DeSantis Presents Conservative Media with an Agonizing Dilemma
By Jon Friedman, May 24, 2023
So Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has adopted the unorthodox method if proclaiming his 2024 candidacy by utilizing Twitter – and Elon Musk is handling the interview to boot.
No matter how you parse this bombshell – and the shock value of it aside – we can deduce that DeSantis is not acting out of a sign of strength. Is his campaign desperate for publicity? Is he going all-in on shock value alone? Is he getting down in the social media muck with Trump?
DeSantis has presented the conservative media with a big headache in the form of an agonizing decision:
How enthusiastically should journalists and pundits support the polarizing DeSantis, or at least give him the benefit of the doubt amid the candidate’s missteps?
When will it be time to write him off? Or when will they know to go all in on the 44-year-old upstart?
The media should be drooling over the story line of a smackdown between the grizzled veteran, Donald Trump, and DeSantis, the new kid on the block. Of course, South Carolina Gov. Tim Scott, who declared his candidacy on May 22 and happily tries to thread the needle by presenting an alternative to these combustible men, is another possibility.
Instead, the media fret that they will be doomed whether they come out in favor of either Trump or DeSantis before an outcome is assured on the Republican side. Trump is famously vindictive to reporters who don’t extend absolute loyalty.
DeSantis has exhibited a penchant for stubborn behavior that rivals that of Trump. Just ask the Walt Disney Co. Despite all appearances that he is fighting a losing battle, DeSantis has pledged to press on in his no-win fight.
DeSantis has been cagey so far. Naysayers will insist that his campaign has been indecisive while his supporters pat him on the back for not showing his hand too soon.
DeSantis has decided to play a long game, apparently believing that he should keep a low profile and let Trump burn out in public, and self-destruct under the weight of his legal entanglements. The Florida governor has resisted the temptation to engage Trump’s numerous barbs. DeSantis is betting on his strategy of letting Trump take center stage while the former president’s legal woes pile up in New York, Washington. D.C. and Georgia.
DeSantis has been a puzzle for the journalists who have expected him to pose a more forceful challenge to Trump. But DeSantis has steadily lost ground to his more experienced and media-savvy rival. One of DeSantis’ biggest obstacles so far is that he has not shown that he can stare down Trump. Each time Trump attacks him, DeSantis has not been able to deflect Trump’s barbs. Even if this response is central to DeSantis’ media strategy, the optic is not favorable to him.
Notorious Frontrunners
Ultimately, all journalists are notorious frontrunners and we lose interest quickly in public figures who disappoint us. We like to build up newcomers relentlessly – until the only way they can go is down. Then, we shake out collective heads and lament that the subject didn’t have what it takes and we consign that person to the scrap heap of history. But the conservative media may even set a standard, judging by its penchant to run back to support Trump as his polling numbers shine.
Look at the media’s reaction to DeSantis. Last November, journalists heaped praise on him when he ran away with the Florida governor race, like Secretariat at the Belmont Stakes in 1973.
DeSantis represented manna from heaven to the press: someone who leapt out of the shadows to command their respect. Overnight, DeSantis received favorable coverage, though little was known about how well he would handle the white-hot lights of a mano a mano race against the ever-resourceful Trump.
DeSantis, however, has not talked tough. He has seemed to go through stretches without talking at all, while Trump throws punches on his social-media site, at his rallies and in his selective interviews with media figures that he has approved. DeSantis failed to wow voters in New Hampshire during a recent pre-campaign stop.
DeSantis vs. Snow White
DeSantis has perplexed the right with his spiteful campaign against the Walt Disney Co. Why would a sitting governor feel a need to take his culture war to the doorstep of one of the most beloved American entertainment companies – not to mention a prominent contributor to his state’s coffers?
It seems like a culture war, or whatever you want to call it, that the stubborn DeSantis can’t win. This is a fight for control of the court of public opinion and DeSantis is ill-equipped to take on the holy trinity of Mickey Mouse, Snow White and Bob Iger.
Of course, the relentless Trump loves DeSantis’s discomfort and is poised to exploit it.
The senseless Disney flap is just one reason why the unquenchable right-wing media has not rallied to DeSantis’ side. They see poor judgment and they don’t like it. They see pettiness and they don’t respect it.
For DeSantis to gain the right’s trust, he will have to confine himself to the red-meat arena of politics, such as immigration. He will have to show he can win their hearts and minds.
Doesn’t everyone love Mickey Mouse and revere Snow White. Whether you’re by nature a staunch liberal, conservative or independent voter?
Plus, the Walt Disney Co. is run by Robert Iger, one of the savviest and most visionary chief executives in the land, someone who has his own deep ties to Washington, Wall Street and Hollywood and knows how to get his way.
To the frustration of DeSantis’ supporters, Trump recently demonstrated his trademark willingness to mix it up in his much-hyped town hall interview with Kaitlan Collins of CNN. For one night, at least, Trump showed he could still galvanize a friendly crowd.
And isn’t this why we love following presidential politics? The 2024 race for the White House, which unofficially began about five minutes after Joe Biden was declared the 2020 winner, is in full swing and appears to be wide open.
It really is the ultimate parlor game, isn’t it?
Jon Friedman wrote MarketWatch’s Jon Friedman’s Media Web column from 1999 to 2013 and has taught classes in journalism and other subjects at Stony Brook University. for the past decade. He is the author or co-author of three books and has been published in The New York Times Magazine, The Wall Street Journal.com, The New York Times Sunday Business Section, The New York Post, Our Town and the websites of such publications as Esquire, Psychology Today and Time.
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How enthusiastically should journalists and pundits support the polarizing DeSantis, or at least give him the benefit of the doubt amid the candidate’s missteps? When will it be time to write him off? Or when will they know to go all in on the 44-year-old upstart? (Image: Flickr)
