We don’t know about you guys, but when we’re looking for sharp, spot-on political analysis, we always turn to Rolling Stone.
We’re being facetious, of course, as Rolling Stone isn’t actually good for much these days except as birdcage liner. But every once in a while, we do like to see what they’re up to, just for giggles.
And while Asawin Suebsaeng is not himself Rolling Stone, he is a Rolling Stone senior politics reporter with a piping-hot take on Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis:
DeSantis is a perfect illustration of why certain observers (myself included) have since 2015 diagnosed that Trump is a mere symptom, the GOP is the issue. But with desantis, this isn’t even a tenuous 2012 “Romney isn’t Bush!” pitch to voters, he’s basically just the same guy!
— Asawin Suebsaeng (@swin24) July 19, 2022
“Ron DeSantis is Donald Trump!!11!” is an insanely stupid take, but it’s become increasingly popular as DeSantis’ national star has continued to rise. Wonder why that is.
DeSantis does fewer tweets (or “Truths”) about Amber Heard, fine, but if you don’t see him and what he does and see Trump & Trumpism pumping thru his veins, I don’t know what to tell you.
— Asawin Suebsaeng (@swin24) July 19, 2022
DeSantis is even ruder to children and teenagers than Trump is! Theres hilarious footage of this
— Asawin Suebsaeng (@swin24) July 19, 2022
MMMMkay, Swin … if you say so. But we’d maybe be able to muster an ounce of actual respect for you if you could just admit to why it is you’re doing this right now.
If you're claiming now that Ron DeSantis is the same as Trump, you are admitting that a whole lot of the things about Trump that you complained about – the things that genuinely appalled me – were, to you, just pretexts to oppose a Republican. https://t.co/JRcrZrGJfg
— Dan McLaughlin (@baseballcrank) July 19, 2022
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Ding, ding, ding! Dan McLaughlin has nailed it.
And that puts Asawin in the awkward position of having to double down:
Setting aside the policy, stylistic, and political similarities between the two, and how DeSantis has explicitly branded himself as a Trumpist, you’re getting your conclusion, unsurprisingly, backwards. Trump & modern conservatism were always compatible… https://t.co/6ndkdtIPWC
— Asawin Suebsaeng (@swin24) July 19, 2022
…and that is demonstrably true over the past several years. It doesn’t matter if **some** partisans would like to pretend it’s not.
— Asawin Suebsaeng (@swin24) July 19, 2022
If all that is “demonstrably true,” we’d like to see Asawin demonstrate it. Because Ron DeSantis is, in fact, not Donald Trump, nor has he “explicitly branded himself as a Trumpist.” At least not that we have or anyone serious has observed.
New Hitler just dropped https://t.co/APIduKGtU4
— GeorgeSmith (@WestMIP1) July 19, 2022
Absolutely hammering the panic button over there https://t.co/Ut4N2EUS6u
— Isaac Schorr (@isaac_schorr) July 19, 2022
Ron DeSantis scares the crap out of them, simple as that.
McLaughlin is exactly right about Suebsaeng and all the other media liberals who desperately need to set their sights on someone “worse than Trump,” who was already “worse than Hitler.” They’re so transparent, we’re not sure why they even bother trying to mask it as concern about extremism in the Republican Party. They need to just own what they’re doing already, because it’s just so obvious.
This (DeSantis, "the GOP is the issue," etc.) is just a bizarre tweet to process on a few levels not even a couple of years into the utter implosion of a Biden administration dominated by the political left, online and across other institutions more broadly. https://t.co/reszKAEQdE
— Blame Big Government (@BlameBigGovt) July 19, 2022
lmfao “desantis is worse than trump. a mega hitler. we hate republicans so much!!1!!11!!!!” https://t.co/wMA9wv8ALp
— kaitlin, by definition, a woman (@thefactualprep) July 19, 2022
the above tweet is why the below is happening.
muh trump. muh desantis is worse. focusing on identity rather than actual kitchen table issues is why people aren’t enthusiastic about voting for the big D. https://t.co/BuZSKpMunS
— kaitlin, by definition, a woman (@thefactualprep) July 19, 2022
what you’re seeing is a collapse of biden’s already weak coalition, but sure, desantis is much worse!!!1!!!!1!!!!!1!
— kaitlin, by definition, a woman (@thefactualprep) July 19, 2022
We can’t wait to see how this bold strategy pays off for them.
I'm ok with this rhetoric from the left
The more they say "DeSantis is just like Trump, just smarter, nicer, and not a womanizing creep" the more appealing DeSantis will be in a GOP primary
— PoliMath (@politicalmath) July 19, 2022
I'm all for this type of crap bc it helps DeSantis with the right. Especially if it means he pummels the attempted election stealer in the primaries. Keep it up libs. https://t.co/NHyLQUplZ0
— IncognegroNeville 🇯🇲🇺🇸 (@FormerlyCBM) July 19, 2022
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