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6A OPINION ®he £ntics gainesvilletimes.com Weekend Edition-June 9-10, 2023 Nate McCullough Group Editor | 770-718-3431 | nmccullough@gainesvilletimes.com Submit a letter: letters@gainesvilletimes.com The First Amendment: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. DAVID HORSEY I Tribune News Service DeSantis best choice for GOP in 2024 Donald Trump was a tremendously successful president whose major reductions in taxes and federal regula tions produced our best economy since at least the 1960s. His “drill, baby, drill” policy led to U.S. energy indepen dence for the first time in over half a century, his enforcement of immigra tion laws dramatically reduced illegal immigration, and his judicial appoint ments moved the Supreme Court and other federal courts in a much more conservative direction. He strength ened the U.S. military, all but elimi nated the Islamic State terrorists, and helped normalize relations between Israel and several Muslim nations. President Trump also refrained from getting us mired in any more foolish “nation-building” crusades around the world. If the 2024 presidential election were decided strictly on proven policy suc cesses, Republican voters would have an obvious choice. But National Review editor William F. Buckley Jr. under stood we need to vote for “the most conservative candidate who can win,” and that man is not Donald Trump. If you doubt this, ask why Democrats and their news media propagandists desperately want Trump as the GOP nominee. They understand his often juvenile personality is toxic to inde pendent voters and affluent, suburban white female Republicans. Leftists also know no other Republican nominee will inspire more Democrats to vote against the GOP. So, as emotionally satisfying as voting for Trump would be for many conservatives, the day after a Biden- Trump rematch would likely bring them another crushing four-year politi cal hangover. Fortunately, there is an outstanding alternative who is not only more con servative than the former president, but a much better legislative leader and debater with a far more disciplined personality who would win millions more indepen dent, female, and even moder ate Democrat votes as he did in his re-election last November. Indeed, Florida Gov. Ron DeSan tis offers all the positive policies of Trump sans his embarrass ing hijinks, end less legal troubles, and pronounced polarization. Gov. DeSantis’s biography is remark ably inspiring. Reared in a blue collar Italian Catholic family, the small-town Florida boy captained Yale’s baseball team and achieved its top batting aver age before graduating magna cum laude. He then earned a Harvard Law degree, graduating cum laude. But instead of immediately pursuing a legal career like the rest of his class, this patriot became a U.S. Navy officer who would earn the Bronze Star in our sec ond Iraqi War. DeSantis’s political career has been stellar. After being a U.S. attorney, he served in Congress for six years where he voted to repeal Obamacare, helped create the Freedom Caucus, supported President Trump’s bills and, unlike President Biden, left Congress without getting rich there. Though elected governor in 2018 by just 0.4 percent of the votes, he was re-elected last fall by 19.4 percent, win ning 62 of Florida’s 67 counties, includ ing Miami-Dade - as a Republican. In just four years, Gov. DeSantis turned a purple state trending blue into a solidly red bastion, despite a record number of Yankees, Puerto Ricans, and other tradi tional Democrats moving into the state. In fact, Gov. DeSantis’ policies have proved to be so successful that more Americans are now moving to Florida than to any other state. His phenomenal record reveals why. When Democratic governors locked up their states during the COVID panic, Gov. DeSantis kept his open. That and his low-tax, pro-business policies enabled Florida’s economy to boom. Since “personnel is policy,” GOP voters can take comfort that Gov. DeSantis’s judicial appointments turned Florida’s Supreme Court from liberal to conservative. And his choice to be Flor ida Surgeon General, Nigerian immi grant Dr. Joseph Ladapo, has steadfastly opposed COVID vaccine mandates and promoted hydroxychloroquine as a safe treatment for COVID. No recent U.S. governor has a more successful conservative legislative record than Gov. DeSantis. Declaring “Florida is where woke goes to die,” he has gotten laws enacted to protect young school children from a sexualized curriculum, girl athletes from having to compete with boys, and all school children and workers from having racist “critical race theory” agitprop forced on them. He also signed laws reducing the legal window for abortions from 24 weeks to just six and to strengthen gun- owners’ handgun rights, earning an A+ rating from the NRA. DeSantis’ courage is confirmed by his daring to force his state’s most powerful corporation, Disney, to have to obey the same laws as every other business. Like Trump, DeSantis has again and again proved to be a ferocious fighter who never shows fear in the face of leftists. Unlike Trump, DeSantis is just 44, is a far more articulate debater, has had only one wife (and zero porn star encounters), and could serve two presi dential terms. Most importantly, DeSantis can win. Dr. Douglas Young is a political science professor emeritus at the University of North Georgia-Gainesville. DR. DOUGLAS YOUNG professor