Ron DeSantis isn't the Never-Trump solution


Never-Trump Republicans got an odd bit of advice for their future from The Atlantic's Conor Friedersdorf over the weekend. Rather than permanently ally with Democrats or do the fruitless work of building a third party, Friedersdorf wrote, they should consider another option: Backing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) for president in 2024.
"The best way forward depends, in part, on how bad one believes Donald Trump himself to be for America," Friedersdorf wrote. "Is he no worse than any number of other populist demagogues who are capable of winning the White House, or is he sui generis, so that any likely alternative would damage America less? Probably the latter." Friedersdorf, a self-described "independent conservative," added: "DeSantis frustrates and disappoints me within normal parameters. He hasn't yet frightened me, as Trump does, as being superlatively incompetent, divisive, morally degenerate, or authoritarian."
The trouble is Friedersdorf's description of DeSantis doesn't ring wholly true. Competence? DeSantis has pretty much sided with anti-vaxxers in his state, even offering a cash bonus to police officers who have lost their jobs to mandates in other states, despite a summer surge of cases that pushed Florida into the top 10 states nationally in per-capita COVID deaths. Authoritarian? DeSantis governs a state that has stomped all over academic freedom by prohibiting state university professors from testifying in a voting rights lawsuit. If these are the "normal parameters" for conservatism, they're still alarming.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Friederdorf's analysis also relies too much on the notion that Trump is one-of-a-kind. Observers have long debated whether Trump is the culmination of decades of conservative culture warfare or something new and more dangerous. The best answer is probably "both." Trump might be uniquely awful, but his awfulness has acted as a catalyst for the entire Republican Party to become more extreme. GOP candidates now routinely make allegations of election fraud, while stalwart conservatives like Reps. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) and Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) have been all but exiled from the party for their insufficient fealty to the former president. Even if Trump disappeared from the scene tomorrow, he has reshaped the GOP in his own image.
It doesn't seem likely that principled conservatives can reverse or much slow that process by backing a Trump-lite candidate like DeSantis. It also doesn't seem possible for any candidate to oust Trump himself: Nearly 80 percent of Republicans want him to run for president again, which he will almost certainly do. You have to feel sympathy for the Never-Trump Republicans who find themselves politically homeless — neither fully Democrat nor Republican. But it won't be Ron DeSantis who leads them out of the wilderness.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Joel Mathis is a writer with 30 years of newspaper and online journalism experience. His work also regularly appears in National Geographic and The Kansas City Star. His awards include best online commentary at the Online News Association and (twice) at the City and Regional Magazine Association.
-
Law: The battle over birthright citizenship
Feature Trump shifts his focus to nationwide injunctions after federal judges block his attempt to end birthright citizenship
-
The threat to the NIH
Feature The Trump administration plans drastic cuts to medical research. What are the ramifications?
-
Courts try to check administration on deportations
Feature The Supreme Court will allow the Trump administration to end protected status for Venezuelans, but blocks deportations under the Alien Enemies Act
-
House GOP pushes ahead on deficit-boosting tax bill
Feature Republicans push a bill that will lock in Trump's tax cuts, cut Medicaid and add trillions to the national debt
-
'Gen Z has been priced out of a future, so we invest in the present'
instant opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Trump pardons Virginia sheriff convicted of bribery
speed read Former sheriff Scott Jenkins was sentenced to 10 years in prison on federal bribery and fraud charges
-
Germany lifts Kyiv missile limits as Trump, Putin spar
speed read Russia's biggest drone and missile attacks of the war prompted Trump to post that Putin 'has gone absolutely CRAZY!'
-
Donald Trump's foreign policy flip in the Middle East
Talking Point Surprise lifting of sanctions on Syria shows Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar are now effectively 'dictating US foreign policy'