Ron DeSantis declared himself a candidate for the US presidential election on May 24. Presented as an offspring of Donald Trump, whom he had supported in 2016, he tries his luck, at 44 years old. He is, however, nothing of a younger Trump. It suffices to be convinced of this to read the autobiography he published (The Courage to Be Free, Harper & Collins, not yet translated) in February. This book should be read carefully. He deploys an articulated statement that does not quite cover the libertarian background of the Republicans, which is not outrageously colored with militant evangelicalism and which does not fall into the Trumpist panel of arrogant nationalism. No, the interest of this book, and probably its strength, is that it does not get involved in the intricacies of a program or in theoretical considerations. On the contrary, here is only personal experience and description of a life and an action.
It is this gesture of a young man from the middle class of Florida, an assiduous sportsman, a graduate of Yale and Harvard, enlisted in the army, deployed in Iraq, a medalist, then elected to Congress and finally elected Governor of Florida which guides this story, like so many boxes that are ticked one after the other without it even being necessary to say more: to others the general conclusions, to the protagonist of all this the simple story from which the reader will draw the necessary conclusions.
Unlike Trump, whose real proximity to the American middle class left people dubious and whose service records were more a matter of bunga bunga made in the USA than of the battlefield, DeSantis included in his career everything that speaks to an America in search of heroes. Baseball competitions, thankless odd jobs to pay for his studies, military campaigns before election campaigns, the founding of a family… all of this smacks of the old-fashioned self-made-man, who has no never sought success or money, but obtained them because he placed the secret of all success, work, at the heart of his life (recurring motif). It is in this existence that the convictions of DeSantis are encapsulated. They are not ideas drawn from a certain education or from reading, but the natural fruit of an experience. The most common term the Governor of Florida uses to describe his position is: common sense. The difference between him and his opponents is that he has this “common sense”, while his opponents are “crazy” (gone mad).
Halfway between Robin Hood and the Junior Beavers
It is not a question of Good or Evil, as Trump so willingly does, but more simply of what is practical wisdom and what is “ideology”. The ideologues, we know them: the academics, the journalists, the congressmen Democrats, top civil servants, tech people, everything DeSantis calls “the elites.” But the problem with elites is not that they are rich or powerful. The problem is their ideological agenda that contradicts common sense. Hence a statement that never takes the trouble to base itself on ideas or figures (there is not a single one). Who never tries to refine a diagnosis. Who does not shine by the originality of the measures. Who is content to proclaim that Florida is the state that has experienced the largest intra-American influx to demonstrate that what it does works and attracts.
The scapegoats are fought with force, but without grimaces. An entire chapter is thus devoted to Disney, in a combative tone but without unnecessary offense. Of all these ideological forces, he was and still is the designated victim. They are powerful, organized, numerous, crazy, he is alone and shrewd. He doesn’t want to make America”great again”, he wants to make it a big Florida (it’s his last chapter): a place managed like a good thrifty family man, far from the miasma of the outside world (China takes it for its rank, but no mention of the rest of the planet) . Far from the hysteria of the American culture war, DeSantis intends to be halfway between Robin Hood and the junior Beavers, quoting the Founding Fathers more readily than the Bible. Biden will probably have more trouble with him than with Trump. DeSantis is the normal candidate. There are some who have succeeded.
* Sylvain Fort is an essayist