As Trump once again gulps down all the oxygen in the political atmosphere the focus in “GOP” circles is on his chief challenger Ron DeSantis. What DeSantis has to opine becomes more and more relevant as Trump’s legal woes explode resulting in an embarrassing and incoherent three ringed circus around the prospect of his pending indictments. Trump himself has gone ballistic all but declaring Civil War in his open support and martyrdom of the January 6 insurrectionists.
The GOP are divided as to how to solve “The Problem of The Donald”. Not so secretly they would be ecstatic if the Florida Governor was an automatic choice as candidate but he is not. So the line at the moment is to condemn the Trump prosecutions, particularly the imminent one involving hush money payment to a porn star on the one hand and pray that DeSantis can set alight what is a damp squib of a “campaign”.
WHO IS LESS WORSE - TRUMP OR DESANTIS?
The conventional mantra is that no one is worse than Trump. Ron DeSantis, who is the only realistic challenger, in some ways is worse - his only saving grace is that he hasn’t the charisma to create a violent protest even if he was so inclined. Trump tells it as it is - he is an out and out white supremacist. The Florida Governor has a far more nuanced way of showing his preference for those that are white. DeSantis claims he is “Anti Woke”, which he defines as not making white, straight Americans uncomfortable about being white and straight. DeSantis claims that allowing discussion of racism, civil rights and even slavery is Woke. He, like Trump, will ensure that the whites are not the victims of all those other favored groups, such as the African Americans. Indigenous natives, LGBTS who get in line in font of them.
As has been belabored DeSantis’s usage of the term Woke, which for him is code for “white is right”, is a gross distortion of the term.The dictionary definition defines it as an awareness and attentiveness to social and racial issues As a Governor, DeSantis has introduced Anti Woke Legislation where those promote “Wokeism” can be prosecuted.
DeSantis is doing what all authoritarians, totalitarians and fascists do - namely create scapegoats who are responsible for all that is wrong, thus the promotors of Woke or Wokedom must be eliminated. Like many Orwellian concepts it would be funny if it wasn’t for real and so serious. While DeSantis is a disguised imitator of Trumpism not everyone knows who the hell he is. So let us begin
RON WHO?
Ron who?. Many of Jay H. Ell’s international readers must be asking, who Is The Ron who aspires to be the leader of the free world? If the voters in the “GOP” Primary believe that anyone is better than Donald Trump then Ron Who is their man. So it is time to take a serious look at the only “GOP” challenger in double figures and in some polls close to the front runner, the King himself, Donald J. Trump. While discussing the latter pair, it has to be acknowledged that it is unrealistic that any sane “GOP”candidate could emerge from the pack to beat those two. At the moment no ways.
THE rON’S STRATEGY
Let’s call him The ron, with a little R for reasons that will become evident. The ron’s strategy is that by the time the GOP holds it convention in 2024 he will be its nominee. His thinking is as follows. For the moment there is plenty of daylight between him and the current frontrunner, The Don. He is mindful of what the polls are showing that there is no way, Jose, that in a straight fight between him and the 45th President that he could beat him for the “GOP” nomination. He just wants them to support him if he wins in the Primary. He is going after that chunk of the “GOP” whom he believes will vote for anyone but Trump. The ron is just taking that 60 percent of “GOP” voters for granted. They must vote for him because anybody is better than Trump. He is banking on that fact and that there will be a small field of Primary candidates so the "Never Trump" vote won't be split.
The ron figures at the moment that no one else will garner enough support to take him on. Two others however are going full throttle. Nikki Haley, who is already in the race who can’t answer how she differs from The Don, i.e. why is she running and Chris Christie former Governor of New Jersey. The latter at a “GOP” donors meeting said people should stop whispering that Trump would be chanceless against Biden and say it out aloud. Cheers cheers to the rafters from the money people. Christie added that opprobrium should also go to The ron as well as he and Trump are ad idem on policy. Christie’s problem is what the hell was he doing for six years on team Trump? He was off and on a very close associate and debate preparer. Also like Haley he doesn’t register on the scoreboard.
So The ron has the floor. For the moment he has enough traction to be a serious challenger and in desperation that the majority of Primary voters will stick with him because anyone, even the ron, is better than The Don.
