Terrified Dems Ramp Up ‘Worse Than Trump’ Anti-DeSantis Narrative as Fears About His Popularity Grow
“If you think Donald Trump is dangerous for our democracy & freedoms then let me introduce you to Ron DeSantis. He has turned Florida into DeSantis-stan where the only freedoms you are allowed are ones he personally approves of. You can not spell Dictator w/o the D.” -SiriusXM host Dean Obeidallah
Several months ago the mainstream media made a concerted effort to manufacture a war between former President Donald Trump, who is popular with the Republican base, and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is also popular with the Republican base.
The idea, of course, was to sow dissension and whip up infighting within the party at a time President Biden’s approval ratings were cratering and to take some heat off of Biden as the supply chain crisis worsened and the inflation issue was blowing up.
That narrative crumbled after both men went on record and shut down the media-fueled rumors and the fake news that swirled at the time about supposed “tensions,” saying in interviews in so many words that they understood exactly what type of game the mainstream press was playing and urging their supporters not to fall for it.
Fast forward to summertime, and as Joe Biden continues to flounder and flail, Ron DeSantis’ star continues to rise in his state and among Republicans across the country. Along with that, speculation is also ramping up regarding DeSantis’ 2024 intentions, with Democrats and their media allies going with the assumption that he will throw his hat into the race after he (presumably) makes it through his 2022 gubernatorial reelection campaign unscathed.
That has The Usual Suspects absolutely terrified, especially considering the fact that at this point there is a lot of uncertainty as to whom the 2024 Democratic nominee will be: Joe Biden, who seems incapable of functioning without his handlers on standby, or Kamala Harris, who hasn’t been given an assignment yet that she hasn’t screwed up?
With that in mind, the Democrat/media industrial complex have decided on the new narrative about DeSantis. As Mike noted in April, he’s “worse than Trump,” to them, and that’s a message they think will have the effect of blunting his momentum and rising popularity with voters.
Here are some examples of this narrative being pushed:
If you think Donald Trump is dangerous for our democracy & freedoms then let me introduce you to Ron DeSantis. He has turned Florida into DeSantis-stan where the only freedoms you are allowed are ones he personally approves of.
You can not spell Dictator w/o the D in DeSantis.— (((DeanObeidallah))) (@DeanObeidallah) July 7, 2022
Ron DeSantis is a greater threat to democracy than Trump because he's a hard-core MAGA who's positioning himself as palatable for never-Trump Republicans — with the help of much of the media.
He's also more efficient than Trump, having passed a slew of extremist laws.
— Michelangelo Signorile (@MSignorile) July 7, 2022
Ron Desantis is more dangerous than Trump. Look at what he is doing in Florida, its 1933 Germany down there. Stop normalizing him. #morningjoe
— Elsa Skold 🇺🇦 (@ElsaSkold) July 7, 2022
Trump isn't the threat. It's the entire GOP and right-wing ecosystem. They'll simply discard Trump and replace him with DeSantis. The entire conservative movement is radicalized and weaponized. The rational Republicans are gone. It's power and party above country.
— Wajahat Ali (@WajahatAli) June 30, 2022
.@GovRonDeSantis’s actions may not be as blatant as inciting a mob to attack Congress, but his record reveals a troubling pattern of authoritarianism and vindictiveness that would be extremely dangerous in the Oval Office. https://t.co/P7e2QD6Fs3
— Max Boot 🇺🇦 (@MaxBoot) July 7, 2022
From Boot’s anti-DeSantis column:
Smart and disciplined but reclusive and unpleasant: Who does that remind you of? That’s right: Richard M. Nixon. And I don’t mean the Nixon who created the Environmental Protection Agency, implemented affirmative action, went to China and took other surprisingly liberal steps. DeSantis has never shown any similar willingness to challenge his base. I’m thinking of the Nixon who smeared his opponents (he accused Adlai Stevenson of having a “Ph.D. from Dean Acheson’s cowardly college of Communist containment”) and warred with the press (“You won’t have Nixon to kick around anymore,” he said in 1962, “because gentlemen, this is my last press conference”). I’m thinking of the Nixon who employed the government against his “enemies list,” catered to White bigotry (the Southern strategy) and exacerbated social divisions in an attempt to mobilize the Silent Majority against liberal elites.
