The 2024 Race: "It's Showtime, Folks!"
Added 2023-05-18 18:44:25 +0000 UTCMatt and Sam take the pulse of the 2024 presidential race: Is DeSantis already doomed? Does Trump still have the juice? Can Biden handle a full campaign schedule? And how do you solve a problem like Kamala?
The answers to these questions and more! Enjoy some rank punditry!
Sources
Nate Cohn, "Why Ron DeSantis Is Struggling," New York Times, May 5, 2023
Shane Goldmacher, Maggie Haberman & Jonathan Swan, "Why Ron DeSantis Is Limping to the Starting Line," New York Times, May 13, 2023
Reid J. Epstein & Shane Goldmacher, "Biden’s Slow Start Worries Democrats. Aides Insist All Is Well," New York Times, May 14, 2023
Sam Adler-Bell, "The One Thing Trump Has That DeSantis Never Will," New York Times, Apr 10, 2023
Matthew Sitman, "The 'Weekend at Bernie’s' Primary," Commonweal, Mar 3, 2020.
Comments
All That Jazz. Great! Village People, not so much, but the idea of DeSantis dancing to In the Navy. Great!
John Presnall
2023-05-21 11:15:01 +0000 UTCA horrifying thought, but I have to agree with you; DeSantis makes Trump look good by comparison. Thankfully, Trump seems to be far more inept when it comes to getting his policies turned into legislation..
Joanne Scutero
2023-05-20 19:25:08 +0000 UTCI'm guessing that the GOP elites think that the rank & file GOP voters are just as impressed by DeSantis's resume as they are, but it seems to me that the rank & file in their party are usually drawn to the kind of person (usually male) that they could imagine having a beer with, and DeSantis isn't that guy. For example, George W. Bush really leaned on the folksy charm, and downplayed his academic credentials. Trump too, is very good at convincing voters that despite his background, he's really one of them at heart.
Joanne Scutero
2023-05-20 19:15:43 +0000 UTCThere's no need to apologize, Isaac! I appreciate your comments, which were thoughtful and not anything I took to be trolling or overly mean. The one thing I'd add is that sometimes in these types of discussions, especially when we're talking through how we see electoral politics playing out, we're not really trying to convey our precise level of satisfaction with Biden or render our full judgment about him. In this case, speaking for myself, the fact that he's the best president of my lifetime (depressing as that is, again) is one factor behind an 80-year-old man running for re-election, and why it's unlikely he'll be replaced (or even meaningfully challenged). — Matt
Know Your Enemy
2023-05-20 04:39:32 +0000 UTCDeSantis is actually functionally making Trump more likable. Although I loathe Trump, I think DeSantis is more sinister in terms of policy. But I don't see that a lot of this policy has broad appeal. Biden could hammer him over a number of things he's passed in FL in the general.
Jenny Gunn
2023-05-19 21:33:59 +0000 UTCTrump occupies so many lanes of id. It’s impossible to outflank him with programmatic discipline. His base is multi-various, including moderates. He’s able to speak to each of them so eloquently precisely because he has no definitive program in the way the New Right would prescribe. The trust Trump commands is rooted in the ‘truths no one will tell but him’, which De Santis can never utter.
Benjamin Pletcher
2023-05-19 20:18:08 +0000 UTCIt's very interesting to hear talk about how DeSantis is too much of an asshole to win broad appeal. It shows how purposefully Trump's persona was built. Trump is absolutely an asshole, but his entire shtick is "I'm funny and charming to you, and an unrepentant asshole to the people you hate." It seems like DeSantis has the "asshole to people you hate" part down, with his anti-trans crusade and playing footsie with human trafficking. But he's missing that other piece that makes people think he's on their side.
