Media Continues Its ‘DeSantis Is Worse Than Trump’ Narrative
“DeSantis’s contempt for dissent and his crackdown on critics should not be discounted. This is the profile of a constitutional ignoramus, a bully and a strongman. Voters should be forewarned.” -WaPo columnist Jennifer Rubin
As has often been said, you can tell which Republican the mainstream media and Democrats are most fearful of based on how much time they spend trying to paint them as the next Donald Trump.
In Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ case, a considerable amount of time has been spent by The Usual Suspects over the last year or so portraying DeSantis as either just as “bad” as the former president or “worse” – so much worse that illegal immigrants, Latinos in general, the LGBTQ community, women, and “woke” leftists among others should be afraid, very very afraid, of what could happen should DeSantis run and be able to go the distance against the Democratic nominee (whoever that may be) in 2024.
Throughout what I call “Thanksgiving week,” the media and panicked leftists continued to do their thing against DeSantis after a growing number of polls have shown him being very competitive against Trump and, in some cases besting him in hypothetical primary match-ups.
Self-described “pro-democracy opinion writer” Jennifer Rubin was among many making ominous comparisons between Trump and DeSantis, though in her case, she tempered it by suggesting that DeSantis was just as “dangerous” as Trump but not necessarily worse:
DeSantis’s contempt for dissent and his crackdown on critics should not be discounted. This is the profile of a constitutional ignoramus, a bully and a strongman. Voters should be forewarned.https://t.co/a6BdVE9HIn
— Jennifer "Pro-privacy" Rubin (@JRubinBlogger) November 21, 2022
From her column:
If you believe Florida’s Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis would be a less dangerous presidential candidate than former president Donald Trump, take a moment to consider the recent ruling striking down DeSantis’s “Stop WOKE Act.” That opinion — as well as other rulings against his attempts to inhibit dissent — makes clear that DeSantis is just as willing as Trump to embrace the GOP’s authoritarian element and use state power to punish his enemies.
Mike Scrafton, a former Aussie government official, sounded off on DeSantis as well in a piece that contained the headline “DeSantis’ ideology is clearer, darker and more coherent than Trump’s”:
DeSantis would likely deliver the next staggering blow to liberal democracy in America. He has made his ideology unambiguously clear, and it is darker and more coherent than Trump’s. America’s allies would be well served to monitor closely the political tides as the 2024 presidential election approaches.
Trump’s defeat in 2020 made his tenure appear to be an aberration and Biden’s election a welcome return to normality. However, America’s allies would be well served to monitor closely the political tides as the 2024 presidential election approaches. Far more formidable illiberal forces are emerging.
Although Trump might seem difficult to displace as front runner for 2024, Rick DeSantis’ chances have been greatly strengthened in the midterms. Realistically, to prevail in the primary DeSantis would have to sway the MAGA constituency by, at a minimum, demonstrating some empathy with the election deniers and deep state conspiracy theorists. He would need to give at least a nod toward the christian nationalists and isolationists, and a tilt toward anti-multilateralist foreign policies.
The “DeSantis’ record toward LGBTQ people is worse than Trump’s” drumbeat is also sounding sporadically in columns:
Op-ed: #Florida @GovRonDeSantis’ record toward LGBTQ people is worse than #Trump’s https://t.co/8OkgPuAgIF
— Craig Pittman (@craigtimes) November 25, 2022
Pam Keith, a thrice-failed Democratic candidate for Congress from Florida who actually makes AOC look sane, was among several Very Online Leftists or Republican sell-outs who had similar hot takes:
DeSantis is ten times more dangerous and ruthless than Trump.
— Pam Keith, Esq. (@PamKeithFL) November 17, 2022
Make no mistake. If not worse, Ron DeSantis, is as bad if not worse than trump. It can provide an end to the political nightmare of trump, but as they say, “Be careful what you wish for”
— American Veteran (@amvetsupport) November 23, 2022
y'all see what's happening under the HE USED US trend right? evangelicals waited through all of the shameful displays for someone else that could carry the mantle of hatred gracefully. their guy is Ron DeSantis. Trump is an egomaniac opportunist, Ron is pure power starved evil.
— Rob the BeLoved☀️ (@RJLBeLoved) November 18, 2022
Ron DeSantis is Donald Trump in sheep's clothing. Don't be fooled.
— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) November 24, 2022
The critical thing to remember here is that the Republican getting all the negative press attention over a potential 2024 run could be media darling Mitt Romney and he would be getting the same exact treatment as DeSantis, as we saw in 2012. Because if there’s anything that so-called “journalists” and the left are consistent about, it’s insanely predictable in their dooming and glooming about how the next possible Republican president will lead us back to the dark ages or whatever.
In other words, take their tiresome rhetoric for what it is – all sound and fury, signifying absolutely nothing.
