The DeSantis Doctrine

[corbe]

The DeSantis Doctrine

Column: Ron DeSantis and the battle for the New Right

Matthew Continetti
May 26, 2023

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R.) announced his presidential candidacy during a Twitter Spaces event Wednesday, but it was Elon Musk’s show. The Twitter, Tesla, and SpaceX CEO received co-billing. Moderator David Sacks, an investor and former executive at PayPal, said the technical snafu that botched the conversation was a consequence of Musk’s enormous Twitter audience. DeSantis thanked Musk for buying Twitter and turning it into a platform for free speech. Each of the guests lauded Musk’s ingenuity and courage before asking DeSantis a question. One especially obsequious Republican congressman bragged that he owned a Tesla.

DeSantis would make a point on some issue and then Musk would respond, calmly and commandingly, in his mellow South African accent. It was easy to forget that you were listening to a campaign launch and not the Wall Street Journal’s "Future of Everything Festival." Occasionally DeSantis would fall silent, and Sacks and Musk carried on without him. Musk might as well have been the candidate—and there is reason to think that, but for the Constitution, he would be.

The Twitter glitches got most of the attention, but what fascinated me were the exchanges between DeSantis, Sacks, Musk, and others. The dialogue not only revealed aspects of DeSantis’s primary strategy. It also clarified some of the animating ideas behind DeSantis’s corner of the New Right. For the contest between former president Donald Trump and DeSantis is not just over who will lead the GOP. It is also a struggle between two concepts of the New Right, pitting the former president’s MAGA populism against the Florida governor’s institutional culture war.

No one needs a lesson in Trump’s impulses and grudges. They have been at the center of our public life for six years. What’s important to recognize is that, despite his personal idiosyncrasies, Trump is an archetypal American figure.

Tribunes of the people have sprung up to rail against the Eastern elites for centuries. Jackson, Bryan, Wallace, Buchanan, Perot, Palin—the list is long. All of them have identified scapegoats, indulged in conspiracy theories, and cultivated personal followings. All of them have spoken in straightforward, declarative language. All of them have drawn huge crowds by telling the dispossessed that social status can be reclaimed by throwing out the corrupt elite and replacing it with the leader’s steady hand. Their nationalism and traditionalism have been leavened by a folk libertarianism that distrusts centralized power and is individualistic and entrepreneurial in spirit.

<..snip..>

https://freebeacon.com/columns/the-desantis-doctrine/

[Maj. Bill Martin]

The DeSantis Doctrine

Column: Ron DeSantis and the battle for the New Right

Matthew Continetti
May 26, 2023

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R.) announced his presidential candidacy during a Twitter Spaces event Wednesday, but it was Elon Musk’s show. The Twitter, Tesla, and SpaceX CEO received co-billing. Moderator David Sacks, an investor and former executive at PayPal, said the technical snafu that botched the conversation was a consequence of Musk’s enormous Twitter audience. DeSantis thanked Musk for buying Twitter and turning it into a platform for free speech. Each of the guests lauded Musk’s ingenuity and courage before asking DeSantis a question. One especially obsequious Republican congressman bragged that he owned a Tesla.

DeSantis would make a point on some issue and then Musk would respond, calmly and commandingly, in his mellow South African accent. It was easy to forget that you were listening to a campaign launch and not the Wall Street Journal’s "Future of Everything Festival." Occasionally DeSantis would fall silent, and Sacks and Musk carried on without him. Musk might as well have been the candidate—and there is reason to think that, but for the Constitution, he would be.

The Twitter glitches got most of the attention, but what fascinated me were the exchanges between DeSantis, Sacks, Musk, and others. The dialogue not only revealed aspects of DeSantis’s primary strategy. It also clarified some of the animating ideas behind DeSantis’s corner of the New Right. For the contest between former president Donald Trump and DeSantis is not just over who will lead the GOP. It is also a struggle between two concepts of the New Right, pitting the former president’s MAGA populism against the Florida governor’s institutional culture war.

No one needs a lesson in Trump’s impulses and grudges. They have been at the center of our public life for six years. What’s important to recognize is that, despite his personal idiosyncrasies, Trump is an archetypal American figure.

Tribunes of the people have sprung up to rail against the Eastern elites for centuries. Jackson, Bryan, Wallace, Buchanan, Perot, Palin—the list is long. All of them have identified scapegoats, indulged in conspiracy theories, and cultivated personal followings. All of them have spoken in straightforward, declarative language. All of them have drawn huge crowds by telling the dispossessed that social status can be reclaimed by throwing out the corrupt elite and replacing it with the leader’s steady hand. Their nationalism and traditionalism have been leavened by a folk libertarianism that distrusts centralized power and is individualistic and entrepreneurial in spirit.

<..snip..>

https://freebeacon.com/columns/the-desantis-doctrine/

Thank you very much for posting this because I do not think I would have seen and read this otherwise.

This is the first article I've seen that actually lays out the biggest differences between Trump and DeSantis in terms of their approach.  I think it does so more or less fairly so that supporters of each candidate probably agree with most of what's said.

For those who haven't read it, it makes the point that Trump falls in line with many great populists throughout history, from Tiberias Grachuss, through Andrew Jackson, etc.. The core of Trump's appeal is an argument that the system is rigged against the little guy, and that the system needs to be taken down and destroyed.  It is a big picture argument that doesn't require a lot of detail.  It also has a lot of emotional appeal because it goes directly to what frustrates many people about their government.

DeSantis' approach is not to destroy the system,  but rather to take control of the system and use it to rectify the damage done by the left/Democrats.  DeSantis is a lot more specific, detail-oriented, and analytical than Trump because he has to be.  Building something positive requires building alliances and coalitions as opposed to just tearing down the negative, which basically just requires one guy with a sledgehammer.

[bigheadfred]

But is it going to ultimately appeal to the mainstream voter? People, especially younger people, lack the focus and/or desire to parse through the information. IMO, he needs to (also) have a short version of his policies regarding immigration, the economy, etc. Don't try to make people think about it. Just tell them.

[Maj. Bill Martin]

But is it going to ultimately appeal to the mainstream voter? People, especially younger people, lack the focus and/or desire to parse through the information. IMO, he needs to (also) have a short version of his policies regarding immigration, the economy, etc. Don't try to make people think about it. Just tell them.

Well, he clearly appeals to a lot of people.  I think the people he has the hardest time appealing to are those who agree more with Trump that the primary goal is to tear the system down.  That's inherently a simpler message, and for the people who want that, DeSantis just isn't that guy.

[mountaineer]

Good article. I also appreciated your take on it, @Maj. Bill Martin