Conservative explains why Ron DeSantis 'is in danger of becoming Elizabeth Warren 2.0'

26 April 2023

To Ron DeSantis' cheerleaders on the right — a group that ranges from author Ann Coulter and the Daily Wire's Ben Shapiro to various writers for the National Review — the Florida governor is the Republican Party's best chance to liberate itself from Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election. DeSantis, as they see it, has plenty of MAGA appeal but without Trump's baggage.

DeSantis has yet to formally announce a presidential run, but pollsters are certainly treating him like a candidate. And in a hypothetical Trump/DeSantis matchup, Trump appears to have the advantage at the moment. FiveThirtyEight, combining the averages in various polls on the 2024 GOP presidential primary, found Trump leading DeSantis by roughly 23 percent.

With President Joe Biden having formally announced his reelection campaign, it's looking like 2024 could see a Biden/Trump rematch. And Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) has enthusiastically endorsed Biden, making it clear that he won't be running for president next year.

DeSantis' supporters are hoping that if he officially enters the presidential race, he will move ahead of Trump in the polls. But Never Trump conservative and former GOP strategist Tim Miller, in an article published by The Bulwark on April 26, argues that DeSantis, as a presidential candidate, has the same types of problems that Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) had when she ran for president in 2020.

At one point during the 2020 Democratic presidential primary, Warren — a highly influential figure in her party's liberal/progressive wing — appeared to be on track to receive the nomination. Warren was ahead of Sanders and now-President Biden in the polls, and her supporters liked the fact that she brought a strong New Deal/Great Society agenda to the table minus Sanders' "democratic socialist" label.

However, Warren's once-promising presidential campaign ran out of gas. And as Miller sees it, DeSantis has similar limitations as a presidential candidate.

"Ron DeSantis is in danger of becoming Elizabeth Warren 2.0," Miller argues. "Before the 'both sides' police turn on their sirens, let me just preface this by making clear that this isn't about the merits of their respective policy proposals. Neither is it an attempt to claim that DeSantis and Warren are equivalent on any moral, intellectual, physical, or even metaphysical scale. We are talking — purely and completely — about the raw mechanics of presidential politicking. And at that level, the underlying flaw in each of their early campaigns is the same."

The Never Trumper, a frequent guest on MSNBC, continues, "DeSantis and Warren were both well-positioned in the year before voting started on the basis of their broad, but shallow, popularity with party regulars. This support emanated from the fact that their base voters perceived both as pols who had success fighting for their interests and against the other side."

DeSantis and Warren have both enjoyed landslide reelection victories in their states. In deep blue Massachusetts, Warren was reelected by 23 percent in 2018; DeSantis defeated Democratic challenger Charlie Crist (a former Republican) by 19 percent in 2022.

But on a national scale, Miller contends, Warren and DeSantis are the types of candidates who have "compelling" arguments and "look good on paper but don't end up connecting with normie, pragmatic voters searching for a horse who can win it all."

"DeSantis has time to reorient his pitch," the former GOP strategist writes. "In 2019, it seemed as if Warren might be uniquely positioned to bridge the Bernie and Biden wings of the party. She ended up getting squeezed on both ends: not authentically Bernie enough for the comrades, a little too out there and unelectable-seeming for the normie Dems…. DeSantis also faces a danger from his right. If he doesn't stabilize his position, then it is entirely possible that a different bridge candidate could jump in and demonstrate more deftness at appealing to Trump's voters without seeming like an overly ideological weirdo to barstool bros."

Read Tim Miller's full Bulwark article at this link.

From Your Site Articles