— Stacey Matthews has also written under the pseudonym “Sister Toldjah” and can be reached via Twitter. —
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Comments
Meanwhile, in DeSantistan…….
And whoever comes after Desantis will be declared even worse.
Trump/DeSantis in 2024. That’s the winning formula, because it will give Trump 4 years and DeSantis another 8.
Part II of the winning formula: dump McConnell and McDaniels from the GOP leadership. And if McCarthy proves to be as weak as many of us expect, dump him.
Otherwise, be a happy loser.
That ticket is not likely. Several reasons for that. First, DeSantis isn’t gonna play second fiddle to DJT. It’s too big a risk with too little reward. VP are rarely elected as President in their own right. Two since WWII; Bush who got one term and Nixon who lost his first bid to Kennedy. Not a great record of success.
Second DeSantis as VP would inherit most of the vitriol and BS of DJT, as will whomever becomes his running mate or VP. That’s likely to be the apex of that person’s career. Frankly that’s not a bad thing because DJT will need a loyal VP who can be an effective hatchet man v the bureaucracy and is willing/able to knock heads in Congress.
Third if DJT is elected in’24 then his job will be more akin to a successful conqueror. Anything less than a figurative mound of bureaucrat/establishment skulls will be a failure, IMO. That’s what he promised but didn’t deliver in his first term.
IMO DeSantis would do better to allow DJT to be the first generation barbarian conqueror so to speak. Then he can be seen the reasonable and effective 2nd generation ruler who follows the conqueror. The ‘good cop’ to DJT’s ‘bad cop’.
It’s pretty hard to beat an incumbent. So if Trump picks (name your rino), that rino will be running against DeSantis in 2028. Before 2028 and all that time, and DeSantis will have a target on his back, being “Trumped” by the democrat media – with the help of the McConnell wing of the GOP.
Nixon didn’t lose to Kennedy, the election was stolen by Demorats in Illinois.
Respectfully,
1. A VP running for President isn’t an incumbent. Only a sitting President in his first term running for re-election is an incumbent candidate for President.
2. Whomever is DJT’s VP will gain all the negative effects from the anti /never Trump crowd but not necessarily the corresponding benefit from the Only Trump crowd.
3. Sitting VP who run to succeed their running mate always have to create distance between themselves and their running mate. The policy choices and priorities are never a perfect match.
5. Will the Only Trump crowd allow this sitting VP to publicly question the policies or aspects of those policies and priorities? Remember that Trump will be in office while the campaign to succeed him is ongoing. I have my doubts given some of the reactions here to any criticism of DJT.
Finally DJT will only have two years before becoming a lame duck in ’26 after the midterms.. That’s not much time to do the heavy lifting required. IMO the nation and his administration would be better served with a loyal VP who can crack heads together to get things done implementing the priorities of the President for a full term instead of marking time until their own Presidential campaign begins.
mrzee,
I determine who was unsuccessful by whether they were sworn into office on inauguration day. Kinda like I view success in relationships, the presence or absence of a wedding ring. Opinions vary.
Trump/DeSantis is a losing formula. Trump will lose in 2024 and the matchup would permanently tarnish DeSantis preventing him from ever becoming President.
I am surprised that you missed that the media is accusing him of torture based on ordering an IV to save the life a GITMO inmate on a hunger strike.
That the media took that up shows they are very much at war with DeSantis because he is the biggest threat to Biden in 2024.
Lol, you
Jest. These are snowballs
or you’re just wrong at least 50% of the time
I heard he had a hammer party with Paul Pelosi last year.
If you’re old enough, you can remember the 1964 campaign when LBJ ran a hit ad on Goldwater displaying a little girl counting daisies in front of a nuke mushroom cloud.
It ran once and I saw it live. Even at 13, I knew this was garbage.
Same here.
I was 16 and I saw it more than once.
I do and it was very effective and even then, the GOPe didn’t fight or support their nominee
Something’s never change
Face it already: the GOP is part of the uniparty.
Before the Reagan administration, what we now call “RINOs” were called “the Rockefeller Wing of the GOP.” And they didn’t like Goldwater at all.
Still on YouTube. As are the super effective, at least to me, Reagan ads. ‘There’s a bear in the woods….’ I wasn’t even a teenager yet but still remember those ads.
They may be relevant to Democrats but they don’t influence my vote.
Democrats are always in attack mode. Conservatives are always under attack.
And before Trump, they rarely ever, never fought back
The ONLY reason democrat suceed in ‘attack mode’ are the quislings in the GOPe. But for them, we’d be kicking ass. Right, McConnell?
They are barley trying it’s almost comical it’s posted
Barely, but you could say they are barley, in a food Sense lol
Waiting for Mrs. Magoo (the liar at the Justice Kavannaugh hearing) to come back and claim DeSantis molested her (metaphysically).