NY Mag‘s Jon Chait re-upped a March piece he wrote on the supposed similarities between Trump and DeSantis as “evidence” that DeSantis was “worse”:
DeSantis is a deeply authoritarian figure who is consolidating the fringe right-wing groups Trump brought into the party https://t.co/FVimA59f4j https://t.co/Ngu6xGgUGT
— Jonathan Chait (@jonathanchait) July 7, 2022
Chris Rufo was among many who shot down Chait’s argument and that of others who have moved on from calling DeSantis “racist” to “authoritarian” because the former obviously hasn’t worked (just as it didn’t work with Trump):
Translation: the false accusations of "racist" and "white supremacist" have lost their rhetorical power, so we are switching to "authoritarian" and "threat to democracy." https://t.co/r5V7nelD7B
— Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️ (@realchrisrufo) July 7, 2022
Meanwhile, there is a political faction that wants to eliminate the filibuster, pack the court, abolish the Electoral College, and nationalize election laws in order to secure its own political power. Much more "authoritarian" than anything happening in Florida.
— Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️ (@realchrisrufo) July 7, 2022
DeSantis is so deeply authoritarian he didn’t close businesses, schools or churches, allowed folks to make their own decisions about vaccines, had monoclonal antibodies available to everyone for free, gave bonuses to teachers and first responders. Yes, it’s awful here. https://t.co/GwZiEoa2Iw
— Just Mindy 🐊 (@just_mindy) July 7, 2022
DeSantis was literally the one executive in this nation who said, "Go to church. Open your business. Go to the beach. I am not going to stop you," when the rest of the country was sitting home, many of them due to executive orders, but sure, try & sell him as an authoritarian.
— Anna James Zeigler (@ajzeigler) July 7, 2022
Newsom had people alone on the ocean arrested but DeSantis is the authoritarian, or something. https://t.co/uELRCrCRfk
— Doug Powers (@ThePowersThatBe) July 7, 2022
Democrats accusing Ron DeSantis of authoritarianism when his single greatest accomplishment was keeping society open because he understood the pandemic and believes in freedom above other values is some next level gaslighting … of themselves. No one else believes that crap.
— Douglas Lukasik (@DouglasLukasik) July 7, 2022
Twitter user Amish Dude provided a handy template going forward for people to keep in mind for when these attacks backfire and the next round of similarly desperate attacks start:
[Latest Republican] is worse than [Current Republican] because he is doing [Mischaracterized Popular Legislative Action] which will lead to [Apocalyptic Hyperbole], hurting [Preferred Interest Group] the most. https://t.co/wlyEl4jDVq
— AmishDude (@TheAmishDude) July 6, 2022
Perfect.
— Stacey Matthews has also written under the pseudonym “Sister Toldjah” and can be reached via Twitter. —
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Comments
So the Left are accusing DeSantis of being what they are, and trying to claim they are being what he is.
So very very 1984.
DeSantis preferred over Trump here for reasons although I will support a Trump ticket in a heartbeat if it comes to that. President Trump backed some of the most hideous Statist action of the pandemic (lockdowns, remote learning, Fauci, “vaccines”), at the same time DeSantis rebuked them. Plus, DeSantis has not shown the gross weakness of Trump in choosing his appointments, family influence and staffing of the bureaucracy.
Democrats always tell us who they’re scared of.
I am looking forward to seeing DeSantis and Trump cooperating to kick the shit out of Dems,and the morons who are pulling Biden’s strings banished.
That is their standard method- accusing others of being what they are.
You can read through the posts and judge just how intimidated they are by the thought of having to put, at this point, not one qualified person in their party and as result with countering with who they have at hand other than the one who says he’s running again, (yea right) they are having to go on defense of a party that has nothing now and no one waiting in the wings. Just high blowing rhetoric from an empty party of asses. If in the next 18 months if they can come up with someone who has a track record, (and not over 70) and a defined vetted policy then and only then do you even begin to listen.
