There’s another recent candidate who was dressed by the press in unflattering garb who overcame the representation to win the presidency: Donald Trump. According to a thousand news bulletins, Trump was a narcissistic bully, a misogynist, a racist, a xenophobe, a Putin toady, an authoritarian, a con man, a cheat, a liar, an egomaniac, a fraud and a sexist. But instead of contesting these nasty effigies, Trump shrugged them off. Oh, he quarreled now and again with some of the assessments, like boasting about being the least racist person in the room, but by and large, he slept soundly in the bed the press made for him, wearing the insults like a toga and the descriptions like a wreath.
Could DeSantis make a similar bounty out of his straitjacketed personality? Could he pretend his straitjacket was a royal robe and welcome the abuse? Stranger things have happened in campaigns than organizing a presidential run around the politics of joylessness, even if it has proved successful in Florida.
If the straitjacket fits, maybe DeSantis should wear it proudly.
