Florida governor Ron DeSantis said something that made Donald Trump and his supporters angry. How deplorable! By “deplorable” I mean, “DeSantis actually said something that I agree with.”
From Politico, 19 August 2023:
“The Trump campaign and MAGA world on Saturday blasted Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for remarks appearing to label some of the former president’s supporters ‘listless vessels.'”
Here is the video posted by Politico in which DeSantis makes his claim about Donald Trump’s supporters in Congress:
It didn’t take long for Trump supporters to go on defense.
From Politico:
- ““To Hillary Clinton, Trump supporters are ‘deplorables.’ To Ron DeSantis, they are ‘listless vessels.’ The truth is, Trump supporters are patriots,” MAGA, Inc. spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said in a statement. “DeSantis must immediately apologize for his disgraceful insult.””
As William Shakespeare writes, “The lady doth protest too much, methinks.”
It is nonsense to compare the statement that Hillary Clinton made in 2016 to the statement that DeSantis made.
Back in 2016, plenty of voters sided with Trump over Clinton because they did not trust Clinton. In their eyes, Clinton had committed too many unethical (if not dishonest) acts, and they weren’t certain that she would be free of any legal actions against her. They didn’t know for certain what Trump would say or do if he became the President, but they were willing to risk having him be the President, rather than putting a known Democratic liar in the White House.
So, when Clinton referred to Trump’s supporters as deplorables, she attacked voters who supported Trump because they had sincere doubts about her. She demonstrated the accuracy of a political cartoon about her that was published in early 2017.
In contrast, DeSantis addressed the way that Trump’s current supporters readily accept whatever Trump says on social media.
In his commentary, DeSantis expresses his belief that Republicans should be basing their politics on a set of principles, not on the personality of a particular Republican politician.
In this particular case, DeSantis is correct. Trump’s current supporters are not being patriotic by continuing to support Trump. Instead, they are worshipping a golden calf.
The “Wanted” posters say the following about David: “Wanted: A refugee from planet Melmac masquerading as a human. Loves cats. If seen, contact the Alien Task Force.”