STOP WOKEDOM AND THE ANTI WOKE ACT
DeSantis may be a pint size personality but he is responsible for totalitarian legislation in Florida. A naked racist like Trump wouldn’t summon the effort to get into the detail that is almost fascist in its minutiae, that DeSantis has piloted.
ron DeSantis is a very undistinguished character who rules Florida like a despot. While claiming to believe in small government he achieved the dubious honor of interfering in the minutiae of everyday life in Florida down to the books that can be in a school library, to what courses can be taught in Universities and as a rite of passage, for any “GOP” candidate, what women can do with their own bodies. He is also a bully, barreling over DisneyWorld because their executives spoke against his discrimination of LGBT individuals and has muscled a tiny liberal College which has seven hundred students. His umbrella mantra is that he is anti WOKE - a free translation of that is anything or anybody with a liberal thought or in fact is liberal - both with small ells.
The STOP WOKE ACT, the acronym is for Stop the Wrongs to Our Kids and Employees Act, was signed into law in April 2022 and is the ron legislation. It prohibits teaching or business practices such as diversity training. which could make white people feel guilt, anguish or other forms of psychological distress because of historic wrongs due to their race, sex or national origin, He has also legislation in the wings entitled “‘Don’t Say Gay”. There has been an injunction against STOP WOKE which has been upheld by a Circuit of Appeals. It will be interesting to witness what the Supreme Court might rule.
DeSantis has claimed that Florida is,”Where Woke goes to die”. When DeSantis’s lawyers were asked to define what WOKE meant they replied, “The belief that there are systemic injustices in American Society and the need to address them”.
So the whole production is a sham and code to let the Trump supporters know that they can back him and keep their racist agenda intact. So what ANTI WOKE means is stop pandering to the “non white” citizens, illegal immigrants and those deviants that are not “straight”.
THE rON’S UKRAINE POLICY LEADS TO BREAK WITH “GOP” ESTABLISHMENT
While The ron is onsides with “MyKevin” and Trump on Ukraine, the GOP policy of the non Trumpers is decidedly with Zelensky. They have trotted with the Democrats to Kiev to show solidarity. This Ukraine position is a far bigger deal then De Santis realizes. Trump doesn’t care, he is unashamedly pro Putin and he can carry it off
The Florida Governor had been a blank sheet on foreign policy up till now. He then mouthed his thinking on the Russian - Ukrainian war. Unlike Trump, who would have “no reason not to believe the genius Putin”, DeSantis maintained the issue was not really of much importance to the USA. This resulted in a firestorm of criticism. From Mark Rubio, to Mitch McConnell to virtually the whole Senate “GOP” caucus, he was met with clamor and anger. So much so that some commentators claimed that this was the basis of a defining rift between The ron and the Never Trumpers.
If it needs recalling Mitt Romney way back argued that Russia was the largest existential threat to world peace. America’s world role was a central thread of the Reagan mantra. From “Mr Gorbachev tear down that wall”, he believed that America’s was a democratic example, “As a shining city on the hill”. The pragmatists have spelled out the obvious, if you are onsides with Russia and don’t care if NATO and Europe go to hell in a hand basket you are offsides with American interests.
Will be interesting to see how DeSantis mollifies this wing of the “GOP”.
SO WHERE ARE WE NOW AT THE END OF THE DAY
It appears that neither Trump or DeSantis can take the non MAGA voters for granted. DeSantis’s support indirectly of Trump’s big mate, Putin’s “territorial dispute” with Ukraine, has been the last straw for some of the “GOP” Senate legislature establishment. There is also no way The ron who has the charisma of a duck, is as dull as ditch water and has the oratorical skills of a funeral director could put together a coalition to get him elected even if he some how got the “GOP” nomination
So DeSantis is a nebbish, non charismatic, non empathetic or even presentable enough to be the Independents’ choice for the job. He would be slashed to ribbons for his revisionist history for statements such as “It is Woke economic policy that caused the bank collapse”. He voted for the loosening of the Democratic Dodd - Frank regulations that would have prevented this from happening.
So of March 2023, in America’s non stop election campaign for the presidency it is Joe Biden, even though The ron is less worse than The Don.
No comments:
Post a Comment