Team DeSantis Thinks It Can Win by Painting Trump as ‘Pioneer’ of Woke Gender Ideology

Jeff Charles reporting for Redstate 

It appears Team DeSantis has not yet learned its lesson. In a baffling move, the DeSantis War Room Twitter account, which is Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ Rapid Response team, published a video trying to paint former President Donald Trump as a “pioneer” of the incursion of radical leftist LGBTQ ideology into the zeitgeist, attacking his past support for the LGBTQ community.

DeSantis recently doubled down on the attack ad, claiming that it reflects Trump’s role in bringing this ideology into the mainstream. The governor and presidential candidate appeared on “Tomi Lahren Is Fearless” and justified the video’s attack by stating that Trump injected gender ideology into the mainstream and contradicted his current stance on issues like transgender athletes in sports. During the interview, DeSantis said:

I think identifying Donald Trump as really being a pioneer in injecting gender ideology into the mainstream, where he was having men compete against women in his beauty pageants, I think that’s totally fair game, because he’s now campaigning saying the opposite, that he doesn’t think that you should have men competing in women’s things like athletics. And so, we’ve been very clear on it, that we believe in protecting the rights of our girls and the rights of women athletes to be able to participate with fairness and with integrity. And ultimately, when you talk about some of the gender ideology that’s being unleashed in this country, in the State of Florida, we are fighting back against that, clearly in schools.

The video featured a clip from the 2016 Republican National Convention, where Trump pledged to protect LGBTQ citizens against “the violence and oppression of a hateful foreign ideology” and opposed legislation limiting transgender individuals’ bathroom use. The video drew criticism from GOP members, including LGBTQ Republicans who withdrew their support for DeSantis. Trump’s spokesperson dismissed DeSantis’s remarks as a desperate campaign move.

I’ll be blunt: This is the absolute dumbest attack Team DeSantis has made against Trump so far.

It’s clear that nobody among the conservative base is buying into this narrative. Attempting to go “anti-woke” against Trump is simply not a winning strategy. Not only has the former president been an ardent enemy of far-leftist ideology, DeSantis seems to forget that Trump’s appeal to his base goes beyond opposing wokeism. Trump’s supporters resonate with his stance on various issues and appreciate his outspokenness.

DeSantis risks being perceived as a one-trick pony if he continues to harp on and on about being anti-woke. Indeed, so far, it appears the candidate has been banking primarily on positioning himself as the champion riding out to battle to slay the dragon of wokeness.

Conversely, Trump, known for his outspoken criticism of progressive ideology, has never based his entire political brand on being anti-woke, unlike his main primary opponent. He has discussed substantial policy issues such as the economy, immigration, and crime at length. As I noted previously, if DeSantis wants a chance at unseating Trump as the standard-bearer for the GOP, he needs to be seen as something more than just someone who fights the culture wars against wokeness.

Where are the discussions on policy? By solely focusing on being anti-woke, DeSantis misses an opportunity to demonstrate his depth and understanding of the complex issues facing the nation.

Besides, there are far better areas of attack against Trump, who never fails to give his enemies ammunition to use against him. The former president supported COVID-19 lockdowns far more than DeSantis ever did. Remember when he slammed Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp for opening up his state earlier than federal guidance advised?

Trump didn’t even so much as use his bully pulpit to rally public sentiment against state governments that were more than willing to impose mask and vaccine mandates on their residents while not even obeying their own rules. He had little to say about those who lost their jobs and businesses as governors and state legislatures viciously forced them to stay at home while limiting the number of people they could have in their homes. They compelled people to abide by these restrictions under the threat of having men with guns and badges throw them in cages for violating them.

Where was Trump?

Team DeSantis could also go after Trump on immigration. Sure, he implemented policies favorable to the base, but he never finished that “big beautiful wall,” did he? These are only a few of the areas where Trump is vulnerable. But painting him as some purple-haired social justice warrior ain’t gonna cut it, folks.

If he wants to win, DeSantis needs to pivot from this misguided attack strategy and present himself as a candidate with substance. Instead of fixating on the tired “woke” rhetoric, he should engage with the American people by providing clear policy proposals and demonstrating his ability to lead. Or he could just continue on this silly line of attack and go back to being Florida’s governor.