People Like The Idea of DeSantis More Than The Man Himself

A boring Trump sounds nice on paper, but it’s not what the people want

Ron DeSantis announced he was running for president in a glitchy Twitter Space that no one could listen to for over 20 minutes. It was an inauspicious start for the Florida governor, but his fans weren’t discouraged. They still insist the space went great for DeSantis. That opinion assumes Ron knocked it out of the park when he finally began to speak.

That ignores the actual content of the space. Rather than a milestone in new political technology, the Twitter Space resembled a boring think tank podcast. The technical glitches received the most attention, but DeSantis’s performance is the true story. He showcased his severe weaknesses in his big debut.

His opening speech was as exciting as an automated voicemail. The DeSantis’s campaign hype video accentuated the weirdness of it.

https://twitter.com/DeSantisWarRoom/status/1661517438272385025

Judging by the hype video (which probably should’ve included music), you would’ve thought Elon Musk was the candidate. In a speech about American decline, there’s more footage of Elon dancing in front of Teslas than there is of the American Comeback. Throughout the space, Elon proved to be the star of the show. The handpicked questioners focused more on praising the tech mogul than on the guy running for president. There were a lot of conversations between the guests and hosts where DeSantis never even chimed in. If everyone else in the space upstages the guy running for presidential, what does that say about the candidate?

DeSantis’s charisma woes don’t trouble his supporters. They believe more in the idea of DeSantis than the actual man. The idea of DeSantis appeals to conservatives of many different stripes. The right-wing chattering class wants a toned-down, respectable Trump. Many ordinary conservatives erroneously believe Trump did nothing in office and want a Trump “who will get things done.” People of a more dissident right persuasion want a Franco in the White House and see DeSantis as that figure. Never Trumpers and establishment Republicans want to move the party away from Trump and see DeSantis as the man to do that.

The idea of DeSantis is multi-faceted and differs from person to person. He is whatever DeSantis fans want him to be. 

All these different ideas of DeSantis imagine that he is a compelling politician. Thanks to conservative media boosting and various PR stunts, a large number of Republicans think the governor is a charismatic strongman. While DeSantis frequently lambasts the media, his stardom is largely a media creation. He’s utterly dependent on conservative media to bolster the idea of him. That contrasts to Trump, who won the 2016 primary in spite of conservative media’s bitter hostility towards him. Trump’s personality and message conquered Con Inc. opposition. 

DeSantis hopes conservative media and focusing on Iowa can win him the primary. Conservative media’s similar valorization of Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz hardly helped those candidates in 2016. Another hurdle in this strategy is the base’s intense identification with Trump, which is far stronger than it was in 2016. Many Republican voters were still skeptical of Trump even into the general election. The election win and his presidency cemented Trump as their leader. They still may have issues with the former president, but Republican voters still like him. They’re not going to be convinced by the charmless AI candidate to hate Trump.

Personality is critical to politics. Policies do matter, but they require great personal skills to sell to the public. Trump would’ve gotten nowhere without his charisma. His persona sold the GOP base on his America First agenda. DeSantis’s awkward meet-and-greets and notecard-dependent speeches indicates he does not have that “it” factor. Contrast the odd video of DeSantis awkwardly introducing himself to people at a New Hampshire restaurant with Trump showing up at a East Palestine video. The first resembles a parody video of a bad politician. The second shows an entire fast food joint fixated on Trump and hanging onto his every word and move. 

There are un-charismatic politicians who have done fairly well. George H. W. Bush is one. Hillary Clinton is another. But both Bush and Clinton ran as establishment candidates. Bush was also able to compensate for his odd manners by being a WASP patrician. Clinton was able to compensate with her charismatic husband and deep institutional support.  DeSantis is not running as an establishment candidate. He’s not a WASP patrician, and he’s not married to one of the most capable politicians of the 20th century. He instead bills himself as a populist firebrand taking on the establishment.

The problem is that a populist firebrand needs charisma. Huey Long, William Jennings Bryan, and George Wallace were popular politicians largely due to their personality. They could make crowds laugh and wildly cheer.  They knew how to talk to people. They were magnetic presences who captured the crowd’s attention wherever they went. People liked these men not just because of their politics. Their personalities resonated with the masses and inspired their devotion. They separated themselves from the usual dull politicians. DeSantis is not like these men. He’s more like a usual dull politician. 

The current DeSantis strategy is to expect that Ron can take down the most charismatic Republican leader since Reagan with canned lines and wonkery. This strategy failed in 2016, and it will do so again in 2024.

The real hope for DeSantis, and for any other non-Trump presidential contender, is that the frontrunner drops out. It’s unlikely that Trump’s legal problems or cringe nicknames DeSantoids throw at him will destroy him in the primary. The former president will win the nomination unless he pulls out. The other candidates believe this is a possibility due to the aforementioned legal problems.

But even if Trump left the race, DeSantis would still be saddled with his lackluster personality. He could still lose a Trump-free primary, especially if the Donald continues to attack him. And DeSantis is not guaranteed to be more electable against Biden than Trump. His weirdness could be turned into more of a liability than any of Trump’s faults.

DeSantis’s backers are confident that the more America sees of the governor, the more they’ll like him. That’s a mistaken view. Taken away from the confines of his conservative media safe space, Americans will be greeted by an overly scripted and tedious politician. Republicans will still like his record, but they won’t grow fond of DeSantis as a leader.

The idea of DeSantis appeals to many people. There’s a theoretical Trumpian figure people want who would have all of the 45th’s president’s strengths with none of his weaknesses. That’s a popular idea, but reality doesn’t offer us that fantasy leader. We’re instead given a choice between a boring Trump imitator and the real Trump. Most Republican voters will choose the real Trump.