OPINION:
In the course of my lifelong study of political science and related perfidies, I have noted that many political leaders of high achievement have an extraordinary aptitude for ambiguity, not to say dishonesty. The best example of this is President Franklin Roosevelt. He was not only a master of ambiguity but also a sempiternal liar. Yet let us not forget he helped save the Western world. Not all liars are all bad.
Of course, FDR presided over a wild conglomerate of argumentative political operatives — starting with his wife, Eleanor, an unstoppable do-gooder — so his aptitude for ambiguity was perfectly understandable.
After Eleanor, there were the liberals, whose high-minded projects often collided with the Southern racists. Nonetheless, the liberals got along with the Southern racists for decades and vice versa. Then there were the agrarians and small-town folk who often clashed with the chieftains of organized labor at the national level. The Protestants quarreled with the Roman Catholics, and the states’ rights Democrats differed with Roosevelt’s Big Government statists. Then there were the isolationists and their animus for the rising power of internationalists.
FDR was confronted by a fractious melange when he gathered them all together to form a government. No wonder he was admired for his martinis. A little-known fact is that the cocktail hour at the White House began early when Roosevelt was serving the drinks. The president’s aptitude for ambiguity was very valuable.
It appears to me that though it is still early to predict the race for the Republican nomination, the race is not going to be very competitive. I am, at this stage, picking former President Donald Trump. What is more, the race for the Democratic nomination is going to be a bore now that Beto O’Rourke has been led out to pasture. Cannot a rich Democrat with a sense of humor come up with a hundred million big ones as seed money for Mr. O’Rourke’s campaign? How about Harvey Weinstein? He must still have a hundred million or so lying around that he will not have much need of for a while.
I had expected that the campaign for the Republican nomination was going to be close, with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis giving Mr. Trump a run for his money.
Mr. DeSantis seemed to be making headway until last week. He had won his race for reelection in 2022 by a wide margin. He had chosen the perfect issue to allow him to challenge Mr. Trump without taking him head-on until much later in the race. The issue was “wokeism.” Mr. DeSantis seemed to have the jump on Mr. Trump on this issue. Mr. DeSantis was very focused on wokeism, and it offered him a lot of hot-button issues, for instance: curriculum in the schools, one’s choice of personal use of a toilet in school, forcing young girls to compete with hairy-chested young men, keeping secrets from parents. I could go on. When Mr. Trump takes up the issue, he will take it to his advantage, and brilliantly.
As for Mr. DeSantis, he somehow lost his grip on the wokeism issue. It took him about 24 hours. And now he seems to be floundering. He actually dismissed the war in Ukraine as a “territorial issue.”
He went on to say that defending Ukraine was “not a vital issue” for the United States. Such statements showed the Florida governor completely out of his depth on foreign policy. The war for Ukraine is very much a vital issue for the United States, Europe, and any other country concerned about its freedom.
At least Mr. DeSantis could have spoken ambiguously about the war in Ukraine. That is what a seasoned politician might do. But he has boxed himself into a corner. If he equivocates on his course of appeasement, he will be accused of flip-flopping. If he continues on his appeasement course, he will have sealed his fate with the large percentage of hawkish Republicans in his party and the hawkish Democrats and independents who will vote in the general election. How is he going to get out of this pickle? I thought Mr. DeSantis was a shrewder politician than this.
But wait! Mr. Trump may have rushed to Mr. DeSantis’ rescue. On Saturday, The Donald came out for protests from his loyal supporters. It sounded like a call to arms by the same mob that he encouraged on Jan. 6, 2021. The Washington Post, in a matter of hours, said Mr. Trump’s “post” was “reminiscent” of the 2021 call, and you can bet that the rest of the media will agree.
How can Mr. DeSantis take advantage of Mr. Trump’s latest blunder? We have already seen that he has no aptitude for ambiguity.
Glory to Ukraine!
• R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr. is founder and editor in chief of The American Spectator. He is a senior fellow at the London Center for Policy Research and the author most recently of “The Death of Liberalism,” published by Thomas Nelson Inc. His memoirs, “How Do We Get Out of Here: Half a Century of Laughter and Mayhem at The American Spectator — From Bobby Kennedy to Donald J. Trump,” will be published by Post Hill Press in September and can be ordered online now from Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.