A Letter to the DeSantis Fan-Boys From a Real Never Trumper
Level-setting on the New Precious.
In 2024, the chosen one will be Gov. Ron DeSantis. It has thus been decreed by the old-guard members of Conservative Inc. Or at least the ones calculating enough to have survived the MAGA takeover.
Rupert has dubbed him DeFuture. Republican hedge fund donors have taken their Trump tax cut and run. National Review is indistinguishable from a DeSantis Fanzine, lavishly extolling his virtues and wagging their finger at anyone who dares challenge their precious. Ben Shapiroās Daily Wire is not any less effusive and is already cashing in on the new bell cow.
To be honest, I understand this calculation. DeSantis is the golden ticket. Heās the one weird trick that will make all their Trump Troubles go away without their having to suffer any additional political pain or consequences from having made a deal with the devil. DeSantis 2024 will let them be members in good standing on the team again. He will eradicate any nagging doubts about whether they were empowering a man who might bring the constitutional republic they claim to love to its knees.
For most of them, the desire for this trick to succeed is a refreshing change from the last 7 years, because itās completely authentic. Itās in their bones. The sight and sound of a cherubic, nasal-voiced Ivy Leaguer giving local journalist āelitesā the what-for gives them a Matthewsian thrill up the leg. For them, the highlight of 2022 was seeing the triggered libs complain about how Ron had tricked desperate Andres into getting on a plane to Massachusetts as part of an Andover-style prep school prank at the expense of the haughty Marthaās Vineyard librarian who canceled Alan Dershowitz.
That is their shit. Reaganās revolutionaries had the air traffic controllers, Ron controls his human trafficking by air.
And, hey, who am I to deny them their fun. Might not be my cup oā joe. Give me a shot of Larry or Liz instead. But we can agree to disagree. Fan-girling for a politician is every content-creating Americanās birthright.
The issue for me arises when the DeSantis propagandists turn their fire and start issuing Principled Never Trump purity tests on the OGs. Making demands of those of us who did not spend the last seven years trying to titrate precisely how much lib-owning we needed to do to balance out a few precisely worded tip-toes away from Mr. Trump.
What these folks are trying to do is set up shit-tests in which True Never Trumpers must accede to the DeSantis Dominionāor else they are tarred as being just as hack-ish and disingenuous and grift-y as the anti-antis have been.
Over at the Dispatch, the man formerly known as Allahpundit addressed the psychology of this tete-a-tete quite deftly, explaining the disdain that those of us who have been stalwart on the Trump matter feel for the cowards who danced around it and their loathing of us for our purity tests.
But I wanted to be a bit more forward looking and prescriptive. Offer the āRon johnsā (their stan name is still a work in progress) a guide to how I will treat his campaign against Trump should he pursue one. This way, if they have any doubt about whether I am adhering to Muh Never Trump Principles, they can check back in on it from time to time.
Here goes.
Dear Residents of DeSantistan,
Itās nice to hear from you. I notice you have had some harsh words for Mr. Trump of late. You might even think heās a Bad Orange Man? Concur! So lucky for you to have been awoken from your torpor on this matter at the most convenient time imaginable.
Before we get to the meat of my correspondence, I do have to mention that we missed having you on board these past few annums: During the 2016 general election, Impeachment One, the 2020 Republican primary, the 2020 general election, the alarming interregnum, the 2021 Georgia run-off, Impeachment Two, opposing the Trump election deniers in the 2022 midterms, and the recent FBI raid on the former presidentās home.
Better late than never.
Itās especially nice to hear that your candidate plans to challenge and defeat Mr. Trump once and for-all. Though you might forgive a bit of tepidness in our anticipation for this event given that he hasnāt actually done anything yet and weāve been disappointed by your ilk so many times before (see above).
You also might forgive those of us who have spent seven years fighting Trump if we are not super thrilled to jump on board with someone described by Rich Lowry as being not just from the āTrump Wingā of the party but the āTrump fuselage, wing and landing gear.ā (This was intended, I believe, as a compliment).
Bearing all that in mind, I want to put forth what I, as a charter Never Trumper, will do and not do in order to provide the aid and comfort you are demanding for your chosen candidateās campaign against the former president.
Weāll start with the will nots (natch).
I will not be a human shield for Ron to protect him from all the hard (and not so hard) questions about Donald Trump. For example, you might feel like it is not strategic for him to state clearly that it's bad for the man he supported for president twice to have had dinner with one of the nationās leading white supremacists. I, for one, am not certain that this convenient silence is good strategy. Maybe itās true he might need the votes of anti-semites, maybe itās not. But I am sure that itās not too much to ask a prospective president what they think about it.
