Numerous candidates, among them Haley, Vivek Ramaswamy, Hutchinson, and Larry Elder, a conservative radio host, have been running for some time. Tim Scott joined recently, and Pence and Chris Christie are expected to enter soon. Meanwhile, three current governors are also prospects. Such a scenario creates a potentially crowded debate stage. This means that oomph, which DeSantis lacks, is essential. When standing next to Pence, DeSantis fades.
Most of these candidates are in a similar situation to DeSantis. Implicitly and explicitly, they attempt to communicate that Republicans would benefit from nominating someone other than Trump. However, they are speaking to a party entirely transformed by Trump and enthralled to his populist rants, autocratic impulses, rightward lunges, and all-purpose rage. As a result, they are hesitant to establish too much distance from him while trying to beat him. They are walking a tightrope while trying to beat him without alienating his huge base. It leads to the circus of him but walking tightropes of their own.
And DeSantis has teetered on that tightrope time and again. His argument for being more electable is undercut by the Florida abortion law, which he avoids discussing and by the recent measure he approved allowing concealed firearms in Florida without a permit. In some instances, he champions legislation to the right of the post-primary electorate. Consequently, he seems nearly as intimidating as Trump to less conservative Americans, attempting to show the right wing of the Republican Party his aggressiveness and effectiveness.
But he comes across as mean, unlike Tim Scott, whose announcement emphasizes optimism instead of ire as a point of contrast with Trump, in the unlikely event that such a contrast has any significance. DeSantis, on the other hand, dwells on grievances and retribution, and he appears dreary. For example, he sent two planeloads of migrants to Martha’s Vineyard and boasted that Florida is “where woke goes to die,” which hardly invokes sunny imagery. It is Trump’s negativity stripped of his electricity.
DeSantis accuses Republicans of having a “culture of losing,” which is an anagram of the accusation that Trump is the cause of the party’s inability to win. However, the accusation may not resonate deeply with the Republican base. For many conservatives, Trump’s win in 2016 reinforced the notion that “electability” is a ploy used by the media and squishy Republicans to discredit candidates willing to fight for them.
