kontextmaschine:

At this point I would be satisfied with either a Biden or DeSantis win in 2024 as a positive consequence of the subplot that began in 2015

@centrally-unplanned said: While i don’t view DeSantis as a disaster or anything I find it hard to think what he would improve over Biden, curios what positives you think he has?

I think he would complete the culture war project Trump started, putting the 2010s to bed without supper.

Trump connected with that popular impulse but didn’t really implement it with any consequence while being shit at placeholder stuff, so “more of this but harder” was an easy nah, DeSantis has proven baseline competence to run a government, and to leverage the actual powers of office to put that government to service of particular ends

Biden represents a steady hand on government operations, with a Democratic instinct to rebalance the socioeconomy back towards something like the industrial unionism Golden Age if you squint, a spell of that is appealing right now. He seems quite unlikely to take up with wild-eyed factions or give them free reign, but doesn’t seem positioned to do a 90s Clinton-style purging of paraparty culture that would render the Democrats safe going forward in his absence.

It’s not clear what course yields what outcome. If DeSantis wins pitching “anti-wokeness” does that give Dem centrists a Mondale-like mandate to purge the party, or does it renew efforts to tie together a pussy-hatted #Resistance in opposition?

Of course, a DeSantis administration crackdown would have real costs! It might go too far! It might hurt people!

Yes, these things concern me. I am also concerned that a lame-duck Biden administration might not go far enough with calling an end to silly season out of concern for the sensibilities of Democratic stakeholders.

But as with DeSantis, I do not expect he would err so far as to be uncorrectable under future administrations. I would be satisfied with either.