REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN
Ron DeSantis Needs Racism Insurance
But can anyone provide it to bolster his presidential hopes?
Ron DeSantis (R-Jacksonville) should be worried about his presidential aspirations.
The Florida governor has achieved something rare — he has united the hard right and the progressive left. To paraphrase one of his former opponents: If he is not a racist, then the racists certainly think he is. And one of the nation’s vanguards in the struggle against racism — the NAACP — has arrived at that same conclusion.
That advocacy issued an advisory branding Florida as unsafe for Black bodies. Thus, if white supremacy were a biological disease, then the DeSantis campaign would be riddled with lung cancer, syphilis, cirrhosis of the liver, obesity, and every morbidity resulting from a deliberately self-destructive and addictive lifestyle.
In short, Ron DeSantis would be uninsurable by health insurance: except, of course, for Obamacare.
Is America sufficiently racist for Ron DeSantis?
Just as some Americans are addicted to alcohol and illicit drugs, Ron DeSantis is visibly strung out on racism. He can’t guzzle enough of it at Republican gatherings. He can’t snort enough from his office desk to stem his cravings.
And like the character Al Pacino made famous in the 1983 version of Scarface (who was, by the way, a fictional Floridian), DeSantis is profiting from peddling that mood-altering drug we know as racism. Yet, he is also addicted to his own product.
However, there is no Obamacare coverage for the racism habit of the DeSantis presidential ambitions. Nonetheless, he will need some form of political cover, some form of what might be called racism insurance — if he is to win a general election.
America’s bigots and billionaires may need DeSantis as a useful bad guy, but that won’t necessarily make him electable.
We saw that in 1968. That was when the nation rejected the candidacy of another white supremacist governor from the South: Governor George Wallace (D-Alabama). Granted — that was a checkered victory for democracy since the republic elected Richard M. Nixon (R-California).
Blackwashing Ron DeSantis
There will, of course, be efforts to paint DeSantis as being something other than a racist.
But the former history teacher is an antebellum nostalgist in search of a new Confederacy — and a plantation porch where he can sip mint juleps. He thinks that porch is at the White House.
In a lame attempt to defend him from the NAACP’s accusations, a recent Wall Street Journal editorial pointed to his appointment of a Black surgeon general in Florida. So, that is supposed to convince us that the governor is color-blind and a human rights apostle?
We should note Thomas Jefferson (R-Virginia) invited Black mistress, Sally Hemings, to his bed, but that did not sway him from abandoning slavery. (Which is history that Florida school kids are unlikely to learn — thanks to the education bans of Ron DeSantis.)
But notwithstanding his campaign resources, I doubt that the Florida governor can win the Republican nomination. His petite white boots, pudding perversions, and Twitter self-implosion will continue to haunt him. The Twice-Impeached One will insure that.
But within the ranks of the Republican presidential contenders, there may be one source of racism insurance for Ron DeSantis: US Senator Tim Scott (R-South Carolina).
I also doubt Tim Scott (who is black) really believes that he could win the Republican nomination, much less the general election. He is more likely angling for the second position on the ticket — thereby offering himself as racism insurance to the nominee: who will assuredly be demonstrably racist.
And if by some freak act of nature (or operation of the American justice system), DeSantis did win the Republican nomination, then Scott as his VP pick could provide the cover the Florida governor will desperately need.
Not enough to beat Joe Biden and win the general election — but just enough to convince some clueless voters that he is not the second coming of George Wallace.
Thanks for your attention and past claps, and I welcome your responses. I write about multiculturalism, philosophy, and history. To follow future posts, you can press the button on the screen. — Geronimo Redstone
