{"id":689,"date":"2023-01-24T07:06:00","date_gmt":"2023-01-24T12:06:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/?p=689"},"modified":"2023-01-24T07:06:00","modified_gmt":"2023-01-24T12:06:00","slug":"opinion-the-nation-needs-newsom-vs-desantis-in-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/?p=689","title":{"rendered":"OPINION: The Nation Needs Newsom vs. DeSantis in 2024"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em>Newsom touts California\u2019s teen trans tourism, DeSantis re-opened Florida\u2019s tourist industry<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For all the tumult of today, we as a nation are merely dithering around the edges of the most critical question of our times \u2013 do we stop or go?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Does America go down the path of cultural least resistance and allow our betters to do our thinking for us or do we stop the process while we still can, while at least the option of freedom is still on the table?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And this choice must be clear cut \u2013 the babbling biting of the last few years accomplishes little save to infuriate one side and employ the other.&nbsp;&nbsp;It doesn\u2019t answer the question definitively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That is why the 2024 presidential election must be an up or down choice, a column A or column B decision, chicken or fish, an in or out verdict, a clear conclusion to the feigned fear frenzy of the present.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That is why the race cannot be between Donald Trump and Joe Biden \u2013 it must be between the Ron DeSantis and Gavin Newsom, the poster boys of the divide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\" id=\"attachment_36222\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20370%20247'%3E%3C\/svg%3E\" data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/caglobe.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/47998130182_a28d32f2e7_k-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"zeen-lazy-load-base zeen-lazy-load wp-image-36222\"\/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/caglobe.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/47998130182_a28d32f2e7_k-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-36222\"\/><\/noscript><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Gov. Gavin Newsom, 2019 California Democratic Party State Convention, San Francisco. (Photo: Gage Skidmore)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The clarity of the choice \u2013 one way or another \u2013 is the best option to move beyond the morass.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But why not Trump and Biden?&nbsp;&nbsp;Surely they stand as apex exemplars of the progressive\/conservative, the woke\/libertarian, the public\/personal, the comfortable cocoon of contrived consensus versus the perils of personal prerogatives?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Actually, they don\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As for Biden, he was never a hard left politician and, if he understood his current surroundings, he would not be today.&nbsp;Biden orbited around the standard DC left \u2013 more stuff for the poor, more stuff for campaign donors, more stuff for regulators to do, that sort of thing.&nbsp;&nbsp;Outside of his ambition to become president \u2013 he did run three times \u2013 there was never any inkling he could be bothered to care about \u201cbig think\u201d issues, let alone contemplate radical change.&nbsp;Joe has always been in it for Joe, he has done what he\u2019s told, he\u2019s status quo \u2013 no matter what that may be \u2013 first, and has been driven by a personal financial bitterness that has enabled his family to wallow in the leavings of his career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In other words, like in 2020, there are a lot of non-policy related things to like (one supposes) or dislike about the guy.&nbsp;While he in no way actually meant it, let alone did it, he ran on returning to \u201cnormal\u201d after four high-octane years of Trump and, for some reason, many people still see him as his former self \u2013 a schlubby non-entity uncle who, even if screws up now and again, does so with a good heart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>None of this \u2013 his politics, his image, his history \u2013 makes him a \u201cposter boy\u201d for woke worldview; he could win or lose without ideology deciding the issue because \u2013 deep down \u2013 he has no ideology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Nor is Trump a \u201cposter boy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>First, he\u2019s a real estate developer which automatically makes him at least a fabulist.&nbsp;Second, his politics \u2013 until he ran for president \u2013 were all over the map and he saw government and politicians as things to be manipulated, cajoled, and threatened in order to get done what he wanted done.&nbsp;Whether or not a zoning board member was a free speech absolutist simply did not matter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Second, he is chaotic.