As a 2024 candidate who used the first half of his second term as governor of Florida to pass far-right messaging bills that would ultimately boost his 2024 bid, Ron DeSantis likes the chaos he’s seeing in Congress right now. And he wants to hijack the far-right House Republicans’ hijacking for his own purposes.
A Freedom Caucus founding member, DeSantis reportedly spoke with three current members of the caucus who are threatening a government shutdown for about 30 minutes on Wednesday. He told Reps. Chip Roy (R-TX), Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Bob Good (R-VA) by phone, “I got your back. Keep fighting,” Politico reported.
DeSantis reportedly sees a campaign trail advantage in aligning himself with the far-right House Republicans’ charade as they buck party leadership and risk a shutdown, betting that voters back home will be moved by their “anti-woke” headlines and “spending cuts!” sound bites at the polls in 2024. It’s a strategy not dissimilar to DeSantis’ own pre-presidential announcement strategy when he got his Republican-dominated state legislature to pass a bunch of dangerous anti-woke/anti-LGBTQ bills into law in hopes of appealing to the furthest-right members of Donald Trump’s base.
DeSantis has been building toward this kind of messaging shift for a bit. In recent weeks he’s railed against the “D.C. establishment” and criticized both Democrats and Republicans for overspending. The alignment with those making House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s (R-CA) life hell is just the latest move in the direction of austerity virtue-signaling.
The side-picking could also be rooted in a desire to counter Trump, a longtime ally of McCarthy’s. As Freedom Caucus members like Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) threaten to oust the speaker if he works with Democrats to avoid a financial crisis — again — Trump has mostly stayed out of the spending fight “my Kevin” is navigating. He’s far more fixated on the political points he may score from a President Biden impeachment.
The Best Of TPM Today
Here’s what you should read this evening:
Wisconsin Republicans Vote To Oust State’s Top Election Official Amid Authoritarian Tear
House Dems And McCarthy Agree On One Thing: The Speaker Doesn’t Know What His Caucus Wants
Supreme Court Grants Brief Administrative Stay In Biden Social Media Case
Wisconsin Voters Don’t Want Their Election Results Overturned
Yesterday’s Most Read Story
After Securing Impeachment From McCarthy, Freedom Caucus Pretends That Wasn’t Part Of Their Demands — Emine Yücel
What We Are Reading
Microsoft Publishes Garbled AI Article Calling Tragically Deceased NBA Player “Useless” — Futurism
“Where Is There to Go?” He Needs Gender-Affirming Surgery, but His State Is Fighting to Deny Coverage. — ProPublica
‘They did it to me’: Trump says Biden impeachment inquiry might be motivated by revenge — Politico