The Uniparty is still trying to manufacture a fight between Trump and DeSantis. It just enhances DeSantis’ national image among more and more voters which will help Trump decide what he wants to do. The idea of having Trump for four years followed by eight years of DeSantis is what is terrifying the Democrats. The Republican RINOs, rejected by “both” parties are now just looking for a toe hold somewhere before Trump and DeSantis take over the party.
A strong DeSantis is great for Trump too. The way Trump is lining up his MAGA line-up for November, the Uniparty is in for an epic blowout. If the new Republicans actually DO something RIGHT WAY once elected, Trump’s job of clearing the decks may be completed next year giving him the option of not running and handing it over to DeSantis.
It’s really up to DeSantis. Put some wax in your ears Ron so you can’t hear the siren’s song. An 8-year presidency starting in 2028 be just as good or better than one that starts in 2024.
MAGA BABY! #meantweets2024!!!
Want to cause the Swamp dwelling Unparty to soil themselves, ala Bidne?
Trump/DeSantis 2024!
“Trump/DeSantis 2024!”
No. The VP isn’t training wheels for the presidency. It’s a useless job… just check out the current occupant as an example. If DeSantis isn’t running in 2024 then he needs to complete his second term as governor and then run in 2028 as America’s most successful governor. Florida needs him more than Trump needs a name on a ticket.
I agree with that. DeSantis hasn’t finished his job in Florida yet and would be a very prominent governor helping lead the MAGA movement at the states level. It’s a tricky situation
But everyone would be better off with Trump in the WH and DeSantis in FL for four years. I can’t imagine any VP Trump could pick who would be a serious challenger in 2028 so the VP choice would have to understand and willing to accept this. That eliminates the women governors who are licking their chops already. The exception would be Sarah Palin who would be a great VP and effective campaigner. I believe she is more interested in being part of a winning team than becoming POTUS.
Trump need a VP who is inoffensive but SAFE. Somebody like Greg Abbott or Sarah Palin. I’d say MJG but she’d be an albatross during the election.
Well maybe. But, for example, if the 2024 ticket was to be Trump/Pompeo. who do you think would be the presidential nominee in 2028.
Not that I’m complaining. I think Pompeo would be the best possible choice anyway. De Santis without the defiance.
We in Florida appreciate our freedoms. Even many on the left love it. The media knows Desantis is a power player and Democrats here are so impotent that no amount of media or political viagra will help.
DeSantis is not smarter than Trump, he doesn’t have more courage than Trump
But he is a great Governor and will be a great President if they don’t kill him ad I fear they will Trump
DeSantis handles the media more deftly and makes better appointments, though.
Trump had no political experience and had to rely on the RINOs for recommending… little did he know Pence was a traitor and immediately made sue he got rid of Flynn and Sessions, who saw that coming
Trump so scared the RINOs that the masks started dropping everywhere. The charade was over. Same thing happened with the Democrats. The kabuki is now out in the open for the world to see for themselves. It is no longer a conspiracy theory thanks to Trump. His return to the WH with a MAGA House and not having to worry about being re-elected nor impeached will enable him to get rid of a lot of bureaucracy. That is the biggest advantage Trump has over DeSantis. He doesn’t have to worry about getting re-elected and if that makes him unpopular (I doubt it will), a more experienced and popular DeSantis will be right there in 2028 to keep the momentum going.
The vile racism of the Democratic party is on full display here. The only reason they don’t like this guy is his Hispanic heritage. Shameful!
No, it’s because he’s Republican
Some think with his background he may be linked to CIA.
I was channeling Saul Alynsky and holding them to their own rules. Or trying anyway.
I believe DeSantis is of Italian ancestry going back 100 years? He was born in Jacksonville Florida and spent six years in the military after graduating from Yale and Harvard Law.
He spent six years in the House before running against drug-addled Gillum and winning as governor in 2018. He is strongly favored to be re-elected in 2022. He is strongly supported by conservative Cuban-Americans in Florida and will play well with Hispanic citizens nationally in 2024.
