It starts like a barroom joke.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cWhat do Elon Musk and Ron DeSantis have in common?\u201d The answer, \u201cWhen either one laughs, no one believes them\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0But their \u201caffect\u201d similarities aside, the Governor of the \u201cFree State\u201d of Florida introduced himself as a candidate for President in 2024 last night, and he did it in an \u201codd\u201d way.\u00a0\u00a0There was no rally in Tallahassee,\u00a0\u00a0no confrontational gathering across the lake from Mar-a-Lago and his chief competitor for the nomination.\u00a0\u00a0There wasn\u2019t even a reminiscent introduction from the DeSantis \u201chomestead\u201d in Dunedin, Florida.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Instead, Governor DeSantis officially began his quest to \u201cslay\u201d Donald Trump in a podcast, actually a \u201ctwitter-cast\u201d, with the controversial billionaire owner of Twitter, Elon Musk. They were excited \u2013 mostly because the Twitter feed broke down, the technical \u201croom\u201d on Twitter couldn\u2019t deal with the volume of subscribers. It turned into a good old fashioned \u201cradio\u201d interview, something that Herbert Hoover or Wendell Wilke would be proud of. The \u201cnext level\u201d of American politics ended up going back to the old days of \u201cFireside Chats\u201d, though the fire seemed to flicker from time to time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
DeSantis got to give his \u201cspeech\u201d, again doubling down on his wedge issues: crime,\u00a0\u00a0virtue signaling and pandemic controls.\u00a0\u00a0He pledged to take on important issues, but seems to spend a lot more time on “wokeness” then results.\u00a0\u00a0In fact, \u201cwoke, woke, woke\u201d \u2013 whatever that really means – was the central theme of his statement.\u00a0\u00a0DeSantis wants Florida to be the place \u201c\u2026where woke comes to die\u201d. And he would like to make the nation the same.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
From a purely political standpoint, DeSantis has a tough task.\u00a0\u00a0The Republican Party membership (as opposed to the leadership) is \u201clocked down\u201d by the twice impeached, once indicted, defeated former President of the United States who lives on the east coast of Florida.\u00a0\u00a0The Governor is trying to get to the \u201cright\u201d of Trump without attacking that most popular Republican.\u00a0\u00a0And he wants to contrast himself as a \u201cwinner\u201d, indirectly portraying the man of Mar-a-Lago as the ultimate loser \u2013 all without using his name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It’s an interesting dance, trying to avoid getting swatted by Trump, while running against him.\u00a0\u00a0So far, he\u2019s avoided many Trump attacks, but hasn\u2019t made much political headway against the MAGA leader.\u00a0\u00a0Trump\u2019s best line so far,\u00a0Ron DeSanctimonious;\u00a0\u00a0isn\u2019t working.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s also interesting to hear both DeSantis and Musk rail against \u201celites\u201d and big tech.\u00a0\u00a0If elite is determined by education, both Musk and DeSantis are Ivy Leaguers, the very definition of American elitism.\u00a0\u00a0And, of course, you can\u2019t be more elite than being one of the top-ten wealthiest men in the world, or bigger tech than the creator of Tesla.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0But that\u2019s all straight from the MAGA playbook; \u201cI\u2019m not a common man, but I know what you need\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Musk Twitter-cast descended into a long discussion of Covid policy, with Musk, the moderator, and DeSantis\u2019s own \u201cexpert\u201d all bemoaning the Federal Covid response.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s reminiscent of Steve Bannon\u2019s desire to \u201cdeconstruct\u201d the so-called \u201cadministrative state\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0The podcast went on to talk about how they could remove bureaucratic power from the Federal agencies. That’s probably not the most important point for most \u201cregular\u201d voters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then it was onto Disney. DeSantis made the corporation of Mickey Mouse the \u201clawless bad guy\u201d, backed by the corrupt media.\u00a0\u00a0The reality, again:\u00a0\u00a0this can\u2019t be resonating with \u201cJoe MAGA\u201d \u2013 it\u2019s a political-business feud.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ok, after an hour of listening to Twitter, I guess I\u2019m showing my age. I\u2019m not a podcast guy, other than it serves as a good way to fall asleep. Looking back at recent \u201copening arguments\u201d: Obama on the steps of the Illinois Capital in Springfield, Biden coming \u201cout of retirement to save the Nation\u201d, and even Trump coming down the Golden Escalator; this Twitter-cast seems pretty lame, more like C-Span Radio. You have to be deeply invested in the subject to even pay attention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
An hour of Musk, DeSantis and \u201cguests\u201d was hardly groundbreaking conversation, and seems an unlikely \u201claunch pad\u201d for the DeSantis campaign. He\u2019s officially in, hoping to be the Trump-like alternative to the man himself for the MAGA world. But my take: he\u2019s ready for softball questions on \u201cTwitter time\u201d, but not ready for \u201cprime time\u201d. I look forward to seeing him on a debate stage with Trump. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
His only hope there: that the Network crashes as fast as Twitter did.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"