US Presidential Campaign: The Dilemma of Ron DeSantis

Trump’s first serious competitor is the conservative hardliner DeSantis. But the Republican faces a dilemma: he wants to be like Trump and different at the same time.

Actually, one might have thought that Donald Trump would be following the campaign launch of his former foster child with the utmost composure. In all polls, a clear majority of the Republican electorate wants the ex-president to return. Ron DeSantis is in second, quite far behind.

But Trump expects this to change suddenly: why else should he have been trying so persistently for weeks to make DeSantis politically impossible and humanly contemptible?

Trump fears DeSantis. He understood that there is an appetite for Trumpian content in the US, but little yearning for Trumpian chaos. That DeSantis could score as a kind of Trump with manners. A younger, unused new edition. That makes Trump nervous. And that’s why he reacts the way he always reacts in distress: he hits it.

DeSantis provokes with relish

The 44-year-old governor, who is popular in his home state, must not let this deter him: he has a Herculean task ahead of him. DeSantis needs to be better known across the country; and for the corresponding campaigns he has to raise money. So DeSantis has to convince major donors to fund his campaign and not Trump’s. He must also find a way to defend himself against Trump’s attacks below the belt without sinking to the level of his competitor.

Above all, however, he must clarify the contradictions that are associated with his person. On the one hand, DeSantis claims to only focus on the issues that people really care about: inflation, migration, crime – and not to let the crazy left foist trivialities on them. “Woke” – not with him!

On the other hand, it is precisely DeSantis who gleefully provokes in the Kulturkampf. Who never misses an opportunity to take a stand against the political zeitgeist with sensational actions from the right, on all sensitive issues such as abortion, sexual orientation, systemic racism.

A difficult dual role

What excites evangelicals, the Christian right, repels centrist swing voters. And they declared the Trump experiment a failure in 2020. By Wednesday night, DeSantis was adept at playing a dual role. Playing mainly the stalwart pragmatist in Florida – which secured him a landslide re-election last year. And at the same time nationally the tough culture fighter, who was constantly in the spotlight with one stunt after the other.

Moderate America was irritated. And if you admire the Floridian’s punchy moments, finding him dashing, principled and fearless, you might as well go for the original. That’s the DeSantis dilemma: he wants to be similar and different at the same time. Until he resolves that, Trump will continue to dominate the polls.