Governorship is the classic steppingstone to the presidency and he has shown good judgement in his appointments in Florida and is true to his conservative background and beliefs. He is 43 years old and with his experience and a proven track record he is the best “R” candidate in the field.
During the pandemic he kept churches, businesses and beaches open and showed better leadership than most governors, letting the people make their own decisions. That’s how it should be in a free society.
Thanks for the info on his family heritage… for some reason I had it in my head that they had immigrated from Cuba. He truly has been a GREAT governor for Florida; he was on of a very few leaders who stood up to the fascist government/big pharma bullshit during covid. He made some very controversial stands and has been proven right in virtually every instance; that’s the measure of a true leader.
Um, he’s not Hispanic. Nice try, though.
Where do I pick up my Participation Trophy?
Even if they somehow disqualified Trump or ruined his popularity enough, they’d be facing someone who is even better at dealing with the media and is very conservative, and not just talks conservative.
They put themselves in this situation
Why yes, Democrats. DeSantis is way worse than Trump… for you lot.
“Ron Desantis is more dangerous than Trump. Look at what he is doing in Florida, its 1933 Germany down there. Stop normalizing him.”
Lots and lotsa Californian migrants over the past couple years digging them some of that 1933 Germany, you dolt.
There’s another word that begins with D just like Dictator….wonder if the podhakcer can guess what it is?
As for twitter, there’s another word that begins with a “B” besides Bot and comes before “check”….notice how coordinated and on message all these blue check hot takes are?
As a Floridian I am willing to lend DeSantis to the nation as president.
As long as we get Trump for our governor in exchange.
I had predicted this, many months ago. The vile Dumb-o-crats are totally predictable in their infantile demagoguery and antics.
It was natural that as soon as Governor DeSantis was perceived as a legitimate potential White House contender, he would be maliciously tarred as an alleged “mini-Trump,” a “wannabe Trump;” “worse than Trump;” etc. A derogatory Trump reference representing the worst insult in the Dumb-o-crats put-down lexicon. The Dumb-o-crats will use the same slander tactics against DeSantis that they ceaselessly and viciously employed against Trump. But, they won’t work.
I’m sure we will have to wait about five minutes to hear from the Dumb-o-crat media propagandists about how Governor DeSantis is a closet Jew-hater, all facts and reality to the contrary, echoing the same slander that they made against President Trump.
The vile Dumb-o-crats — a party gleefully aligned with Muslim supremacists/terrorist sympathizers and brimming with, and, welcoming, Jew-haters and Israel-slanderers of all stripes — despicably and farcically contended that the first American President with Jewish relatives, a President who promoted the most pro-Israel policies in history, was an avowed anti-Semite. It was a contemptible and dishonest slander that was manifestly false, yet, the Dumb-o-crats repeated it, ad nauseam. Expect the same slanders to be leveled at DeSantis, no matter how farcical they are.
By the way, isn’t Obeidallah’s reference to Florida as “DeSantis-stan” an “Islamophobic” slur, by Dumb-o-crats’ standards of perpetual grievance?
By the way, this idiot, Wajahat Ali, actually is describing the Dumb-o-crat Party in his dishonest and moronic “tweet:”
“The entire ‘liberal’ movement is radicalized and weaponized. The rational Dumb-o-crats are gone. It’s power and party above country.”
I fixed it. Now, this statement is accurate.
As a resident of Florida, I worry who replaces DeSantis as governor if he runs for President or Vice-President.
“Trump/DeSantis 2024!”
No. The VP isn’t training wheels for the presidency. It’s a useless job… just check out the current occupant as an example. If DeSantis isn’t running in 2024 then he needs to complete his second term as governor and then run in 2028 as America’s most successful governor. Florida needs him more than Trump needs a name on a ticket.
That’s weird. Not sure why that double-posted. LI needs a “delete” button. And, well, an “edit” feature as well.
LI’s site needs a lot of things, including putting “X” for the pop-up ad in the center so, when one expands the site to make the type bigger, the X doesn’t go out of range like it does now with it on the right.