Keith Morse
2023-05-19 14:21:44 +0000 UTCI suspect a big part of DeSantis's appeal for party elites is that he is dependent and pliable. He is a product of elite networks and dependent on elite networks. The problem with Trump is that Trump jumped the queue. He isn't a team player. Trump is only out for himself. I had a sense that McConnell, Pompeo, and Pence were able to basically manage Trump and get the things that they wanted out of him, but it wasn't easy. As far as Biden goes, I think his first two years were much better than expected. However, I think the change of chief of staff after the mid-terms and the heavier involvement of some of the old Biden hands has contributed to Biden's low approval ratings. Dems are really leaning heavily into the idea that they can win in 2024 by default. It's not entirely crazy, but I wouldn't exactly call it a percentage play.
J P 3
2023-05-19 06:41:23 +0000 UTCAll that being said, I really enjoy the show and I voice all this from a position of support. Y’all kill it- it’s just hard to listen when you recognize how little the Democrats do to even meet us a quarter of the way. Biden feels too much like a senile Bill Clinton (sans the sexual assaults.)
Isaac Suárez
2023-05-19 02:52:19 +0000 UTCFor sure- my broader issue, however, is that acknowledging Biden as “flawed, old, but solid” even if he doesn’t meet “leftist” standards is an oversell. He has had a way more active role in the disasters currently befalling our country. Even if he wasn’t 80, he’s quite bad in his own right. My broader feeling is that if we are going to constitute anything resembling a “left” we need to call spades spades. Biden’s failure will also severely damage the democratic socialist left (and even his successes come at the expense of anything resembling “progress.”) It just feels like being played, jerked around to guilt folks to “vote” and exploiting the precarity of trans folks, women and migrants. He’ll be an “ok” president when he at least tries to pass federal abortion bans, voting rights laws, a public healthcare option, a permanent child tax credit, or real immigration reform- until he does, then he’s just another cynical, emotionally manipulative conman like Bill Clinton. There won’t be a “left” to show up electorally after a certain point (I fear we will again be triangulated off a cliff.) I say all this with full respect for y’all’s work. I want to agree but it’s demoralizing to see how this is all playing out. All Dissent seems to offer as salve is another version of “vote blue no matter who.” I think we’d be better off with more criticism of what the Dems have done to bring us to this point (and the way they make an art of “snatching defeat from the jaws of victory” or the way they wait for the proverbial house to catch on fire before they charge you to begin putting out the flame.)
Isaac Suárez
2023-05-19 02:37:57 +0000 UTCThe striving hater as Nixon/Desantis is such a great pull
Lou Guberti Ng
2023-05-19 00:59:43 +0000 UTCWe were pretty clear it’s sad that that’s the case (Matt)
mjs
2023-05-19 00:44:47 +0000 UTCY’all are waaaaaay too kind to Biden. If he is the “best president of our lifetimes” it’s damning with faint praise. The total listlessness of the party, an apparatus which depends on charismatic, gladhanding leaders of Bill Clinton mold, is a damning reflection of Joe Biden. At best, he was a medium talent shill who ripped off Neil Kinnock- a third rate also ran as a “young man.” Now, he’s an empty vessel- after decades of Third Way crooks completely hollowing the party of any real talent or imagination, Biden is the last man standing. We’re so screwed.
Isaac Suárez
2023-05-18 23:30:59 +0000 UTCFinally! Have needed a punditry pod for ages!! More please 🫡
Aric Rosenveldt
2023-05-18 21:21:58 +0000 UTCI was absolutely thrilled to hear Sam compare DeSantis to Nixon on the Fever Dreams podcast. I made the same observation when I listened to your episode on DeSantis’ book. There’s a lot of similarities between DeSantis and Nixon as Garry Wills wrote about him: meritocratic strivers, insecure, chips on the shoulder. But I think there’s some differences too. Nixon for example didn’t go to all the right schools. I’d love to hear you guys talk about the two of them. And I know Matt will take any excuse to talk about Garry Wills.
Allen Bitzer
2023-05-18 19:45:23 +0000 UTCYou guys should really try to copywrite "You're Not An Introvert, You're Just An Asshole" fast-this is a huge merch opportunity.
Peter Hovde
2023-05-18 19:21:53 +0000 UTC*see the title in my phone notifications Oh Christ is it that time already?
Lou Guberti Ng
2023-05-18 19:01:04 +0000 UTC
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