I will not give him a pass when he refuses to provide an answer, any answer, about whether or not he thinks Donald Trumpās coup attempt was a good thing or a bad thing. Given that his only comments to date were supportive of the coup, it feels like his updated views on the matter are something we should hear about before we give him the keys to the kingdom.
I will not practice strategic silence while he exhibits every single behavior of enablement and collaboration with the crazy that got us to Donald Trump in the first place. Here is a good book about the dangers of this approach that I would recommend you check out if you disagree on this point.
I will not pretend that he isnāt anti-vaxcurious, didn't hire an anti-vax surgeon general, and didn't oversee a spike in COVID deaths after a life-saving vaccine was available. I am sorry that these facts make you uncomfortable. But perhaps your support of DeSantis would be even more convincing to us if you granted them and said that you still preferred him to Trump?
I will not pretend that his decision to sign and champion a bill that would bar teachers from giving students a word problem that describes my nuclear family is needed to counterbalance the āwokeā school system; or a no big deal effort to desexualize schools; or actually an anti-grooming bill; or whatever the latest spin is.
I will not shine his turds when he enacts despicably cruel public policy stunts that serve zero purpose for his constituents, such as tricking Venezuelan asylees into getting on planes from Texas to Massachusetts just so he can earn plaudits from Fox & Friends and the speakers at Kari Lake rallies.
I will not demand that popular and viable Republican governors who have classically conservative principles and acted with a modicum of integrity during the Trump era should stand aside because their presence might hypothetically hurt the candidacy of someone who showed no such courage or fortitude.
And, finally, being Never Trump does not require I participate in your efforts to prop up a man who cut the single most obsequious ad in service to our nationās worst president. If you havenāt watched that ad in a while, please take a moment to do so now.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1YP_zZJFXs
Yikes. Speaking of grooming, I wouldnāt let the person in that video coach my kid, for fear she might be groomed into this creepy cult.
That type of ostentatious service to the irredeemable monster who wanted to turn this great country into an autocracy shows a lack of judgment so extreme that for meāand I suspect many other Never Trumpersāit is forever disqualifying.
But even in spite of alllllll that. Despite his use of state-power to go after people and companies whose politics he doesnāt like. Despite his targeting of families like mine with needlessly spiteful anti-gay legislation. Despite his status as Mr. Trumpās number one ball fluffer. Here are the things I will do when commenting on Ron DeSantisā primary campaign against a man I still believe is an existential threat to the country:.
Number one: If a hypothetical primary campaign between Trump and DeSantis remains competitive 15 days before the California primary and Ron/Don are the only viable options, I will suck it up, re-register as a Republican, and vote for your man in my states' nominating contest. I will cast this vote despite his myriad transgressions against decency and Never Trump orthodoxy outlined above (and cut for space). I will write about this vote publicly to explain why it is important to support Trumpās opponents, however imperfect they may be. I will do this before the election, not weeks after the fact when it makes no difference. (Caveats: (1) If there is a competitive Democratic primary in which I have a strong preference, that may change the calculus. (2) If Ron runs a campaign where he pledges to Muslim Ban even harder than Trump did, or some noxious equivalent.)
Not only will I do that, but . . .
Number two: I am willing to go a step further and offer you another olive branch. If your candidate ever shows even the vague outline of a pair of balls and stands up to the man you now agree is a grave threat, I will compliment him for it.
That is right. I will praise Ron DeSantis!
For example, maybe this week DeSantis might consider following in a few of his prospective competitorsā footsteps and saying something to the effect of: āYou know, I donāt appreciate that Donald had dinner with two anti-semites, one of whom is the most despicable nazi scum in our entire nation, and if I was president, racist douche canoes such as that would get no hearing from my White House.ā
Should DeSantis try something like that on for size, I will provide the heartiest of atta boys. (And if DeSantis doesnāt say something like that, then maybe you should ask yourselves who and what DeSantis thinks his base is?)
Iām not holding my breath, but hey, who doesnāt love being pleasantly surprised?
So thatās it, thatās the best youāre gonna get from a Never Trumper. If I were you, I would take that deal and run!
But if these terms arenāt amenable because youād rather have us as foils to curry favor with your MAGA palsāwell thatās fine, too. I understand that you have to preserve your viability in case the DeSantis thing doesnāt work out. So in the meantime, good luck with the fanzine, hope Ron makes the maneuvering easy for ya out there on the trail.
Tim
