Trump 2024: God's agent on earth
A Republican reader of this blog told me:
"Stop talking about Trump. He's gone. Republicans don't care about him anymore."
Alas, no.
Trump is past, present, and future. Republicans don't dare defy him. Like it or not, he leads the GOP. He is calling out RINOs and dispatching rivals.
At first I didn't understand Donald Trump's new nickname for Ron DeSantis: "Ron DeSanctimonious." Then I saw DeSantis' video "God Made a Fighter."
I would have guessed Trump would insult DeSantis by positioning him as a copycat. "Mini-me" was my guess. Trump would be Mr. Big. DeSantis would be the wanna-be. Trump might comment on DeSantis' speeches and actions by grading them publicly. "That was pretty good, Ron. Not great." Trump would be the Master.
But Trump didn't go that way. DeSantis is aggressively courting Evangelical voters. Trump advances the agenda of Christian nationalists, but he isn't one of them. It is OK with Evangelical voters because they say God is using Trump.
DeSantis is challenging that. Maybe God would rather use a family man like DeSantis. Who says? God's deep, reverberating voice.
People who remember radio's Paul Harvey will remember the sound. Many will recall Harvey's sermonette "God Made a Farmer." This video is similar. We learn that God sent Ron DeSantis. "God Made a Fighter."
The video is a primary source in political branding. I consider it smarmy and self-congratulatory. To my ear it was embarrassing in its hubris. But possibly to the ears of Christian church-goers it is a powerful statement of God's intention. The "voice of God" praises DeSantis so fulsomely that it risks drifting into parody. That is what readers of The New Yorker might think. DeSantis isn't appealing to them. He is addressing Evangelicals. Urban sophisticates who call the video ridiculous will help DeSantis. See! the elite liberals mock us for our faith!
By calling DeSantis sanctimonious, Trump is undermining DeSantis' credibility at DeSantis' point of strength. That is Trump's go-to mode of attack. Ted Cruz branded himself a proven conservative, so Trump named him Lying Ted. Trump called earnest Elizabeth Warren Pocahontas. Trump defines DeSantis' statement of God's plan as sanctimony. DeSantis is just another elitist showing off supposed moral superiority. He is doing what the woke, moral-scold liberals do, telling everyone they are better than us. Sanctimony. What a fraud!
Trump has not gone away. Ron DeSantis has entered the national stage. Both are jostling for the Evangelical vote. The competition has policy consequences. It will push policy on abortion, gay marriage, and judges further in the direction of Evangelical populism. Both want to look like God's true agent on earth. Don't look for bipartisan compromise.