Ron DeSantis’ First Presidential Speech: A Dark and Broody Rant Against Corporate America
Ron DeSantis’ First Presidential Speech: A Dark and Broody Rant Against Corporate America
Introduction
Ron DeSantis, the Governor of Florida, recently gave his first speech as a presidential contender in front of a two-story American flag on a stage in Iowa. His speech was a dark and broody recitation of the forces he blames for ruining the country, including “cultural Marxism,” “woke ideology,” Hunter Biden, and corporate America.
Republican Party’s Realignment
The ongoing realignment of the modern GOP has seen a majority of Republican voters going from admiring large companies and financial institutions to reviling them. Presidential candidates are crusading against giant corporations like Bud Light for acknowledging LGBTQ+ people, and DeSantis has declared open war on his state’s most valuable employer, Disney, for daring to come to their defense. The Republican Party has a rich tradition of drafting off of hatred for minorities, but never before has it placed them on such a direct collision course with their other primary source of power, the American boardroom.
DeSantis’ Bet
DeSantis has bet he can ride these shifting currents by styling himself as America’s most vicious culture warrior. His nebulous path to victory depends on peeling support away from the original fake populist, Donald Trump, despite having none of the former president’s charisma. And his fight with Disney offers a way for him to manufacture the illusion that he poses a serious threat to corporate America. For good measure, he has also picked an abstract fight over “woke banking.”
DeSantis’ Special Interest Catering
In interviews with Florida politicians, activists, and members of the business community, they describe how DeSantis has catered to special interests as ferociously as he has fought the culture wars. DeSantis wields near-dictatorial sway over his state, which he has used to grant special interests a breathtaking list of favors. He has helped them evade accountability, steamrolled regulations, funded their pet projects, and foisted bailouts and tax breaks onto ordinary taxpayers. Often he does so quite openly.
DeSantis’ Blueprint for America’s Revival
DeSantis’ legislative agenda is a blueprint for his America’s revival pitch, a place where he stomped the “woke elites” by taking on corporate power. However, other pieces of his legislative agenda tell another story altogether. DeSantis’ messaging bills tend to serve his biggest backers, and some donors have enjoyed a striking return on investment.
Conclusion
Despite building his campaign around falsehoods about LGBTQ+ people and fearmongering of woke boogeymen, DeSantis has identified one true thing, which is how few countervailing forces there are against corporations and their political whims. Even in states where Republicans have gerrymandered popular opinion into irrelevance, big consumer-facing companies remain invested in public sentiment. Although businesses are not getting everything they want, they’re getting everything DeSantis wants them to have.