DeSantis showing how a populist can act presidential

If you want to understand why Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis represents such a threat to Democrats in 2024, watch his hurricane news briefings - and compare them with President Donald Trump’s briefings during the pandemic.

Like Trump, DeSantis relishes taking the fight to the left. He punched back at sanctuarycity advocates by flying illegal migrants to Martha’s Vineyard, Mass. He punched back against the progressive education establishment by signing a law banning critical race theory in Florida schools. He punched back against Disney after it demagogued his bill to protect the parental rights of Floridians by removing its special tax status. He punched back against Democrats who smeared GOP election integrity laws as racist by signing a sweeping voting overhaul bill. And he punched back against the perpetual-lockdown establishment by fighting vaccine and mask mandates and making his state a bastion of freedom during the pandemic. All this has made him the leading potential challenger to Trump for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination.

But as Hurricane Ian approached, DeSantis did something Trump seemed unable or unwilling to do: He became the very model of a chief executive leading in a time of crisis. At his news briefings, he has been all business. He demonstrated bipartisanship, praising President Joe Biden’s emergency declaration and pledging to work hand in hand with his administration. “You’ve got people’s lives at stake, you’ve got their property at stake, and we don’t have time for pettiness,” DeSantis told reporters last week. He understands that in a crisis, Americans want information and action — not political theater.

Contrast this with Trump’s daily COVID-19 news briefings, which he reportedly compared proudly to a Mike Tyson boxing match. Frightened Americans didn’t want to watch a prize fight, they wanted reassurance. Instead, they got insults, shouting matches with reporters, attacks on “unappreciative” governors, and streamof-consciousness speculation about sunlight and bleach. While Americans were terrified of the virus, they heard Trump boasting about his TV ratings. By the time he halted the briefings, the damage was done. In mid-March of 2020, 50.6% approved of Trump’s handling of the pandemic, but by April, his approval numbers had begun to crater. In July, his approval rating was 38%: He had lost the American people and never recovered.

His pandemic response was actually quite strong. He shut down travel with China in January, which saved lives. He procured nearly 200,000 ventilators and deployed the Army Corps of Engineers to build $660 million worth of emergency field hospitals, most of which never treated a single patient. The bipartisan Cares Act he signed into law averted a second Great Depression. And he launched Operation Warp Speed, which produced a vaccine against the virus in less than a year and paved the way for the end of the pandemic. But those accomplishments were overshadowed by unpresidential behavior that alienated millions of Americans.

If Trump had carried himself then like DeSantis is performing today, he would probably still be in the Oval Office. DeSantis can take the fight to Biden one day and work with him to help storm-battered Floridians the next. He can provoke the left like a conservative populist but govern like a conservative reformer and lead like a president in times of crisis. This is a leader who can give conservatives everything they love about Trump, without the belligerence and bad judgment. Even before the hurricane, a poll of Florida Republicans — the voters who know him best — showed him leading Trump by 8 points in a hypothetical primary.

To see why, just watch his news briefings.