“You can’t spell dictator without the d” applies just not the way they want. D is for democrat.
The d/prog are rightly terrified of DeSantis. He has done the opposite of their policies and Florida is thriving in that freedom. On major policy issue he is opposing the bureaucrats in DC and their media allies.
He questioned, opposed and refused to bow to Fauci and Covid mania totalitarian policies. Eventually other r executive office holders came around to embrace what DeSantis was doing in FL. His leadership set the example for the other executives to follow. Including those who should have known better than to give free rein to a compromised, ideological bureaucracy with totalitarian instincts.
Meanwhile, can the Democrats answer the main question: who are they offering as rival to DeSantis or Trump?
Even the most radical must accept that Biden is hopelessly sick, and that Harris is not the answer. I also believe she is foreign-born. Please, don’t hit me with Obama was as well, I know that.
Who do they have in the wings? No one I can think of unless Cheney, Romney, or one of the female alleged Republican senators change party.
It will be woman.
No, they’ve plumbed the depths of that mysterious, mathematically unspecifiable set, and who have they come up with?
Kamala. Ketanji. Karine. Granholm. Raimondo. Yellen.
Levine, for heaven’s sake.
Nope, they’re going to skip XX and go straight to XXX.
America’s First (Uncloseted) Gay President.
Or Hairgel… six of one.
Yayyyy – by your process of elimination you have elevated Pocohontas.
Pocohontas for president 2024 – run with it dems!
(There are those who say it is spelled differently, but I like saying it “Poco” so I’m not apologising.)
Desantis is worse than Trump for the left, because unlike Trump he actually believes in the conservative principles he promotes, and has lived his life in accord with them. Trump governed as a conservative, but he could easily have done otherwise; if only the left had been smart and embraced him instead of pouring hatred on him, they could have had significant policy achievements under him. Thankfully for all of us, they weren’t smart and we got a good administration. But with Desantis they won’t even have such an option. He’s not open to them at all. So they do right to fear him.
“Trump governed as a conservative, but he could easily have done otherwise; …”
What kind of idiotic logic is that? And it doesn’t get better as your comment continues. That makes no sense whatsoever. You are imposing your own ignorance into your opinions.
No, I see where Milhouse is coming from. Look at Trump’s personal history. He was a registered Democrat who worked hand in glove with NY Democrats most of his life. His principles were business, competition, and dealing, not strong political principles. He wrote approvingly of gun bans and waiting periods as recently as 2000. He entered politics to fill a conservative vacuum caused by the Democrats and some of the Republicans moving left of where he started out, not because he grew up with especially conservative principles. Voters of the Kennedy era would have considered Trump a moderate.
Trump was not a politician and the only time I know of where he became personally involved was when Mayor Giuliani appealed to him to help stop the hemorrhaging of business out of NYC. Trump played a major role by investing heavily in NYC city projects coming in under budget and on schedule.
He was a businessman in several major cities which were run by Democrats. Like all smart businessmen, he made campaign contributions so they would return his calls. That’s just good business in big cities where you have to pay for access or get out. The cost of doing business. You probably do it yourself.
In the early 1990s. Trump gave an in-depth interview to Playboy magazine where his opinions and opinions were Republican conservative much like Reagan’s and little different to what he has said since and says today.
So THAT is what makes him a weaselly scoundrel? You know better than that.
It’s like Mark Levin says, Trump is the first and only Republican where it is considered a good thing to stab him in the back. After all the years we held our noses and voted for the lesser of two evils (which turned out to be worse), we can’t cut the most consequential and conservative Republican in our lifetimes even a little slack? Kick him in the nuts even on the most trivial things every chance we get?
Please! Knock it off! We are winning bigly! Don’t fuck it up!!!
Trump is not a conservative. For all the conservative things he’s said and done, he didn’t mean any of them. He is a con man, a grifter, an adulterer, a boor, not a reader, and he understands what is said to him only in the most general terms. In politics he has always been a liberal democrat, and to the extent that he ever had any political beliefs beyond his own interest, they were left-wing ones. And until literally the day before he launched his presidential bid he and the Clintons were BFFs.
