being a colony and wrote our own rules. OK, they don't forget. They don't like it.
— SCA (@redfoliot) September 17, 2022
America was founded on Don't. Tell. Me. What. To. Do. underlined with gunfire.
— Tom in FL (@thomasa56) September 17, 2022
"oppositional defiance disorder"
there's a more appropriate phrase that comes to mind pic.twitter.com/VZOXx6TSmA— Robert Luther (@RobertLutherFL) September 17, 2022
The other side must posses just the right amount of "Tell me what to do"
— Better Dan Yew (@BrandonLetUsGo) September 17, 2022
Exactly. The president is like your dad and you do what your dad tells you to do because he’s your dad.
***
Related:
Rob Reiner says we’re ‘getting a taste of what Autocracy is like’ with DeSantis exposing lib hypocrisy & Trump having rights https://t.co/KpMY1cYuXb
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) September 16, 2022
Join the conversation as a VIP Member