The New York Post cover from the 9th of November 2022 shows the hand of Ron DeSantis so close to the American flag, he can almost touch it. The symbolism is beautifully poignant, as tilted at a right angle, it is reminiscent almost of Michelangelo’s ‘Hand of God’: the Governor reaching for the limp American flag, as if he were God, bestowing new life, not only to the nation itself, but by extension, the entire free world.

For there is a red dawn emerging from the purple Florida night. No longer does the mere 537 votes, which separated George Bush and Al Gore during the 2000 Presidential Election, define Florida as a swing state. Instead, by DeSantis’ 20% gubernatorial victory margin against popular Democrat, Charlie Crist, alongside Republicans reclaiming the state’s largest county of Miami-Dade for the first time in two decades, a GOP preference typifies the current Floridian character. Yet, why the Sunshine State is of particular interest in discerning the American future as a whole is by macrocosmic transferability of the state’s swing voter preferences. This is because whilst the 2016 gubernatorial and Senate races were both required to undergo mandatory vote recounts, by nature of the narrow margins, DeSantis’ recent victory was the largest in forty years. Such success can be largely attributed to the Governor aligning his Democratic challenger with the unpopular President Biden, who held the lowest ever approval rating before a first midterm election: Crist having voted with the Commander-in-chief “100% of the time”. As such, if the most electorally pivotal group are favouring DeSantis, it suggests that they, by extension, are also favouring populism: the Overton Window, as the range of policies which voters find acceptable, shifting for national electoral exploitation of an acceptable face of the Republican Party post-Trumpian extremities. After all, DeSantis’ success appears to be his omission of the most controversial and alienating facets of Trump’s character by avoiding debate over the 2020 Presidential Election results whilst still embodying the fundamental appeal of Trump’s negative liberty (freedom from external restraints): Florida being where “woke goes to die”.  

The Financial Times’ apt description of DeSantis as ‘Trump with Brains’ is, nevertheless, most discernible through the Governor’s environmental policy, and his overwhelming preference for climate adaptation over mitigation. For, whilst the 2021 Resilient Florida Program, spearheaded by DeSantis, allocated $100 million annually to defending the state against climate crises, his opposition to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions through policies which he derided as being “left-wing” pretext indicates his operating façade of populist idealism. This difficulty of definitively interpreting DeSantis’ environmental stance, whether as political showmanship or genuine intentions, means that a precedent could be set for lack of presidential action. Yet, this non-committal means the Governor has still laid the foundations for his success in both the Republican Primaries and Presidential Election, having the ability through his traditional conservatism, to appeal to the right of the party (though not so far, as to be fully favoured by the Trumpian wing), whilst also facilitating a centrist presidential campaign shift by the exercise of such moderate restraint. Therefore, despite Florida only accounting for 4% of US emissions, DeSantis’ mixed ecological views will alarm many environmentalists by the possibility that, with America as the historical driver of progressive climate initiatives, the global climate target of 1.5°C may be under threat.  

With American elections being largely determined by a campaign’s influx of financial donations, the idiomatic ’money talks’ being truly synonymous with the state of US politics, such confidence in DeSantis’ appeal in the primaries and presidential race relies heavily on his endorsement by Republican donors. This complementary waning of Trump’s financial support against his new Floridian competitor largely consists in the latter’s libertarian, low tax ideological stance without the dramatics of the former TV personality. For example, Citadel CEO Kenneth Griffin, the GOP’s largest federal donor during the 2020 Presidential Election, recently disclosed his backing of DeSantis if he were to announce a 2024 run: it being “time to move on to the next generation” indicating how the Governor has already secured the support of influential Republicans. Furthermore, DeSantis has already begun to mobilise a new wave of Republican mega-donors, a testament to his youthful ability to revitalise the GOP; the largest individual contributor to the Friends of Ron DeSantis PAC being real estate magnate Robert T. Bigelow, whose previous political relevance consisted only in modest party donations. Such testament to the Governor’s financial appeal is thus demonstrated, as out of Bigelow’s $50 million 2022 midterm expenditure, DeSantis accounted for a fifth. Whilst the Floridian can plunder the pockets of both new and existing mega-donors, the post-midterm YouGov poll, where 46% of those surveyed preferred DeSantis over Trump, indicates he can also mobilise small donors. With contributions of $200 or less accounting for 45% of his 2020 presidential funding (approximately $268 million), and with the average small donor Republican household income being approximately $20,000 below the American average, Trump’s financial appeal largely consisted in his ability to capitalise on blue collar anger. Yet, this exploitation of weaker pockets operating within emotional manipulation is not solely exclusive to Trump. In fact, DeSantis may be able to achieve even greater small-donor funding by his ability to tap into the dreams of American patriotism: constant presence of the Star-Spangled banner, during his gubernatorial campaign, being of conscious design.   

By its founding notion of the ‘American Dream’, the United States is fundamentally rooted in constitutional idealism and, as the figurehead of national political life, it is an extension of the country’s character that the President should also epitomise such ideals of faith and hard work. For example, it is by President John F. Kennedy’s external embodiment of hope and progress that such an international legacy is still afforded to his family. The timeless photogenic frame of the 35th US President alongside his wife, Jackie, characterised them as the perfect American family and as such, the external face America wanted to present. Strikingly symbolic of such photogenic stardom was Casey DeSantis’ golden election night dress, serving as the backdrop to the conventionally handsome Floridian Governor and his three children; the family poses a recognisable similarity to the Kennedys and a stark contrast to how the global media humiliatingly caricatured Trump.  

Generally, it seems DeSantis is playing on the hope of history repeating itself, his book, ‘The Courage to Be Free: Florida’s Blueprint for America’s Renewal’, being titularly comparative to Obama’s ‘The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream’. With DeSantis’ book release mimicking the time scale of Obama’s (each published two years prior to Presidential Elections), the young charismatic leaders hold both campaigning and character parallels. In contrast, DeSantis’ potential Republican primary rivals who have brought out their own books, such as former Vice President Pence’s ‘So Help Me God’, seem to be looking to a past age rather than the future.  

Ultimately, by operating within the Trumpian legacy of negative liberty although within an idealistic façade, it appears that the Governor may truly become the hand of Michelangelo’s God in his potential ability to create a new political climate and by extension, a new ‘Free’ World. Therefore, if Mike Pence, or any other Republican representative wishes to have a future in the Grand Old Party, a plea of ‘So Help Me DeSantis’ seems most apt.