emeritus, UNG Gainesville HU9WIX c«wT*NT AC.INC WlScoN^N 5W: 3o(AXiAL 2V <£2. "$0 MUCH FOI? OOP THEOPY ABOUT AN ASTEPOID CAOSINfi THEIP EXTINCTION." PHIL HANDS I Tribune News Service Trumps childish bullying of GOP opponents works “Congratulations to Nikki Haley for fol lowing President Trump’s lead and doing a CNN town hall. Ron DeSanctimonious is too chicken to ever do something like this.” — @ TrumpWarRoom Here, in microcosm, is the dysfunction plaguing the GOP presidential field, thanks to the Trumpian captivity. As with most Trumpian pronouncements, there’s no policy and no prin ciple to be found — other than the insinuation that Trump is courageous and his opponents are cow ards. Ron DeSantis gets the text: He’s “chicken”; Haley the subtext: She’s simply following the Alpha Dog’s “lead,” as if the former South Caro lina governor and United Nations ambassador wouldn’t have had the fortitude to do a CNN town hall without the benefit of Trump’s path breaking courage. For what it’s worth, the only thing that Hal ey’s Sunday night CNN town hall had in com mon with Trump’s performance last month is that they were on the same network. Haley was generally polite, polished and coherent. It’s all so exhaustingly childish, made all the more exhausting because it works. The Trump campaign’s theory of the race is simply an extension of Trump’s worldview — that politics isn’t primarily about ideas or policy but bullying and intimidation. Trump acts like the Biff Tannen character from “Back to the Future” (not entirely coincidentally, as Biff’s character was reportedly based on Trump), who dominates the nerds and normal kids alike by his sheer willingness to be an immature jerk. For months now, Trump’s been testing out a slew of low-brow nicknames for Ron DeSantis, from “Rob” to “Meatball Ron,” on the theory that name calling is more effective than any policy position. And, so far, he’s right. DeSantis’ announcement on Twitter may have been an unforced error, but it didn’t pre vent him from having a successful debut tour through Iowa and New Hampshire. But, so far, the polls have not significantly budged. DeSantis is trying to take the high road. “I think it’s so petty. I think it’s so juvenile. I don’t think that’s what voters want. And, honestly, I think that his conduct, which he’s been doing for years now... that’s one of the reasons he’s not in the White House now. Because I think he alienated too many voters for things that really don’t matter. So I don’t get in the gutter for any of that,” DeSantis said on a New Hampshire radio station. DeSantis is, of course, correct. If Trump could have shown a modicum of presiden tial restraint and maturity when he was in the White House — particularly during the pandemic — he probably wouldn’t have lost. That’s the subtext of DeSantis’ frequent refrain, about being a “winner” and the need to ditch the “culture of losing.” DeSantis is working on the quaint assump tion that Republican voters care more about winning than about watching Trump’s schtick. Haley and most of the other contenders have similarly endearing assumptions that base vot ers prioritize policy or positivity about Amer ica and the future. Even Vivek Ramaswamy, who appeared on ABC’s “This Week” to trot out the insipid and insidious idea that America should hand Russia a military victory, nonetheless works on the assumption that appealing to ideas is a winning strategy. It reminds me of the old story about Adlai Stevenson’s remark about running for presi dent in the 1950s. When told, “Every thinking person in America will be voting for you. ” Stevenson reportedly replied, “I’m afraid that won’t do — I need a majority.” It’s not that Trump voters don’t care about ideas — good or bad — or even winning. The problem is their emotional attachment to Trump, an attachment that virtually all of his opponents let fester and harden for years. The result is a deeply ingrained and even more deeply debased conception of leadership and masculinity, one that confuses boorishness for “winning.” Mike Pence, who filed the paperwork for his presidential bid on Monday, is a case in point. As Trump’s vice president, Pence loyally defended his boss’ asininity for four years — until he hit the breaking point on Jan. 6,2021. He nobly did the right thing that day, but even when it comes to Trump’s effort to steal the election — which torched America’s ability to boast about the peaceful transfer of power — his tone has been more in sorrow than in anger. Politicians are understandably reluctant to tell voters they’re wrong. But hinting at their wrongness isn’t very effective, either. It is translated as deference to a high school bully and that’s disastrous for any candidate trying to seem like a leader. Jonah Goldberg is editor-in-chief of The Dispatch and the host of The Remnant podcast. JONAH GOLDBERG goldbergcolumn@ gmail.com (the (Times Founded Jan. 26,1947 345 Green St., Gainesville, GA 30501 gainesvilletimes.com EDITORIAL BOARD Publisher Stephanie Woody Group Editor Nate McCullough To submit letters: Send emails to letters@gainesvilletimes.com or thecontactformatgainesvilletimes. com. Include name, hometown and phone number. Letters are limited to one per writer in a month’s time on topics of public interest and may be edited for content and length (limit 350 words). Submitted items may be published in print, electronic or other forms. Letters, columns and cartoons express the opinions of the authors and not of The Times.