&nbsp;Trump\u2019s two biggest failures as president occurred before his election \u2013 he thought that as President people would have to do as they were told and he was woefully unprepared for the details of the office. Hilary spent tens of millions of dollars vetting and \u201chiring\u201d people for her administration during her campaign in order to be ready on day one, in part because she knew she couldn\u2019t trust any Obama holdovers to do her bidding; Donald\u2019s team \u2013 which for the most part seemed awfully surprised by his victory \u2013&nbsp;&nbsp;did nothing of the sort and it doomed him from the start, playing terribly into his tendency to talk and work and decide on the fly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Unlike Biden, Trump is sincere in his core beliefs but they do not define him as his is largely a transactional world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Though they appear at some level to be, neither Trump nor Biden \u2013 who carry so much non-ideology baggage \u2013 make good human surrogates for the sharp decision that needs to be made in 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Newsom and DeSantis do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Newsom is fresh and facile, shiny and slippery, a jargon filled jolly jumper that oozes false promises in his quest for justification for personal power; in other words, he is the physical embodiment of woke.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>DeSantis is quick and sharp, decisive and dedicated, showy and mean when needed, quiet and detailed oriented if called for; in other words, Newsom\u2019s polar opposite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A very simple comparison \u2013 Newsom touts California\u2019s teen trans tourism, DeSantis re-opened Florida\u2019s tourist industry.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Beyond the personal styles, the ideological differences could not be starker \u2013 California is where woke was born; Florida is where it goes to die.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Records will be compared \u2013 Florida and California (depending upon how much stock you put into the numbers maybe-ish) had roughly equivalent COVID case and fatality numbers.&nbsp;&nbsp;California was one of the last states to reopen and in fact still has an emergency order in effect; Florida was one of the first to re-open and is currently, unlike California, seeing a major population boom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One telling fact about pandemic management \u2013 California lost about $33 billion to unemployment fraud, still owes the federal government about $19 billion in unemployment trust fund loans, and has decided to sharply increase the unemployment insurance taxes paid by businesses to pay off the feds.&nbsp;&nbsp;Florida lost $800 million to fraud, and not only did it not have to borrow a single dime from the feds during the pandemic, and its unemployment trust fund actually earned interest for the state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Of course, there is the image issue.&nbsp;\u201cFlorida Man\u201d is a drag on DeSantis, while the Golden State Halo of Futures Past surrounds Newsom, even though these stereotypes are beyond out-of-date.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s California with the crime problem; it\u2019s California with the homelessness problem; it\u2019s California with the filth problem; it\u2019s California with the housing problem; it\u2019s California with the massive deficit; it\u2019s California people are leaving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Of course that truth may not make it over the Sierras and Newsom starts 100 points ahead of DeSantis with the national media, but DeSantis has shown an ability to play to his strengths without, or in reasoned but fierce opposition to them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And while Newsom will appeal to certain crossover segments of the population, DeSantis will (depending \u2013 a big depending \u2013 what happens in the next few months) will be able to do something Trump cannot \u2013 have Trump policies without a Trump personality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It is simply untenable for the nation that the current state of affairs continue too much longer \u2013 tension without hope of resolution is a very grinding condition to be in and invades and distorts and minimizes ones vision of what can be achieved.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A Newsom\/DeSantis contest would provide the clean break the nation needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/californiaglobe.com\/articles\/opinion-the-nation-needs-newsom-vs-desantis-in-2024\/\">https:\/\/californiaglobe.com\/articles\/opinion-the-nation-needs-newsom-vs-desantis-in-2024\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Newsom touts California\u2019s teen trans tourism, DeSantis re-opened Florida\u2019s tourist industry For all the tumult of today, we as a nation are merely dithering around the edges of the most critical question of our times \u2013 do we stop or go? Does America go down the path of cultural least resistance and allow our betters to do our thinking for us or do we stop the process while we still can, while at least the option of freedom is still [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-689","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-opinion"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/689","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=689"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/689\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":690,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/689\/revisions\/690"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=689"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=689"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=689"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}