Trump and DeSantis race to the bottom

Former President Donald Trump recently noted that his principal rival for the GOP presidential nomination, “‘Rob’ DeSanctimonious,” was “asking that people call him DeeSantis, rather than DaSantis.” Trump added, “I like ‘Da’ better, a nicer flow.” Trump has tagged DeSantis with other nicknames, including “liddle lightweight.” And his campaign has responded to reports about DeSantis’s eating habits by running an ad showing a candidate using three fingers to shovel chocolate pudding from a bowl into his mouth.

 “I think it’s so petty. I think it’s so juvenile,” DeSantis shot back. Leadership “is not about entertainment” and “I don’t get in the gutter on any of that.”

Asked about nasty comments so early in the primary season, a former Trump advisor replied, on condition of anonymity, “This is child’s play. You wanna see nasty? Stay tuned.”

The exchange of insults illuminates the character and temperament of the leading GOP contenders for the most powerful political office in the world. Even more disqualifying is their willingness to tailor their views in race-to-the-bottom appeals to the Republican Party’s MAGA base.

Last month, Trump told congressional Republicans, “if they don’t give you massive cuts, you’re going to have to do a default.” Shrugging off warnings about the catastrophic implications of the first federal government default in American history, Trump maintained that the consequences “could be maybe nothing,” or “a bad week or a bad day.”

During Trump’s presidency, the debt ceiling was raised three times. In January 2017, the national debt was $19.9 trillion. In January 2021, it was $26.9 trillion. In 2019, President Trump asserted, “I can’t imagine anybody using the debt ceiling as a negotiating wedge” because the nation’s financial obligations are “a sacred thing.” There is “plenty of time to CUT!” Asked a couple of weeks ago why his position had changed, Trump said, “Because now I am not president.”

“The way they weaponized these Covid vaxes was a massive intrusion into our freedom,” Governor DeSantis said recently. “They wanted to deny people the right to put food on their table if they didn’t bend the knee and get a shot they may not have wanted and many of them did not need. We can never allow Warp Speed to trump informed consent in this country again.”

DeSantis has also established a public health integrity commission to counter the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which are “seeking to advance narratives rather than do evidence-based research.”

DeSantis did not mention that during the pandemic, he closed public schools, shut down parks to meet “CDC guidelines on social distancing,” restricted access to nursing homes and issued a modified stay-at-home order. Or that in July 2021, he declared, “If you are vaccinated, fully vaccinated, the chance of you getting seriously ill or dying from Covid is effectively zero.” Ninety-five percent of individuals admitted to hospitals “are either not fully vaccinated or not vaccinated at all. These vaccines are saving lives.” When the FDA suspended use of Johnson & Johnson vaccines because several women developed blood clots, DeSantis claimed the action was “unfortunate because I took it. I think it’s effective.”

Florida, it’s worth noting, requires all K-12 public school students to get vaccinated for diphtheria, polio, measles, mumps, tetanus and hepatitis. To ensure compliance, Gov. DeSantis mandated a vaccine registry.

And a study by the Commonwealth Fund and Yale School of Public Health estimates that Covid vaccines prevented 3.2 million deaths, 18.5 million hospitalizations and saved more than $1.1 trillion in medical costs in the U.S.

Before Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, Trump called Vladimir Putin “brilliant” and “savvy” for declaring portions of Ukraine “independent.” When the initial Russian assault failed, and public opinion strongly favored Ukraine, Trump called the war “a holocaust.” In a talk to top GOP donors in New Orleans, he recommended that the U.S. put Chinese flags on American F-22s, “bomb the s—t out of Russia,” and when they attack each other, “we sit back and watch.”

Asked last month whether he wanted Ukraine to win, with polls showing waning support for military aid among Republican voters, Trump dodged, and insisted he could end the conflict “in one day.”

In March 2023, DeSantis declared the Russian invasion “a territorial dispute” and said that extensive involvement wasn’t in America’s national interest. Following criticism from Republican hawks, he maintained this statement had been “mischaracterized,” and agreed that Putin was “a war criminal.” In late May, DeSantis said he hoped the war would be over before he became president. Pressed about his views on U.S. aid, he asserted European countries should promote security on their own continent.

All that said, Trump and DeSantis clearly mean what they say about how they will be behave if elected president. DeSantis has promised to “destroy leftism in this country.” As he continues to press false claims about the 2020 election and promise to pardon “a large portion” of Jan. 6 rioters, Trump insists that in 2024, “the final battle,” either “they win or we win. And if they win, we no longer have a country.” And so, “for those of you have been wronged and betrayed, I am your retribution.”

Americans who value bipartisanship, dissent expressed without violence, equal rights and equal justice for all, and well-informed, responsible, and principled public servants should look elsewhere.

Glenn C. Altschuler is the Thomas and Dorothy Litwin Professor of American Studies at Cornell University. He is the co-author (with Stuart Blumin) of “Rude Republic: Americans and Their Politics in the Nineteenth Century.”