Listen to this full episode of The New Abnormal on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon and Stitcher.
Things aren’t going so well for Meatball Ron [DeSantis], says the host of The New Abnormal politics podcast, Andy Levy, in the latest episode.
He and co-host Danielle Moodie open the show by unpacking the ways that DeSantis seems to be flubbing his presidential campaign. They point to the Florida governor’s personality, or lack thereof, as one of the biggest reasons why they believe he’ll lose the nomination to former President Donald Trump.
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“I really do not think that Ron DeSantis has a shot in hell to become president of the United States. I think that he has about as good a chance as Mike Pence does. As Tim Scott does,” says Danielle. “But mostly when you just hold up the state of Florida right now and you are watching insurance companies flee, you are watching businesses flee, they have a teacher shortage, inflation for the state is incredibly high. You look at all of these things and Ron DeSantis can’t manage his way out of a paper bag right now. He can’t manage his own state. How is he gonna manage the country?”
“Alex Shephard in The New Republic sort of said it perfectly,” adds Andy. “He said, ‘Ron DeSantis has a Ron DeSantis problem because nobody likes him.’”
Danielle expands on this:
“The thing is that mediocre white men love Donald Trump. They love Donald Trump because Donald Trump for them has always symbolized the type of man that they have wanted to be because they fall for the lies and the facade and the smoke and mirrors: the gold toilets, the blonde women on his arm, the money to spend, the ‘I can do whatever I want attitude.’
“When you take that kind of persona, even though now we know all it is is smoke and mirrors, Ron DeSantis is the mediocre white guy. Like there isn’t anything that these schlubs are looking to aspire to when they look at Ron DeSantis, he’s not the cool kid.”
The two also discuss how weird DeSantis really is—especially after a Dairy Queen stop a few days ago—and how he’s similar to Sen. Ted Cruz.
Then, Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) joins the show and makes it very clear how he feels about this Supreme Court. (Hint: He throws the words “corrupt” and “disgusted” out there.)
Plus! Andy talks to David Slack, a veteran writer and producer who’s worked on shows such as Law & Order and Person of Interest and was on the Writers Guild of America West’s board of directors from 2018 to 2022, about what the people on strike want vs those in power—and what it was like to be in a negotiating room with them.
“We’re angry that you can write on an incredibly acclaimed show like Handmaid’s Tale and later that year be driving Lyft to make ends meet. They’re angry that they might have to buy a slightly smaller boat this year,” he says.
Listen to this full episode of The New Abnormal on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon and Stitcher.
