Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ presidential campaign released a 10-point economic plan earlier this week. The campaign aims to build a narrative around this “Declaration of Economic Independence,” but it’s unclear whether it will resonate with the American public. In an era of ruthless culture wars and politicized indictments, do kitchen table issues even make it on the radar anymore?
Ron DeSantis: “The goal of our Declaration of Independence is simple.”
“We, the American people, win; they lose.” pic.twitter.com/kA1hM9JKtI
— Never Back Down (@NvrBackDown24) August 1, 2023
The plan is simple but fairly detailed. In a speech, DeSantis pledged to restore America’s independence from “failed elites,” “profligate federal spending” by ideological “central planners,” the “Chinese Communist Party,” the “Green New Deal” and “progressive corporations.” He presents a broad vision, combining elements of the traditional and new right under the slogan, “We win. They lose.” (RELATED: CHRISTIAN WHITON: Ron DeSantis Will Revive The Middle Class. Here’s How)
The Declaration of Economic Independence announced by @RonDeSantis is spot on. He knows we must fight for the American family collapsing under an economy that no longer works for them as quality of life & economic security diminish. #WeWinTheyLose (1/4) #EconomicIndependence pic.twitter.com/SV9LtGA3YF
— Chip Roy (@chiproytx) July 31, 2023
The plan sticks with some tried and true Republican policies. Point 2 includes “incentivizing investment, eliminating bureaucracy and red tape, and keeping taxes low,” as well as immediately reversing Biden’s “job-crippling” executive orders. In point 10, he pledges to use his “veto pen” to fight “reckless and wasteful federal spending.” No matter how divided the Republican party becomes, these are policies that virtually all can get behind.
However, digging deeper into the specifics reveals a candidate unbound by establishment dogma. The proposal demonstrates the staying power of the Trump re-alignment of 2016, as DeSantis rejects the failed “go-along-to-get-along” Republican ethos to fight back in the cultural sphere.
For example, point 10 is not merely a Reaganite scheme to cut federal bloat. He also pledges to use “Article II authority to prohibit federal grants to entities that engage in active discrimination through DEI or other unconstitutional initiatives.” Point 4 pledges to end “environmental, social, and governance standards and political engineering by large investors.” Point 5 — “restoring merit and respect for the individual” — would then instruct the “DOJ Civil Rights Division” to “root out discrimination under the false guises of” DEI.
Overall, the plan is more aligned with the Trumpian economic worldview than the free market absolutists. He will target private companies that make an “end-run” around the “constitutional system” and invert the left’s own “lawfare” tactics against it. The common theme is that he intends to use state power to advance a conservative economic agenda. (RELATED: Will DeSantis’ New Economic Plan Give Him The Boost He So Desperately Needs?)
This of course will be maddening to the left, which depends on the administrative state to forward its radical equity agenda farther than democratic process would allow. For a certain segment of the right, the use of the federal government to target wokeness also strikes a nerve; if the free market leads to DEI and ESG, who’s to say it shouldn’t? But for the average American experiencing “diversity fatigue,” sick of a ubiquitous left-wing agenda being shoved down their throat, the novel economic strategy may resonate.
It’s unsurprising that DeSantis focuses on many economic issues that intersect the culture war — sentiments that former President Donald Trump brought into the mainstream, but didn’t necessarily make a policy centerpiece. DeSantis likely hopes to set himself apart by making these major campaign issues, and then pointing to his record in Florida — “Where woke goes to die.” But will it give him the boost he needs to overtake Trump and then Biden?
The adage, “It’s the economy, stupid!” doesn’t carry as much weight as it used to. Leading up to the 2020 election, only 34 percent of Americans said they would vote based on the economy and only 24 percent said it was their number one issue. The economy was number five in the list of “extremely important” issues for voters, according to a 2020 Gallup Poll. Even in 2022, with inflation rampant, only one in three voters said fixing the economy should be leaders’ top priority.
Now, economic issues are likely to be even further removed from voters’ minds as they become absorbed in the never ending soap opera of scandals facing both Trump and Biden. (RELATED: Biden Admin Indicts Donald Trump For Third Time)
Tying his economic agenda to the culture war is certainly a Trumpian move. It could help DeSantis in the primaries by giving his wonky issue set the flashy and adversarial appeal that the Republican base expects from their candidate — especially if he sells it that way in the upcoming debate. However, overcoming Trump — who fully embodies the terms flashy and adversarial — will likely be the biggest hurdle for him to clear.
On the bright side for DeSantis, however, Americans are increasingly disillusioned with Biden’s economic agenda. If he can make it past Trump, his economic platform will be a major challenge to the the Bidenomics record.