Now and then, we get a “Kinsley gaffe” – i.e., when a politician accidentally tells the truth – that tells us more than we ever knew. (Sometimes it’s more than we wanted to know, but that’s a subject for another tirade.) We have one before us today:
For decades, the Democratic Party had commanded a majority of Florida’s registered voters. But the state was changing, as Trump’s election helped energize a shift in political affinities. The Republican Party’s rank and file became increasingly radical, and G.O.P. leaders appeared only too happy to follow them. “There was always an element of the Republican Party that was batshit crazy,” Mac Stipanovich, the chief of staff to Governor Bob Martinez, a moderate Republican, told me. “They had lots of different names—they were John Birchers, they were ‘movement conservatives,’ they were the religious right. And we did what every other Republican candidate did: we exploited them. We got them to the polls. We talked about abortion. We promised—and we did nothing. They could grumble, but their choices were limited.
“So what happened?” Stipanovich continued. “Trump opened Pandora’s box and let them out. And all the nasty stuff that was in the underbelly of American politics got a voice. What was thirty-five per cent of the Republican Party is now eighty-five per cent. And it’s too late to turn back.”
The contempt for conservatives that snippet expresses is beyond anyone’s ability to deny. It’s “in your face.” It relishes its own sense of moral and intellectual superiority. It could almost be a pulpit emission from a hell-and-brimstone style preacher. Why, you’d almost think it had to be from a Democrat.
Yes, the main thrust of the article is to demonize Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, but the snippet above is critical to any true comprehension of our political Establishment.
“Republicans” who think this way are a more important obstacle to reclaiming our rights and restoring Constitutional government than all the Democrats in existence. Ponder that in your spare moments.
1 comment
Good analysis. I have lived in “the other Florida” for almost 40 years. The northwest counties have been gentrified to become known as the Emerald Coast. A far cry from Redneck Riviera or LA (Lower Alabama). We have always been conservative, but after the Reagan revolution, many switched party affiliations to the Republican side of the ledger. My county went 77% for Trump the first time.
Most of my friends and neighbors hold a strong dislike for most things in the state south of Orlando. The leftist influence of south Florida politics has as much appeal as politics in Havana or Haiti. Not only are we in a different time zone, but we may as well be on a different planet from those in the peninsula. Most here know that the election was stolen and are not happy with the Never Trumpers’ response.