Strategists predict Ron DeSantis will be ridiculed in Iowa for 'his little platform heels'
On tonight's episode of MSNBC's All In with Chris Hayes, Democratic strategist Fernandi Amandi noted that as Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) decides to run for president, he's facing off against his own kind of Oedipus complex.
"He is absolutely setting the stage for a presidential run, but there's a little bit of an Oedipus Rex DeSantis complex going on here because Donald Trump is the political father of Ron DeSantis," said Fernandi.
Oedipus Rex is a Greek tragedy about a king that kills his father and has sex with his mother. Psychoanalysis founder, Dr. Sigmund Freud used Sophocles' immortal play to describe a complex set of emotions that plagues young children.
"Besides DeSantis was handpicked, of course, by Trump, so — in the governor's race almost eight years ago and that led to his victory," continued Fernandi. "So, I think that DeSantis's preference here is to basically do all of the shadow campaigning as he starting to do under whatever pretext. So, he does not have to politically kill his father, so to speak, he wants others, or circumstances to do that work for him, whether it is this long-awaited indictment that maybe will or will not come."
He explained that DeSantis wants to avoid any kind of conflict that could ultimately get him bloodied by going after Trump.
Host Chris Hayes noted that it's interesting that this time around, Trump isn't going after DeSantis using his usual slaps, but actual substantive issues. Tara Setmayer, the former GOP strategist that abandoned the party and turned to join the Lincoln Project, explained that this is likely coming because Trump is now being advised by "disgruntled" former advisers of DeSantis that know his vulnerabilities.
"Who knows where the bodies are buried for him," she continued. "So, there are people who are disgruntled former DeSantis employees, who are now working for Trump. So, they know how to needle him and where his weaknesses are, and it's starting already. We saw Trump go after him because he knows that DeSantis is in Iowa today. And Trump will be there on Monday, so DeSantis got ahead of him there. He went after him on farmers. When Trump was talking directly to the farmers about how he helped them and how he was on their side and DeSanctimonious DeSantis was not. And telling him to go home. So, he's talking directly to the base."
She went on to say that DeSantis is not going to go over well in Iowa when he can't control the questions or the audience or even the reporters.
"I mean, can you imagine Ron DeSantis in Iowa, where the retail politics really matters?" she asked. "And so you've seen some of the reports out of there. You cannot be arrogant and awkward. Can you imagine him on the stump at the Iowa State Fair giving his presentations, talking about his policy-won stuff, and his little platform heels, trying to come across as someone who can relate to the folks in Iowa? I'm waiting to see that, because he's not very good at this. And we are starting to see the cracks in that. And Donald Trump will exploit that all day long."
See the discussion in the video below or at the link here.
Ron DeSantis' Oedipus Complex and his platform shoes www.youtube.com