A Tale of Two Sh*tties

Photos: Rebecca Blackwell and Lynne Sladky, AP

Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida went to Iowa last week to test the waters for his presidential run. He touted his defeat of vaccine mandates, his war against “woke” culture and “critical race theory,” and his campaign to silence LGBTQ+ discussions in schools. Troublingly, he got the biggest response for his blatant mistreatment of migrants: “I’m sick of elites imposing their vision on open borders on you and on us with them not having to face the consequences of it. So we thought it was worth it to send 50 illegals to Martha’s Vineyard,” DeSantis said, the crowd of some 1,000 people leaping to its feet to cheer.

Meanwhile, Donald Trump, who has already announced his candidacy for president and insisted he will run even if indicted, kicked off his campaign in Iowa yesterday to keep his support among GOP voters there secure. He filled a packed auditorium at the Adler Theater with some 2,400 supporters and reportedly shut down traffic in the city. Trump used his time largely to air old grievances about the 2020 election and to complain about being the target of so many investigations and prosecutors, while shoring up his base of MAGA supporters who see him as the only real deal.

The two candidates have taken different approaches to their campaigns, especially with respect to how they refer to each other. Trump has aggressively laid into his one-time protégé and now chief rival for the spot, while DeSantis has tried to avoid a fight and not even hit back when challenged.

On the other hand, when it comes to policies, the two appear eager to out-Fox the other. And the consequences of this for the nation and the world, as I explain below, are dire. 

Trump attacks, DeSantis doesn’t hit back

Deploying his favored nicknames of “DeSanctis” and “DeSanctimonious,” Trump told the crowd in Davenport that he would “protect Iowa ethanol from anyone who wishes to destroy it” and that DeSantis had “fought against it at every turn, and he’s going to do that again.” While a member of the House of Representatives, DeSantis had in fact voted several times to restructure or slash subsidies for ethanol among other agricultural products. 

Trump said DeSantis reminded him of failed nominee Mitt Romney, who lost to President Obama in 2012. He also criticized the Florida governor for voting to reduce benefits for Medicare and Social Security. All week, Trump has been posting polls showing him ahead of the Florida governor.

The crowd apparently didn’t respond enthusiastically to Trump’s attacks. Many are worried that a bitter fight within the GOP could wreck the party’s chances of defeating Joe Biden next November. Still, the tepid reaction didn’t deter Trump from casting a decidedly negative light over his rival.

DeSantis, however, has yet to criticize the former president, nor has he offered any kind of defense against the personal insults Trump has lobbed. These include Trump amplifying incendiary charges that DeSantis improperly hung out with high school girls when he was a teacher at a Georgia boarding school, Trump labeling DeSantis a “RINO globalist,” and Trump’s trial balloons of even more demeaning nicknames like “Meatball Ron” and “Tiny D.”

Out-Foxing the other

Both candidates appear to understand how they need to come off to win over the typical GOP primary voters, who tend to be dedicated Fox News watchers. That has meant adopting some of the most extreme positions of that network’s hosts. Both candidates are all-in, for example, on stoking fears about gender identity and race-conscious education. DeSantis has made it his “brand” to challenge liberals on all fronts on these issues, and Trump has recently taken a more menacing tone in his recent speeches against the trans community, vowing, for example to punish doctors and hospitals who perform gender affirming care to transgender youth.

But this loyalty to the Fox News narrative presents even darker dangers. Nowhere is that clearer than in recent red meat thrown by DeSantis to the audience of Tucker Carlson, who is adamantly against further U.S. involvement or support for Ukraine and is such a regular apologist for Vladimir Putin that state-run media in Russia regularly plays clips from his broadcasts.

For DeSantis, following Carson’s lead has meant a near full surrender to Putin’s aggression on the question of Ukraine. “While the U.S. has many vital national interests—securing our borders; addressing the crisis of readiness with our military; achieving energy security and independence; and checking the economic, cultural and military power of the Chinese Communist Party—becoming further entangled in a territorial dispute between Ukraine and Russia is not one of them,” Mr. DeSantis said via a statement that Carlson read aloud on his show. Notably, DeSantis is presently not even referring to the Russian invasion as a “war” but rather a “territorial dispute.”

It is a sharp and unprincipled break from his earlier positions. For example, as a House GOP representative in 2015, DeSantis criticized the Obama administration's response to the Russian annexation of Crimea. Back then, DeSantis said, “We in the Congress have been urging the president…to provide arms to Ukraine.” DeSantis made the remarks during an interview with conservative talk radio host Bill Bennett unearthed by CNN.

For his part, Trump has long been opposed to U.S. support for Ukraine and has indicated that if he were president, he would simply let Putin “take over” parts of Ukraine in a negotiated deal. Said Trump, “Both sides are weary and ready to make a deal” and the “death and destruction must end now.” He omits, of course, the plain fact that Putin could end the war, death and destruction at any time. Ukraine has no such option.

Notably, both men stand in stark opposition to the majority of their own party’s leaders on the question of Ukraine. 

Neither leading GOP presidential candidate offers any hope that the GOP will turn away from extremism, demonization of minorities and capitulation on the question of Russian aggression. The party of freedom and national security is now led by two contenders determined to elevate white grievance, government intrusion and the trammeling of rights, and appeasement if not open embrace of Russia to formal policy objectives.

Barbs and insults aside, assuming one of these two would-be authoritarians will be the ultimate GOP candidate, this means the United States faces a grave threat from within in 2024. That threat is propelled by a movement that draw strength from attacking the most vulnerable communities, while being enamored of, beholden to, or actually in league with an enemy power. 

That raises the stakes considerably, not only for America but for Ukraine in particular. Indeed the rest of the world must still deal with a hostile and warring Russia. But whether they have a leader and partner in the U.S. will hinge on who the American voters decide to put in the White House at the end of next year, Joe Biden or one of these two very dangerous men.