It's a question getting kicked around a lot right now on Twitter.
There aren't a lot of choices if one believes that the Republican Party has a future. Pence comes in third in polls about who Pubs want to see as the presidential nominee in 2024, but what, exactly, is his lane? If it comes down to a juxtaposition of him and DeSantis, he is easily framed as the straddler, oh so careful not to commit himself on hard cultural-issue questions, whereas DeSantis seems to like to face them squarely.
But, conversely, that's a big DeSantis problem. He seems willing to use the power of the state to counter forces that no conservative is pleased with. And courts are striking him down on it. Woke corporations are a disturbing feature of 2022 American life, but it's not government's purview to deal with it.
"I think that Ron DeSantis has lined himself up almost entirely with Donald Trump, and I think that’s very dangerous,” Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) told the New York Times. If DeSantis was nominated, she “would find it very difficult” to support him.
“A number of Republicans would be far, far better for the country and the GOP,” Never Trump commentator David French wrote in a Twitter thread on the “DeSantis discourse.” “So hopping on the DeSantis train simply to block Trump is *way* premature.”
But all of these considerations only matter of one feels certain that the GOP can get the Trumpist infection out of its veins over the next two or three election cycles.
I don't. Consider DeSantis himself, for instance. He's been out campaigning for Kari Lake and Doug Mastriano. Instant disqualifier. Negates any compelling aspects of his resume.
Pence likewise loses the Never-Trumper-who's-determined-to-stay-Republican with this kind of spinelessness:
Pence prostituted his reputation for Christian piety to the most vile figure in the history of American presidential politics, a man who modeled the opposite of every virtue taught in Sunday school. Pence lent his credibility as a religious man to a villain, and gave permission to millions of self-styled Christians to vote for him. Pence’s pious conscience was remarkably quiescent when Trump encouraged his followers to rough up hecklers; when he bore false witness against Muslim Americans (falsely claiming that he saw them celebrating after 9/11); when he attempted to extort the president of Ukraine to lie about Joe Biden; when he separated asylum-seeking parents from their children; when he refused to condemn the tiki-torch Nazi wannabes in Charlottesville; when he elevated a series of kooks and conspiracists to high office; and when he insisted that the election had been stolen.
Pence was fine with all of it.
. . . Worse than simply remaining silent, he played the toady with seemingly endless reserves of self-mortification, uttering cringeworthy encomia to Trump’s “broad-shouldered leadership” (a phrase he repeated at least 17 times), and audacious lies about matters big and small.
There was no bottom to Pence’s fawning. To please Trump, he called Joe Arpaio, a convicted criminal (pardoned by Trump) and thuggish abuser of power, a “tireless champion of the rule of law” and said he was “honored” by Arpaio’s presence at his speech. He claimed, preposterously, that Trump had performed magnificently in the face of the COVID pandemic: “President Trump marshaled the full resources of our federal government from the outset. He directed us to forge a seamless partnership with governors across America in both political parties.”
When Pence traveled to Ireland on an official visit, he didn’t stay in Dublin, but traipsed140 miles west to stay at the Trump International Golf Links and Hotel in Doonbeg, necessitating a 40 minute flight and hour-long drive each way. Must have been inconvenient, but then, if Trump had asked Pence to crawl both ways, he would doubtless have obliged.
Nikki Haley? Loved her as ambassador to the UN. But she was one of the first post-January 6 to make the pilgrimage to Mar-a-Lago. Instant disqualifier.
But here's the thing: It doesn't matter to the GOP what any Never-Trumper thinks anyway. Not the keep-the-party-together types or those like me who deem it hopeless. Republicans don't need us.
The party chews up and spits out anyone who acts on principle, even those who tried as long as possible to allow for Trump's dominance of its direction, and maneuver within that framework.
So is DeSantis a viable alternative?
Because of where I stand on the Republican Party's moral rot, I really don't find it a very interesting question.
In 2024, the GOP will put up somebody who is either a coward, a nut, or a sycophant, of some combination of the three.
Doesn't bode any better for the country than whatever hot mess the Democrats come up with.
Can't see that I have a horse in this race.
I completely agree that DeSantis and Pence are too Trumpist to merit consideration. In a better world, Mitt Romney would run again. But that's not happening. Cheney or Kinzinger would be longshots. Yes, Haley gave us bad optics with the visit, but she's shown an independent streak before. She might be the best in a field that runs the gamut from disgusting to pathetic to merely weak.
ReplyDeleteI agree with everything said here. A true conservative has no options, at least none that have shown themselves thus far.
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