Attention-seeking DeSantis uses LGBTQ issues to attack Trump

The campaign of Gov. Ron DeSantis shared a provocative video on Friday attacking former President Donald J. Trump’s record regarding LGBTQ people, which was widely condemned as homophobic, including by a prominent gay group and lesbian Republicans.

The video, posted on Twitter by the “DeSantis War Room” account, opens by showing Mr. Trump proclaiming, “I will do everything I can to protect our LGBTQ citizens.” Mr. Trump made those remarks at the Republican National Convention in July 2016, after mentioning the horror of the Pulse nightclub shooting the previous month. The massacre at a popular gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, Mr. DeSantis’ home state, left 49 people dead.

The video further shows Mr. Trump expressing his support for transgender people using the bathrooms of their choice. It then attempts to contrast Mr. Trump’s position with Mr. DeSantis’ tough stance, transitioning abruptly into a shocking series of images of Mr. DeSantis (including one with lasers shooting from his eyes) interspersed with right-wing internet memes (the smiling, heavily muscled man known online as “GigaChad”), news headlines (“Pride event in St. Cloud canceled after DeSantis signs ‘Protection of Children Act’ into law”) and pop culture references (including shots of the titular character from the movie version of the serial killer story “American Psycho”).

Mr. DeSantis has often cast himself as a lightning rod for unfair criticism from liberals and has used such attacks to gain support from his political base. The video, compiled by another Twitter userseemed intended in part to spark more liberal outrage at a time when he is struggling to gain traction in polls against Mr. Trump.

It was the kind of move – devised to provoke a backlash – that Mr. Trump often used from his Twitter account during the 2016 campaign.

Earlier in his career, as a congressman, Mr. DeSantis not to be preoccupied with the fight against the LGBTQ community. At the time, he privately told a counterpart that he didn’t care about people’s sexuality.

And when he first ran for governor five years ago, Mr. DeSantis suggested taking a more moderate approach to some LGBTQ rights issues, saying Republicans should move beyond debating which bathrooms trans people should use. “To get into bathroom wars, I don’t think that’s a good use of our time,” he said said at a Republican candidates forum in 2018.

But in this campaign for the Republican nomination, Mr. DeSantis has sought to emphasize – and expand on – his ultra-conservative credentials in an effort to position himself to the right of his main rival.

The new video drew criticism not only from Democrats, but also from some in his own party, including the Log Cabin Republicans, which describes itself as the country’s largest organization for “LGBT conservatives and allies.” The group, which supported Mr Trump in 2019 and has used his Mar-a-Lago club for events, called the video was “dividing and desperate” and said it was “venging into homophobic territory”.

Sarah Longwell, a moderate Republican political strategist, wrote on Twitter: “The consultants who think this kind of ‘running to Trump’s right’ will be effective should be fired.” And Adam Kinzinger, a former Republican congressman and Trump critic, said, “outrage after outrage is the only way these guys know how to campaign.”

Mr. DeSantis’ campaign shared the video on Twitter with the caption, “To wrap up ‘Pride Month’, let’s hear from the politician who has done more than any other Republican to celebrate,” referring to Mr. Trump .

Mr. Trump, who grew up in liberal New York and was a businessman for decades, was seen by some Republicans as more open to the LGBTQ community during his 2016 campaign. But he also chose Mike Pence, then the governor of Indiana and a staunch conservative who had signed into law a freedom of religion bill that was seen as hostile to LGBTQ people, as his running mate. As president, Mr. Trump systematically dismantled the LGBTQ protections put in place by President Barack Obama, particularly those related to transgender people.

The video shared by the DeSantis campaign reflects a race to the right on a number of issues in the primary. In Florida, Mr. DeSantis signs bills that would restrict classroom teaching about sexual orientation and gender identity, penalize companies that allow minors to “adult live performances” like drag shows and make it a felony for people to use restrooms in public buildings that come do not match their sex at birth.

And with its barrage of references to obscure right-wing memes, the video also shows just how strong Mr. DeSantis leans on the brash and provocative language of fringe online conservatives. The Florida governor, who is trailing Trump in national polls, signaled from the start of his campaign that he hoped to engage with right-wing voters online, including announcing his candidacy in a glitchy livestream event on Twitter with Elon Musk.

But by openly courting such insular conservative communities, Mr. DeSantis, who has told donors he is the only Republican who can beat President Biden, may risk losing the more moderate voters he will most likely need in a general election. to alienate oneself.

The video also threatens to scare off some Republican donors, some of whom are more moderate on issues such as LGBTQ rights and are watching to see how Mr. DeSantis progresses before committing to his candidacy.

In addition to implicitly comparing Mr. DeSantis to Christian Bale’s murderous character in “American Psycho,” who in the book is a mega-fan of then-businessman Donald J. Trump, the video—set to a booming bass—without much explanation also emphasizes Leonardo DiCaprio’s role as a hedonistic, drug-addicted financial fraudster in the movie “The Wolf of Wall Street,” as well as Brad Pitt’s portrayal of Achilles in “Troy.” (Achilles, the hero of “The Iliad,” was often portrayed in later classical Greek literature as the lover of his male companion, Patroclus.)

Trump, for his part, noted with satisfaction last month that the issue of restricting transgender rights had become a major driving force for conservative Republican voters.

“It’s amazing how strongly people feel about that,” Trump said during a speech in North Carolina in June. “I talk about transgender, everyone goes crazy. Five years ago, for God’s sake, you didn’t know what it was.”