I don’t believe one word he said during his 2016 campaign. I think his original plan was not to win, but to deliver the race to his friend Mrs Clinton. Once he saw he could win, there was a change of plan; the new plan was to reach out to the Dems after he won, repair the fences, and govern with their help.
But by the grace of Providence they rejected his overtures, they responded to his attempts at being gracious with viciousness and bitterness that their rightful victory had been stolen, and they drove him away, right into the conservatives’ hands. And with all that he still showed his liberal instincts, e.g. in the bump stock ban, and a few other times. Still, we got lucky. It might not happen a second time.
DeSantis doesn’t have those flaws. He believes in what Trump only pretended to.
You mean a former Democrat can’t become a hero of conservatism? I seem to recall another Republican President who was a Democrat into his 50s, was a former president of a labor union, and even signed a pro-choice abortion bill into law as governor.
Are you going to tell me THAT President was a phony too? Think of all the hatred and venom that Trump endured for enacting conservative legislation and appointing conservatives to the Supreme Court. It was far worse than what the three GOP Presidents before him endured.
Sorry, Milhouse, but you can’t fake dedication to the cause AND put up with such garbage.
Reagan didn’t change much. The Democrat Party left him. He was propounding conservative principles in the 1950s, long before he became governor. And he clearly understood them and believed in them.
Trump governed as a conservative only because the Democrats went insane and drove him into our hands. He reached out to them, but they rejected him. Thank Providence for that.
And of course Reagan’s personal morals were impeccable.
As a 35+ year resident of Florida it is quite easy to say that DeSantis is by far the best governor in my time in Florida and believe that he would do very well at 1600 Penn. Ave.
Trump believed the wrong people and made far too many mistakes in regards to choosing his cabinet and inner circle. This and Russiagate where dark clouds over him his entire term, many of the replacements he chose were bad selections as well.
2024 is all on whatever Trump decides to do, DeSantis won’t challenge him in a primary battle, in some respects 2028 would line up better for DeSantis as he would have more time to build up a war chest to run a national campaign
For the millionth time, Trump had the singular disadvantage of being the only Republican President who not only did not get the support of this own party but was being stabbed in the back by just about all of them. Especially that scumbag MIke Pence.
Absolutely NO ONE can run a WH with his own party scheming against him and giving him very bad advice. Trump had to fill a lot of slots and needed help. He got none.
Good luck to DeSantis if he successfully challenges Trump expecting it will be different for him.
Now could we finally put that canard about Trump’s awful judgment to rest? What was he supposed to do? He HAD to pick SOMEONE!
Yes, it will be different for him. The swamp RINOS had to decloak to attack Trump. Now their existence is no longer a “conspiracy theory.” DeSantis, and any other intelligent actual conservative candidate, will be going into this battle with their eyes wide open. Trump depended on snakes like Littlefinger McConnell to advise him on picking his advisors. DeSantis isn’t at all liable to make that same mistake.
I agree with everything you say except the mention of Russiagate. Trump bears zero responsibility for Russiagate… it was done TO him, out of whole cloth.
So, the “Conservative” Never Trumper scum, like Boot, would have preferred Andrew Gillum over DeSantis as the Florida Governor.
That tells you a lot about them!
I know many who are part of an extinct species known as a neo conservative Democrat for years and having watched my party lurch leftward since the 1970s with the exception of Clinton’s two terms, We have voted for Republicans on the state and national level since 2000, Trump’s policies and willingness to take on the woke left were superb, as opposed to his tweets. Trump now is testing the waters to see if his base is loyal. A Trump campaign in 2024 would be a fixation on the election of 2020 and allow the Democrats to avoid responsibility for the awful record and terrible policies of the past two years and focus on the events of 1/6/21 (as opposed to the riots of the summer of 2020)-which I thought was marked by Democrats” unconstitutional evasion of the Electors’ Clause but poor lawyering on the issue and proof of electoral fraud in the critical swing states. I would vote for DeSantis who is a great governor, and willing to take on the woke world view on any issue