The outrage about DeSantis’s ‘listless vessels’ comment is fake
Christopher Tremoglie
Video Embed
Supporters of former President Donald Trump and other MAGA enthusiasts have criticized Gov. Ron DeSantis’s (R-FL) recent comments about the future of the MAGA movement. Their ire stems from DeSantis’s assertions that people shouldn’t blindly follow Trump and fall victim to a cult of personality. Doing so is unproductive, unsustainable, and ultimately sabotages the objectives behind “Make America Great Again.”
Any subsequent “anger” regarding the comments is nothing more than fake outrage from a group of people who essentially haven’t emotionally processed the fact that DeSantis decided to defy Trump’s wishes and run a presidential campaign. Unquestionably, Trump deserves credit for bringing the principles of MAGA to the forefront of American politics. However, under any circumstances, no one should mindlessly follow any political leader. Allegiance should be to ideas, not people.
UP FOR DEBATE: TRUMP, DESANTIS, AND 2024 GOP HOPEFULS’ STANCE ON ELECTIONS
“A movement can’t be about the personality of one individual. The movement has got to be about what are you trying to achieve on behalf of the American people, and that’s got to be based in principle,” DeSantis said. “Because if you’re not rooted in principle, if all we are is listless vessels that are just supposed to follow, you know, whatever happens to come down the pike on Truth Social every morning, that’s not going to be a durable movement.”
It is an honest and accurate statement by Florida’s governor. Any person who wants to bring meaningful change through a political movement must not fall under the spell of a cult of personality. Furthermore, if such a movement is to be sustainable, then people must support the movement’s values, not any speaker who is reciting them. The beliefs and ideologies behind “Make America Great Again” were appealing because it was a doctrine on how to fix the country from the damage caused by liberals and Democrats throughout the years. But it was the message, not the messenger, that mattered.
However, many Trump people tried to distort what DeSantis said. Instead, they use an intellectually disingenuous comparison to link to Hillary Clinton’s “deplorable” comment.
“DeSantis is now running the same, failed playbook as Hillary Clinton,” said Steven Cheung, a Trump campaign spokesman. “He called all Trump supporters ’listless vessels’ just like Crooked [Hillary] did in 2016 when she called us ‘deplorables.’ How did that work out? He should stop listening to his establishment handlers and start listening to the American people telling him to go back home.”
However, this was a false dichotomy. Clinton was insulting MAGA supporters and expressing a moral superiority above them. Clinton was essentially calling MAGA supporters human trash. DeSantis was speaking about the sustainability of the MAGA movement and discouraging a cult of personality. He merely encouraged allegiance to how an ideology benefits the country instead of devotion to a particular political leader. That’s very different from what Clinton said in 2016, despite Cheung’s linguistic gymnastics.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
There must be a genuine connection between the core tenets of a movement and positive developments in society. That is why so many people supported Trump’s MAGA movement. It wasn’t because of Trump but because of what voters believed he accomplished and the resulting positive change.
It doesn’t matter who promotes these ideas; it only matters that they are advanced and successful. That, and only that, is the point DeSantis was making.