Is This the Weirdest Ad in American Political History? | Struggling in the polls, Ron DeSantis is leaning in to homophobia.

L4sBot@lemmy.world to politics @lemmy.world – 84 points – Is This the Weirdest Ad in American Political History?
newrepublic.com

Struggling in the polls, Ron DeSantis is leaning in to homophobia.

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DeSantis is a framing device. He's the $299/month super-hyper unlimited data cellular plan, or the full leather and burlwood interior on a Mitsubishi Mirage.

Nobody is expected to actually select him. His purpose is to make Mike Pence look balanced and in a constrcutive relationship with his sexuality by comparison.

And, TBH, I can see Pence as the last man standing if the Trump campaign disintegrates (i.e. via conviction) I'm sure pre-2016 Republican Machine people desperatrly want someone far less of a loose cannon, he has name recognition, and they might be able to rehab his image as "he did try to salvage the Republic" if they start seeking a post-Trump message.

He’s the Hillary Clinton of the Republican Party. Completely unlikeable and unelectable but oddly has a chance at getting nominated.

Nobody is expected to actually select him

They said that about Trump too

Sure, but Trump was already popular among the voterbase even before he entered politics, mainly on account of his reality shows. His unashamed pathological childish narcissism was seen as charismatic to the voters, a phenomenon that DeSantis can't really replicate to the same degree.

It is obvious that DeSantis is using the strategy of running a campaign on pure unadulterated hatred as a substitute for his lack of charisma in the eyes of his voters. A frightening testimony to the state of US politics that such a strategy is even seen as viable, but he does face the problem that the GOP has turned into a personality cult by their own design, and a large chunk of their voterbase are already invested in the cult of Trump. Hatred alone isn't going to make them change their cult leader, especially since Trump isn't exactly lacking in the hatred department either.

Nothing is out of the realm of possibility at this point. As bad as you think it might get, it will get infinitely worse unless we actively fight back.