Ron DeSantis is 'walking into the same trap' Ted Cruz walked into: conservative
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is making a big mistake in his soon-to-be-announced bid for the White House — a mistake also made by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) when he tried to run in 2016, said former GOP aide Tim Miller in the latest episode of his "Not My Party" feature in The Bulwark on Monday.
"[M]ost critically, he’s advancing a far-right legislative agenda in Florida that he thinks will appeal to a GOP primary electorate," said Miller. "In Florida, Ron’s changing the fifteen-week abortion ban so that it goes into effect after six weeks. Implementing constitutional carry, which allows people to pack heat without training, a background check, or a license. Vastly expanding the use of the death penalty. Banning drag queen story hour. Expanding the Don’t Say Gay bill all the way through high school. And getting millions in the budget to fly more illegal migrants to blue states in order to troll Joe Biden." And through all this, he's engaged in a legally perilous fight with Disney, "forever enraged that they had the gall to criticize his anti-gay bills and put a girl-girl kiss in the Buzz Lightyear movie."
The problem, said Miller, is "an agenda that appeals less to actual voters than it does to super-online weirdos, like Charlie Kirk and Steven Crowder." Indeed, even 62 percent of Republicans oppose the permitless carry bill, and some GOP lawmakers have spoken out against the six-week abortion ban.
This is setting DeSantis up to be defeated the same way Ted Cruz was, said Miller: Donald Trump can swoop in and look like the moderate option.
"Right now I know that might seem crazy," said Miller. "Banning Muslims: not moderate. But on a host of other issues, Trump cultivated an image that was less ideologically rigid than his opponents. He seemed way chiller than Ted Cruz on gays and abortion. He said he wouldn’t cut Social Security and Medicare. And he attacked the foreign-policy hawks in both parties for war-mongering. This allowed him to win over both the extreme members of the base that like how he fought the libs on cultural issues, but also appeal to casuals who liked The Apprentice that thought that some of the super-Christian Republicans were a little out there."
Ultimately, concluded Miller, "if [DeSantis] comes off as a weirdo pushing unpopular policies, then what’s the case for switching horses from Trump midstream again? There isn’t one."
Watch the episode below or at this link.
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