… there’s always something
Charlie Sykes interviewed the Washington Post’s Philip Bump about Ron DeSantis on his podcast yesterday. This excerpt is from his newsletter:
Bump: I say this all the time, and I will continue to say it, the reason that Donald Trump won in 2016, is because he was the guy who was willing to say what the fringe was talking about, and that the establishment wouldn’t talk about because it was ridiculous.
He was willing to say it.
Trump was willing to be the voice of the fringe. He was willing to parrot it back to the base, what they were hearing on Breitbart, and what they’re hearing on Fox News, in a way that the establishment wouldn’t, right? And that has been his success ever since. He’s been engaging and rallying the far right of the Republican Party that didn’t feel like they had a voice, justifiably, in politics.
And that’s what DeSantis is doing as well.
He’s really playing to that same far right and he is, in the same way that Donald Trump was Breitbart to the establishments, Fox News in 2016.
Now, Breitbart is, you know, almost establishment-esque to some extent, and Ron DeSantis is Infowars, right?
I mean, so it is this constant, okay, I’m going to engage where this most fervent element of the base is, and we call that Trumpism, but it’s, you know, really just the fringe, and engaging the fringe has proven to be a successful strategy for winning elections.
And I think that’s what DeSantis is doing
As it happens, while we were talking, Bump was writing a column that elaborated on his point. You can read the whole thing here.
[DeSantis] is making a bet on beating Trump at his own game, appealing to and energizing the right-most flank of the GOP by a relentless public focus on amplifying what the fringe is talking about. Much was made of Laura Ingraham’s public skepticism about whether it was useful to bring Trump’s baggage into a 2024 presidential contest.
But for my money, the more interesting development was Alex Jones’s endorsement of DeSantis — on the grounds that DeSantis, unlike Trump, has credibly appealed to the anti-vaccine fringe.
Speaking of DeSantis and the fringe: “DeSantis knocked by Jewish leaders for rallying with Pennsylvania GOP candidate.”
Florida Democrats and Jewish leaders joined religious groups in Pennsylvania in condemning Gov. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., for his plans to appear Friday with Doug Mastriano, the Republican candidate for governor in Pennsylvania.
Mastriano’s ties to Gab, a right-wing social media site that has become a hub of anti-Semitic and racist commentary, have come under fire for the last few weeks.
Meanwhile….
The Florida governor not only suffered a legal defeat yesterday, he was also bench-slapped by the federal judge who ruled that his STOP WOKE Act was unconstitutional.
[Judge Mark] Walker said the law, as applied to diversity, inclusion and bias training in businesses, turns the First Amendment “upside down” because the state is barring speech by prohibiting discussion of certain concepts in training programs.
“If Florida truly believes we live in a post-racial society, then let it make its case,” the judge wrote. “But it cannot win the argument by muzzling its opponents.”
Is this #winning?
Aaand there’s this:
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced the first arrests made by the state’s new elections police force Thursday: Twenty people previously incarcerated for murder or sexual assault who he said had illegally voted in the 2020 election.
The GOP-led Florida legislature passed a bill creating the Office of Election Crimes and Security earlier this year at DeSantis’s behest. While the 2020 election went smoothly in Florida — DeSantis called it the “gold standard” for elections — the governor has said there are still issues and conservative lawmakers have sought to further tighten voting regulations.
The governor — widely considered a potential 2024 presidential candidate — heralded the arrests, saying the unit had “sprung into action to hold individuals accountable for voter fraud.” DeSantis said they had been arrested for violating the rules of a constitutional amendment passed by Florida voters in 2018 that allows formerly incarcerated people to register to vote — except for those who committed felony sexual assault or murder.
“This is just the opening salvo,” DeSantis said. “This is not the sum total of 2020.”
But voting groups and experts said that if anything the initial arrests indicate Florida’s election system is robust and crimes rare. Some expressed concern that the new unit could have a chilling effect, particularly on vulnerable groups of voters, such as formerly incarcerated people who are legally entitled to vote.
“It’s 20 people out of millions of voters,” Michael McDonald, an expert on voting and a professor of political science at the University of Florida. “These arrests are inconsequential to the integrity of the electoral system.”
It’s just showboating for the base, giving them a little bit of red meat. It’s meaningless in terms of election fraud. But that’s what DeSantis is all about. Everything he’s doing is to appeal to the rabid right and gain the loyalty of MAGA. He is positioning himself as the natural successor and it’s working.
I do like the observation that he’s Alex Jones and Trump was Breitbart. This just reflects the evolution of the GOP base. They are just getting nuttier and nuttier. DeSantis is having to work to keep up.