You Can’t Scapegoat DeSantis

The progressive left loves a scapegoat. Anything to draw attention away from the failures of Democrat leaders seems to work - and Trump has been the scapegoat for failing Democrat policies since he entered the run for the oval office in 2016, and even after he left.

Following his departure from the White House and his removal from social media, Trump still remains the most talked-about figure in contemporary politics. The media just can’t get enough of him, and understandably so - he drives ratings. Without him, CNN is struggling to keep up with the numbers it used to boast during Trump’s time in office. Other media outlets, save for Fox News, are also seeing a decline in viewership.

With Trump barely in the rearview mirror, the mainstream media blames every single one of Biden’s policy failures on Trump. From the handling of the coronavirus to the economic impact of the lockdowns, it’s all Trump’s fault. It’s Trump’s fault that the media refused to take the lab-based origins of the coronavirus seriously. It’s Trump’s fault that Biden scaled back border protection and allowed countless illegal immigrants to flood through. It’s Trump’s fault that the Democrats’ policy of providing generous unemployment benefits has caused a steep increase in the unemployment rate. It’s Trump’s fault that Hamas fired rockets into Israel, despite his successful efforts to promote a peace deal in the Middle East. It’s Trump’s fault that the price of gas is going up, which also makes the price of food go up - and everything else.

It’s the energy crisis of the 1970s all over again, but this time it’s all Trump’s fault, and Biden simply “inherited” the problems despite repealing every successful Trump policy that kept the economy growing. When Trump said he would make America great again, he delivered on that promise. It’s not his fault that his opponents don’t see America’s greatness as anything to aspire to and prefer to badmouth the United States to the international community as if it’s something to be ashamed of.

Trump’s fading relevance also means that the media is looking for a new scapegoat to hold accountable for all the Democrats’ missteps.

Enter Ron DeSantis. The most obvious choice for President in 2024. DeSantis’ rise in national politics has also led to a rise in attention of the wrong variety. The progressive left, which is running out of steam with the Trump train, has now found a scapegoat with DeSantis.

But things may not be so easy with DeSantis, who’s no pushover. A seasoned lawyer who dots his i’s and crosses his t’s, family man, and one who doesn’t play with Washington insiders, is someone who the establishment fails to wrap its head around, much less its hands. His youth is also a credit to him: he doesn’t have decades of baggage behind him. No failed policies and bad voting records to account for. Even DeSantis’ personal life is a model of good behavior: he’s happily married with three kids - a model for the nuclear family. Ron DeSantis is, in other words, an American.

And to think that DeSantis could’ve almost never become governor when he was running against Democrat Andrew Gillum, who was laid low by his own personal misconduct. The Democrats really know how to pick a winner.

But will the media be as successful at scapegoating DeSantis as it did Trump? Probably not. Unlike Trump - and these differences are what set the two men apart - DeSantis keeps his cards close to his chest.

DeSantis doesn’t rant about his political opponents. He doesn’t give the left the ammunition it so easily received for free from Trump whenever he went on a tirade at an event or on social media. DeSantis is a man of action. When he says he wants to do something, he’ll simply do it, and he knows how to do it thanks to his familiarity with both the law and the political system that Trump felt alienated by and never bothered to learn. While the policies of both men are similar, DeSantis knows how to put those policies into action and ensure that they are followed to the letter.

With all that in mind, attacks against DeSantis can be blunted, and have been blunted ever since the media took aim at his leadership. One of DeSantis’ primary opponents on the left, Nikki Fried, has embraced conspiracy theories about his handling of the coronavirus using falsified claims by a so-called “whistleblower” who accused the governor of hiding or doctoring COVID-19 data.

Even CNN, unable to substantiate Fried’s claims, grilled her over it. Despite their inability to blame DeSantis for problems unrelated to his administration, the term #DeathSantis continues to trend every other week, with ample pushback. Most recently, DeSantis was blamed for a motor accident at a Pride parade in Ft. Lauderdale, with the mayor labeling what was later found to be a tragic accident as a “terror attack” on the city’s LGBTQ community.

DeSantis’ detractors were quick to point to his policy of not charging citizens who injure protesters with their vehicles as a reason for why it happened - never mind the fact that the law itself says that a “driver is NOT liable for injury or death caused if fleeing for safety from a mob,” with emphasis on the motive. A simple review of the facts would show that any citizen who deliberately runs over peaceful protesters (not that Pride marches are even protests to begin with) would be appropriately charged today, just as they would even before DeSantis signed the law.

Progressives are unlikely to be able to get those attacks to stick, as the mainstream media, which still holds itself above a certain standard, are required to stick to the facts no matter how inconvenient.

The media may have enjoyed flourishing ratings with Trump, feeding the sharks with whatever bits of meat that they could chew, but they’ll have a much harder time with DeSantis and some of them are going to starve because there’s little to no meat to chew on. Simply put, DeSantis isn’t controversial as much as progressives would like to make him.

For all intents and purposes, DeSantis is well-liked by the people of Florida, with a job approval rating of 53 to 60 percent. The media’s well-worn efforts to generate controversy to fuel the fire that keeps their newsrooms operational do not work so well when DeSantis’ performance continues to contradict any narratives against him. If the media knows what’s good for its long-term survival, it’ll be for DeSantis, rather than against him. 

You can follow Ian Miles Cheong on Twitter @stillgray