He positions himself as one of the number one enemies of the “wokists”. Ron DeSantis is one of the strong personalities of the Republican Party whose candidacy for the primary for the American election in 2024 is expected. By his radical positions and imprints of social and religious conservatism, the governor of Florida almost daily makes the headlines of American newspapers.
Recently, it was his law removing the special status enjoyed by Disney in his state that made an impression. This latest offensive against the so-called “woke” culture, this fringe of the American population who wants to be left, progressive, was recorded on Monday. He is in a way the “heir” of Donald Trump, even his greatest rival today, explains to 20 minutes Jean-Eric Branaa, specialist in American politics and lecturer at Assas-Paris II University.
Donald Trump’s “In Slippers”
Donald Trump has paved the way for a new tone in politics. When he embarked on the presidential campaign he won against Hillary Clinton in 2016, the former American real estate magnate imposed a new style, more brutal, simpler, without nuance, of address his electorate. As “brutal and conservative” as the sulphurous President of the United States until 2020, Ron DeSantis is still more “ideologue”, specifies Jean-Eric Branaa.
“He is part of a very conservative current which pushes to the extreme the questions of individual freedoms, the carrying of arms or the death penalty”, adds the specialist. Thus, the largely elected governor of Florida, with nearly 60% of the vote during the Midterms, slips into Donald Trump’s “slippers” and borrows “this provocative side to gain popularity”, analyzes Jean-Eric Branaa.
Now, while Donald Trump has already announced his candidacy for the next presidential election, Ron DeSantis can also act as a rival for the former president beaten by Joe Biden. “He tries to recover his electorate by exercising power with great brutality and a closure vis-à-vis the other camp”, that of the Democrats, adds the specialist. And the strategy seems to work since in a survey relayed by Forbes in February, a DeSantis candidacy against Biden would get 83% of the vote among Republicans overall, compared to 80% for Trump.
An “anti-wokist” ideology
A brutality exercised in favor of hard conservatism which is therefore reflected in its positions against the “woke” culture in “a fractured society and where the crystallized debate between ultra conservatism and “wokism” has taken all the place in politics”, explains Jean -Eric Branaa. “Florida is the tomb of ‘Wokism'”, he proudly declared in November, after being re-elected with flying colors as governor.
As early as 2022, Ron DeSantis restricted the teaching of subjects related to sexual orientation or gender identity in elementary school, a measure nicknamed by his opponents “Don’t say gay”. A few months later, the governor vigorously defended the banning of a high school course on African-American history, accusing its authors of wanting to indoctrinate children. New College was also the target of the DeSantis team, which reshuffled its reputedly progressive board of trustees to give it a conservative majority.
As far as Disney is concerned, the Republican governor attacked the special statute which offered him a large autonomy because the firm criticized his law on teaching in elementary school. “Disney spoke out against something that was only intended to protect young children,” he said, accusing the entertainment giant of indoctrinating children on LGBT + issues. With these measures, DeSantis “is in the process of dragging this far-right electorate”, summarizes Jean-Eric Branaa.
Florida as a laboratory of conservatism
In addition to its record against progressive ideas, one can add to the list the first execution of a death row inmate carried out in three years in Florida, approved by DeSantis. The latter has also put forward the idea of facilitating these death sentences by reducing the threshold of the number of votes necessary, within a criminal jury, to condemn an accused to death.
This former naval officer, Catholic, who embodies authority and the traditional family, therefore multiplies frontal policies to the point of wanting to make Florida a laboratory of conservative ideas with the aim, why not, of applying it to the head of the country. “Florida leads the nation,” he said in a speech relayed on his Twitter account at the end of February, quite proud of his actions at the head of his state. The title of his memoirs also attests to this: The Courage to Be Free: Florida as a Model for Righting America.
The application of his policy, and the regaining control of the territory of a firm as influential as Disney, “allows Ron DeSantis to appear as a strong politician, the one who made Disney bend, and thus to impose a stature of a strong man, a stature of a man who will not be afraid on the international scene”, still judges Jean-Eric Branaa. A strong point for the future American political battle. However, warns the specialist, “the fight will not be at the level of conservatism for the presidential election, but at the evangelical level”.