Boston Herald

Post-Trump GOP should look like DeSantis

- By Rich LowRy Rich Lowry is editor of the National Review.

If Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis ever sets up a presidenti­al explorator­y committee, it should have to disclose an enormous in-kind contributi­on from CBS News.

The “60 Minutes” segment last weekend alleging that DeSantis distribute­d the COVID-19 vaccine through pharmacies at the Publix grocery store chain as part of a quid pro quo was so outlandish­ly wrong that even Democratic officials in the state have objected.

It’s not clear that the “60 Minutes” piece can even be called “journalist­ic malpractic­e,” since it barely qualifies as journalism.

The downside for DeSantis is that he’s been smeared by the most iconic news magazine show on American television; the upside is that this latest, swiftly debunked media attack contribute­s to his ongoing ascent in the Republican political firmament.

It’s much too early to know with any certainty what the post-Trump GOP will look like, or even if there will be a genuinely post-Trump GOP for years. But if a post-Trump GOP looks like Ron DeSantis, who has a populist edge and is combative with the press, yet is unquestion­ably serious about governing and is succeeding in the third-most populous state in the nation, it will have landed in a favorable place.

DeSantis navigated the Trump years with a deft political touch. He obviously went out of his way to identify himself with Trump at the outset of his gubernator­ial run in 2018.

DeSantis took the boost he got from Trump’s support, won a contested Republican primary, and then captured the Florida governorsh­ip with a clear idea of what he wanted to do with it — indeed, near the end of his first year, prior to the pandemic, he had a 72% approval rating.

The governor checks key Trumpian boxes. Trump’s supporters want someone who is a fighter, who gives as good as he gets with the media, and who has the right enemies.

Since the onset of the pandemic, the media has been determined to paint DeSantis as a villain flouting science to the detriment of his constituen­ts. Actually, he had a considered approach focused on protecting the most vulnerable in the nursing homes and taking a light touch on government restrictio­ns to try to get through the pandemic with a minimum of economic damage. Any fair reading of the evidence — Florida has a death rate that’s about the national average, while its economy is in much better shape than New York’s and California’s — has to concede that, at the very least, this was an entirely reasonable strategy.

If the rise of DeSantis is a Trumpera phenomenon, his record is rooted in traditiona­l conservati­ve priorities — textualist judges, school choice, tax cuts, spending restraint and law and order. He also has a more pragmatic side, increasing teacher pay even as he has pushed for educationa­l reforms and pursuing a robust environmen­tal agenda.

It is always a fool’s errand forecastin­g a presidenti­al race three years before it begins in earnest. Trump may decide to run again in 2024 and blot out the sun, and DeSantis still has to win re-election in 2022.

On paper, though, he has obvious strength as a potential national candidate. He’s from a hugely important swing state. He’s been battle-tested — he won a brawl of a race in 2018, trailing in the polls throughout. He would perhaps be the only major candidate in 2024 holding an executive office while his governing record would, in theory, allow him to appeal to the key category of “somewhat conservati­ve” voters in GOP primaries, not just to the hardcore.

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