Believe them…. DeSantis is a major threat to them. To win in 2024 will take even more as the Left knows that after the next two years of misery “fortifying” the vote will take the “Atlantic Wall” effort.
President Trump is the threat, not the chosen one by the globalists, this is just to fool you again(seems to be working ),
that’s why they keep the real stuff for President Trump…“old friends”, lol Pence, the traitor, who is apparently still in consult with God, Bagpipes Billy, who hasn’t seen a Buffett he’d walk away from, all the usual RINOs, so called Republican leaders, Murdock and co, Fox, NY Post, multiple law suits , from made up
Rape to saying ugly things, FBI raid, DOJ a$$whipes, 2 impeachments, IRS, SCOTUS allowing his tax returns to go to the Democrat committee…
Real stuff, not snowballs
Nice life you have there President Trump, be a shame if you were to lose it
And you have an article on Lilly caramel DeSantis getting a few snow balls thrown his way
You.have.got.to,be.kidding…
They won’t go after Trump until after the nomination vote has closed. That much is true.
That’s because they WANT Trump to win the nomination so he can get destroyed in the general.
We in Florida were more than happy to give both middle fingers to the media, the Democrat Party and RINO’s by re-electing DeSantis with nearly 60% of the vote. Keep attacking Ron and you will elevate him into the White House.
WE are in a plurality now, and the other sides are the GOPe and the left/swamp. We will never have a majority again.
Wow–you mean Jen Rubin doesn’t like him? I’ll need to rethink things. OK–I rethought things and I still like DeSantis and still think that Rubin’s a grifting fraud artist pretending to be a “conservative.”
It makes me like him more.
Rubin isn’t writing for America-Firsters. She’s writing for the left and the never-Trumpers, and the establishment. Just letting them know who the new kid on the block is, and that he’s bad news for their gravy trains.
“DeSantis is just as willing as Trump to embrace the GOP’s authoritarian element and use state power to punish his enemies.”
Says the side still holding patriotic demonstrators in inhumane and unsanitary conditions for TWO YEARS, accosting pillow merchants for their cell phones at fast food windows, and holding dawn FBI raids with CNN cheerleaders on harmless bureaucrats in their jammies.
And that’s precisely why, if he becomes the candidate, I will work his call center and vote for him happily.
They’re your rules now, Jennifer, and it’s way past damn time you learned how it feels to take them instead of always dishing them out.
If Desantis is worse then Trump and Trump is worse than Hitler are Democrats still retarded?
You can just smell the panic, can’t you?
The left saw what a strong (not bullying) conservative can do to revive and revitalize the country with Pres. Trump, and have had the ability to see precisely what sort of banana republic a leftist president or his puppet masters can create. Any number of indicators show how quickly and efficiently leftist policies can decimate the country.
As usual, whatever they are accusing Pres. Trump, and now DeSantis, of doing, they are going to do, or are doing, themselves in spades. Be it deliberate or the result of gross incompetence, nothing Biden et al., have done have improved conditions in the country, by any metric.
Whoever runs against the Dems, make that priority #1: compare and contrast.
A riff about electoral politics: the game is to define them, before they can define you. It’s hard to pant a definition on active people with their own public profile.
De Santis infuriates the left because he fights the woke left and is a great governor while avoiding the narcissism of Trump
The responsibility for helping Republicans get elected falls on McCarthy, McConnell, and McDaniel. They made poor decisions as the “Red Waive” did not materialized due to their poor partisan choices in various states, and against President Trump! Many races in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Minnesota, New Mexico, Arizona, Oregon, and Washington could have been major victories with more funding and support by the RINO trio mentioned above. Therefore, due to their tunnel vision neither deserve to continue in their current leadership roles. They have failed to perform in the most opportune time when Congress could have been won to stop Biden’s destruction of our Country! As for Ron DeSantis, he has shown how to win with a strong staff, Great messaging, and fundamental focusing as Governor of Florida! He has demonstrated all of this primarily in Florida where his roots are. That does not necessarily translate to the remaining States many of which are not “Red States.” While he is a strong leader, he may need more seasoning at the National level to better prepare for the backstabbing cutthroats and the 4th layer of government (Intelligence created by Obummer) in DC. We would be better off with President Trump and DeSantis as Vice President to guarantee a stronger choice for the American people. Trump could give DeSantis a broader level of authority while he goes after the problems at the Executive/Judicial/Intelligence levels. If they become effective, President Trump could retire after 2/3 years and allow VP DeSantis to take over and run as President for the next 2 terms. President Trump can’t be held responsible for the idiot trio of McCarthy, McConnell, McDaniel referenced above as he was delivering the MAGA agenda to very large crowds thru out the US and can only do so much. The MAGA agenda is a proven one that needs to be completed!
Out of State political donations for candidates and State ballot measures should be outlawed. It is an issue for State Citizens to decide! If you are not a citizen of the State, you do not have a dog in the fight!