If Ron DeSantis does end up challenging Donald Trump for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, the media will be awash in attempts to explain who he “really” is. Is he an incipient authoritarian, or is he really just a typical Republican?
In my view, he can be either — depending on what’s in his interest at the time.
Looking back through DeSantis’s career in elected politics, the main through line isn’t 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.
All politicians pander to the prevailing mood to some extent. But what sets DeSantis apart is the number of makeovers he’s had in just over a decade in politics — and how successful each has been in advancing his ambitions.
Being a Tea Party conservative got him into Congress. Becoming a staunch Trump defender got him the Republican nomination for Florida’s governorship. Being a pragmatist who avoided national controversies helped boost his approval rating early in his governorship. Now, his latest reinvention as an “anti-wokeness” 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.
Some on the right like to mock what they see as liberals’ tendency to champion “The Current Thing” — falling in lockstep behind a new cause suddenly in vogue in the media or among their peers. DeSantis has made supporting the right’s version of The Current Thing the core of his political strategy, and it has paid off immensely. (Asked for comment, DeSantis press secretary Bryan Griffin said, “Vox is not a serious or objective publication,” and that this amounted to “dressing up wild leftist talking points as truthful analysis and reporting.”)
The problem with shifting so often and so…
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