Where Do You Even Start?

 Yglesias will occasionally falls face first into the pundit's mistake of assuming that the American electorate behaves as rational actors from an econ textbook. In this doozy of a column, he suggests that Ron DeSantis needs to delineate his policy preferences so that we can better assess his strengths as a candidate.

Who the f*** thinks voters make decisions that way anymore? This weird tic where political writers think that Trump won by moving away from Paul Ryan's GOP austerity budgets is one reason why we keep normalizing the insanity of the GQP. Trump voters - especially but not exclusively Cult 45 - like Trump because he's a bruising culture warrior. They don't really expect the government or politicians to actually do what they say they will do, but they want an avatar in the White House. Someone who hates the same people they hate.

You can't look at the 2020 election - where the GOP platform was basically to bow before Trump's Golden Calf - and suggest that these voters were motivated by policy. The word "vibes" gets thrown around to much, but there is really no other explanation for Trump's rise. The whole point of demagoguery is that it is emotive, not rational.

Is DeSantis basically Paul Ryan with Trump's hand gestures and rhetoric? Maybe. Or more likely, most GOP politicians want power first and while a few hew to important positions and philosophies, most just want power. If that means abandoning Paul Ryan's entitlement cuts - at least while campaigning - then any savvy GOP politician will do that. "Savvy" was a term used to describe the cynical position most press members and many DC figures adopted where actual governing policies are just postures to win elections, as opposed to actually governing the country wisely.

It is also worth noting that plenty of GOP politicians continue to thrust themselves into unpopular positions on issues like abortion, so maybe they will fall behind Rick Scott's draconian plan if they get power. 

The broader point is that GOP politicians - with a few exceptions - have no moral compass, no guidestar beyond whatever Trump says it is at any moment. The idea that DeSantis would offer a bunch of white papers on entitlements is just galactic pundit brain on Yglesias' part.