Political Theater

Whatever your opinion of the midterm election results, the one conclusion no sane, intelligent person can draw from this public farce is that the system works. With a brain trauma patient going to the senate, the only explanations are that the process is rigged, so the people’s will doesn’t matter; or the people voted a stroke victim into office, so their will shouldn’t matter.

Either way, as author and economics buff David V. Stewart has noted, almost anything else has better alternate utility than voting. Donning a pyramid hat and broadcasting your alpha waves to the Pleiades in the hope that the mothership will answer your distress call is now a better use of your time on election night.

Another new development this election cycle, besides the cavalcade of joke candidates, is that it was the first midterm in which members of Generation Z were eligible to vote. Zoomers by and large embrace a negative identity relative to Baby Boomers, a centerpiece of which is their internet native status. Gen Zeds in the dissident right pride themselves on not falling for the mass media conditioning and stale political tropes that keep their grandparents stuck in 1989.

This ascendant political youth movement is complete with a new breed of counterculture commentator willing to break the Overton window and question NormieCon dogma. As a phenomenon largely made possible by the earlier Sad Puppies and Gamergate controversies, the Zoomer commentariat arrived on the scene knowing that the opposition wasn’t above putting a thumb on the scales. Whatever happened next, they declared that the race-to-the-middle, Mr. Nice Guy routine was over. Desperate times called for rethinking politics from square one and doing what it took to win – even if it meant destroying the GOP.

That’s why it’s ironic – and more than a little funny – to see online dissidents’ takes on the brewing clash between Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis.

In case the mothership just dropped you off, Donald Trump made an asteroid-sized splash in 2016 with his successful bid to parlay his real estate and reality TV celebrity into a run for the White House. His mere presence exposed the legacy media as fake news and outed establishment Republicans as willing accomplices of their nominal opposition. Other than that, Trump’s only noteworthy accomplishment was appointing SCOTUS judges who overturned Roe v Wade after he left office. And state referenda are now eroding that decision’s impact, due in part to Trump’s failure to enact election integrity and anti-censorship measures.

Ron DeSantis represents Trump’s opposite in many ways. In terms of personality, he comes off as your typical Republican governor from a late 90s TV movie. But while Trump was a superlative campaigner – surpassed only by 1992 Bill Clinton – and a dud as a president, DeSantis makes up for his more conventional campaigning style with a proven aptitude for governing. You can count on one hand the republican pols who’ve backed up their culture war rhetoric with action. And DeSantis is one of them. Not only is he one of the few republicans to land body blows against the Death Cult, his Covid response makes Trump’s look like a disgrace (though contra his staunchest supporters, DeSantis is far from perfect on this count).

But most relevant in light of the recent clown show at the polls, DeSantis signed legislation that reined in election funny business. Which is why Florida remains a Conservative bastion while Arizona has now gone blue.

Another lesson from David we should take to heart is always look at outcomes. On the basis of accomplishment, you’d think the DR youth contingent would love DeSantis. And while we’re looking at actions, a conspicuous number of maverick Zoomer pundits are moving to his state.

Yet a quick survey of the online dissident youth scene shows not just dislike, but outright hatred for DeSantis.

The natural question then is “Why?” Since the point of politics is electing candidates to represent you, one would expect a political movement to embrace a politician who is in fact representing their stated interests. With Christian nationalism gaining ground among young dissidents, you’d also expect them to like DeSantis, a Catholic whose administration is the closest America has to governance by Church social teaching.

Despite Trump’s policy failures and his worldly personal life, continued support for his presidential aspirations is understandable. What’s baffling is young dissidents’ animus toward the most successful Conservative politician in America.

You could say, “DeSantis has a good record as governor, and that’s why I oppose him running for president. He should stay in Florida where he’s most effective.”

And that’s a coherent, practical position. But it’s not what you get from DeSantis’ hecklers on the right. Instead, they make vague allusions to him being in the pocket of GOPe interests. As if Trump’s biggest donor wasn’t a Zionist billionaire. Or they point out flaws in his Covid response without a word for Trump’s touting of Operation Warp Speed.

The fact is, there’s no substantive criticism of DeSantis that doesn’t apply to Trump. But that’s not a two-way street. DeSantis didn’t leave hundreds of his supporters to rot in federal prison on dubious or no charges. And yes, Trump could have pardoned all of them before he left office. Just like Ford pardoned Nixon before the latter was charged with a crime.

All that is to demonstrate the lack of a practical reason for dissident youths’ loathing of DeSantis. Which leaves us with personal reasons.

A trick of time that’s snuck up on many of us is that Gen Z is now entering adulthood. As such, they’re having their first real taste of nostalgia. 2016 was a cultural inflection point and a formative moment for Zoomer dissidents. It’s strange to see, but many Gen Zed right wingers are as trapped in the Trump years as Boomers are in Kennedy’s Camelot.

Hard as it is to fathom, the 2016 campaign was seven years ago. There are fourth graders who don’t remember Trump’s election. Yet up-and-coming commentators who are billed as mold breakers are falling into the same patterns as their talk radio predecessors. If you’re old enough to have listened to Rush Limbaugh and his ilk back in their Clinton era salad days, you’ll recognize the current Trump-DeSantis dynamic. Uncle Rush would indulge in the same political theater, roasting the establishment favorite as a RINO – until he got the nomination. For some time-hopping fun, go back and listen to Rush’s statements about W circa 1999.

And just like then, the outcome of this internecine cat fight doesn’t matter. One ramification of last Tuesday’s results is that we’ll have no more Republican presidents for at least a generation. In that context, DeSantis bashing is just petty e-drama.

Anything else is a better use of our limited time.

I recommend prayer and penance.

And not paying people who hate you. Like Disney, for instance

Read how here: