Last updated on July 21st, 2023 at 05:33 pm

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Republican Florida gubernatorial candidate Ron DeSantis needed less than 24 hours before he launched a Trump-style racist attack on his Democratic opponent Andrew Gillum.

Video of DeSantis:

DeSantis said on Fox News, “He is an articulate spokesman for those far left views and he’s a charismatic candidate. I watched those Democrat debates. None of that is my cup of tea but he performed better than the other people there. The last thing we need to do is to monkey this up by trying to embrace a socialist agenda with huge tax increases and bankrupting the state.”

Ron DeSantis is running as a Trump mini-me

DeSantis’ comments were straight out of the Trump playbook. He immediately to divide Florida voters along racial lines. He referred to the Democratic candidate as a socialist for his popular position on health care, and he pretended to fiscally conservative by concern trolling about bankrupting the state.

It is impossible for the Republican Party to say that they are not a racist party when candidates like DeSantis are using terms like articulate and dropping the word monkey into a conversation about his African-American opponent.

Ron DeSantis is going to run a Trump-style campaign as a clone of Donald Trump. This hasn’t worked in other Republican gubernatorial races, think Virginia, but DeSantis is hoping to motivate Republicans while ignoring the obvious downside to his strategy.

Trump like racist attacks backfire and motivate Democrats

The downside to the Trump playbook of racial division is that it motivates Democrats to get to the polls. Donald Trump himself is the textbook example of how this strategy backfires. Trump has never had an approval rating of over 50% in an objective poll. With each racist attack, he has added to Democratic enthusiasm for November. Trump‘s politics of division have motivated Democrats to turn out in record numbers, and when other Republicans candidates have tried this strategy, they have not been able to overcome the backlash.

DeSantis is placing a bet on racism that is only going to cause Democrats to work harder for Andrew Gillum.

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Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association