Before his stump speeches in his reelection campaign last year, Ron DeSantis decided to incorporate a video montage that depicted him being excessively rude to journalists during press conferences. This display of pettiness and lack of grace resonated with the Florida governor’s base. I had the opportunity to witness this video at a DeSantis rally in Melbourne, Florida, last fall, while standing with a group of local reporters in an elevated press pen. The stark contrast between the polite behavior of DeSantis’s young volunteers towards the press corps and the candidate’s ostentatious display of rudeness was evident.
However, there was a brief departure from “Dunking Ron” last night as “Conciliatory Ron” made an appearance. DeSantis’s decision to grant CNN’s Jake Tapper a sit-down interview in South Carolina reflected his trailing position behind Donald Trump in the race for the Republican presidential nomination. But more importantly, it signaled a departure from one of DeSantis’s deeply held beliefs that mainstream journalists should be treated with undisguised contempt as enemies. DeSantis has realized that his approach to the campaign is flawed. He had promised to be Trump with better focus, but instead, he has become Trump without the humor. This ugliness has caused the Republican base to recoil. In a belated attempt to salvage his campaign, the Florida governor seems to have embraced a shift away from his peevishness.
DeSantis likely played the video montage in Melbourne because he had seen Trump’s attacks on the “fake news media” and witnessed how he led his supporters in fervent disdain towards journalists at his rallies. Unfortunately, DeSantis drew the wrong conclusion from Trump’s theatrics. Despite being an intelligent individual, DeSantis failed to realize that Trump’s hostility towards the press was merely an act. Throughout his life, Trump has frequently contacted reporters to engage in casual conversation. After leaving office, he willingly shared information with multiple authors for their books about his time in the White House. Trump does not harbor a true hatred for the press; if anything, he enjoys their company a bit too much. In fact, he once referred to a reporter as his “psychiatrist” while expressing his fondness for her.
In contrast, DeSantis genuinely despises the media due to their intrusion, attention, and challenging questions. He has a peculiar habit of shaking his head like a doll on a dashboard when confronted with questions he deems beneath him. He even exhibited this behavior during a visit to Japan before officially announcing his presidential campaign when someone had the audacity to inquire about his candidacy, which was obvious to everyone. This head-shaking creates an odd effect where his eyeballs appear fixed while the rest of his head oscillates around them. It’s an alarming telltale sign of irritation or discomfort. I can’t help but think that playing a game of poker against him would be quite advantageous.
However, when facing Jake Tapper during the interview, DeSantis managed to keep his head movements in check and instead presented an appearance of earnest dullness. He evaded questions about the legitimacy of the 2020 presidential election and the possibility of the former president facing criminal charges, explaining that he preferred to “focus on looking forward.” DeSantis also conceded that many individuals who criticize “wokeness” struggle to define the term. When asked about extending Florida’s new six-week abortion restrictions nationwide, he sidestepped the question by declaring that he would be a “pro-life president” and suggesting that a Democratic Congress would push for extreme measures such as allowing abortions even after birth. (Tapper didn’t challenge this assertion at the time, but later clarified its meaning with the campaign, which explained that it referred to denying medical care to any fetus that survived an abortion procedure.) The only mistake the governor made was using the idiom “the proof is in the pudding” when addressing allegations of his campaign’s failure, prompting an unkind, albeit unverified, story claiming that he once ate chocolate pudding straight from the tub using his fingers.
To say that DeSantis gave off a presidential vibe during the interview, as proclaimed by CNN pundit Bakari Sellers, would be an overstatement. However, it’s worth noting that this was a different, more conciliatory version of the Florida governor that progressive journalists have never encountered before. This change is a result of DeSantis needing the establishment media to treat him as a credible threat to Trump. The polls are unfavorable, the tides are shifting, and his campaign recently downsized by laying off several staff members. Moreover, although DeSantis managed to raise an impressive $20 million from mid-May to June, his reliance on wealthy donors has become a concern. NBC’s analysis revealed that over two-thirds of DeSantis’s funds, nearly $14 million, came from donors who had already contributed the legal maximum and couldn’t donate again. These wealthy supporters act more strategically than grassroots supporters and aren’t interested in backing a losing candidate solely due to admiration for his principles. Furthermore, the formerly supportive Murdoch empire’s enthusiasm for the Florida governor has noticeably waned in recent weeks.
As a result, DeSantis has ventured away from friendly platforms like Fox News and partisan sites and has embraced encounters with journalists who may ask challenging questions, such as “Who won the 2020 election?” He needs to prove that he is more than just the most popular also-ran, even though the entire race still revolves around the former president. “Team DeSantis refuses to see the race for what it is,” tweeted Bill Scher, the politics editor of the Washington Monthly. “The race is not about who has the best tax plan. The race is: Trump, yes or no.” The timing of the CNN interview further illustrated this challenge, as it was delayed due to news of a potential third indictment against Trump and competed with reports of the Michigan attorney general charging 16 individuals for filing false claims that Trump had won the 2020 election.
For DeSantis to make a comeback, he must overcome four obstacles, three of which are within his control and one that is not. Firstly, he must overcome his reluctance to directly criticize Trump, as appearing fearful will not help him prevail against a bully. Secondly, his decision to position himself to the right of Trump on significant cultural issues, such as COVID policies, LGBTQ rights, and abortion, could have negative consequences, not just in the general election but also in the primary. Thirdly, DeSantis still lacks credibility when it comes to foreign and economic policies. He briefly downplayed the significance of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, seemingly to curry favor with Tucker Carlson, before revising his stance. His book, “The Courage to Be Free,” and his campaign speeches focus heavily on his pandemic policies and his fight against Disney, while neglecting pocketbook issues.
It’s true that Trump has taken inconsistent positions on numerous subjects and likely couldn’t locate Ukraine on a map. However, this brings us to DeSantis’s fourth problem, his personality, which he struggles to control. DeSantis lacks natural humor, charm, and entertainment value. Just as he fails to comprehend the pro-wrestling-style performance involved in Trump’s alleged animosity towards news outlets, he fails to grasp that Trump’s occasional flirtation with bigotry is often tempered with a knowing wink.
Recently, the DeSantis team shared a video created by a Twitter user known as “Proud Elephant,” which criticized Trump for his 2016 speech promising to protect LGBTQ citizens. The video contained homophobic elements, featuring shirtless bodybuilders alongside mentions of DeSantis’s “anti-trans” bills. In response, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg noted the peculiarity of proving one’s manhood by sharing a video that juxtaposes images of the candidate with oiled-up, shirtless bodybuilders. Buttigieg’s husband, Chasten, offered an even sharper critique by stating, “This is actually very gay.” The Log Cabin Republicans, an LGBTQ group affiliated with the party, tweeted that while conservatives are committed to preserving women’s sports, ensuring women’s spaces are protected, and strengthening parental rights, DeSantis’s extreme rhetoric has crossed into homophobic territory. Removing the clownishness from DeSantis’s campaign would be a step towards a more inclusive and respectful approach.
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