During his election campaign, he spoke the language of the electronic right with extraordinary fluency, using terms such as: “Central Bank Digital Currency” (CBDC), Environmental, Social and Governance (“ESG”) investing, and “Shadow ban.”
“We will reconstitutionalize executive power and put an end to this administrative state once and for all,” he declared in his opening campaign speech in Iowa.
DeSantis At times, the esoteric political vocabulary reflects his identity as a presidential candidate: eccentric, smart, and attuned to the main lines of the conservative “war on wokeness,” which energizes the GOP base but can fall flat elsewhere.
He is less inclined to make small talk about his personal life than to strike up a conversation about politics — for example, a recent Supreme Court decision with implications for pork production, which he once brought up during questioning with Republicans in Iowa.
It also underscores his stylistic differences with rivals Trump and Nikki Haley in the Republican presidential primaries that were often about personality and show rather than policy. DeSantis was awkward in some one-on-one interactions with voters where other candidates might have seized the opportunity to show their personalities.
Trump, the front-runner to win the Republican nomination, uses simple, harsh language that has helped him convince many conservative, working-class voters that he is also an ordinary man who identifies with them, even though his name is associated with generous wealth.
In contrast, DeSantis advances a Trump-like agenda using lofty metaphors (“the sacred fire of freedom”) and calling for the “reconstitution” of government, which he repeatedly mentions. (He repeatedly returns to some stark statements, such as his desire to leave suspected drug dealers at the border “just dead.”)
While DeSantis condemns “transgenderism” and “sexual woke ideology,” Haley, a former UN ambassador and governor of South Carolina, He takes a softer, more conversational style that appeals to more moderate voters, and appeals to “daddy girls” about the importance of keeping boys out of women’s sports.
For some supporters, this is all part of DeSantis’ appeal. They want “Trump with brains.” Or they want hard-line positions on issues they say other Republicans are neglecting, and are interested in someone who shares their concern about “vaccination mandates” and what DeSantis calls the “biomedical security state.”
While many Republicans have focused on the culture wars over race and gender, DeSantis mostly mirrors the language of conservative activists — warning of the dangers of “cultural Marxism,” “woke ideology,” and “social credit scores.”
DeSantis is getting applause on the road as he mocks acronyms like DEI — diversity, equity and inclusion — which he says should instead stand for “discrimination, exclusion and indoctrination.”
“I like his stance against consciousness,” Tim Donelson, a retired police officer in his 60s, said at a DeSantis event last year, suggesting the Florida governor was more familiar with the issue than Trump.
But for other voters, this kind of language is confusing — or off-putting.
“It really focuses on a lot of cultural issues, and maybe not what I think is really important,” said Claire Funston, a 24-year-old factory worker who attended Haley’s event in Spirit Lake, Iowa. A registered Republican and self-described independent, she said she cares more about the economy and likes Haley more.
At a town hall in Waukee, Iowa, this month — just after Harvard’s president resigned — DeSantis spoke longer than usual about the changes he has made to colleges in Florida, especially a small liberal arts school that he said is now modeled after a conservative school. The Michigan school is called Hillsdale College. He said he has appointed conservative board members who have removed DEI along with “critical race theory,” a term increasingly used on the right to describe a wide range of teachings about race that they consider misguided.
He held off for a time on “accrediting bodies” that he accused of helping push schools to the political left.
When the city council turned to questions and answers, one woman said she couldn’t hear clearly and wanted to confirm: Did he say something about “predators” while discussing universities?
“Academic accreditation,” DeSantis explained.
DeSantis also occasionally draws attention to statements that are simply unusual or represent a throwback to the past. Some reflect its historical influences. In a CNN debate with Haley last week, DeSantis echoed Ronald Reagan when he called for flying a “flag with bold colors” instead of “light pastels.”
Another time, when he warned people not to become “idle vessels who are supposed to follow everything that happens on Truth Social” – Trump’s social media platform – it was not a one-time event for the former Navy officer.
“We cannot graduate an inert ship that has no idea what American freedom means,” DeSantis said this spring. His wife, Casey DeSantis, has to caution Voters are against politicians who “turn into inactive ships, bending in the wind” in the capital
DeSantis talks less about “wokeness” these days than he did at the start of the GOP race. But his opposition to it remains an essential part of his political identity.
Back at Clive on Thursday before the Iowa caucuses, DeSantis denounced the “ESG cartel.”