Unlike his rivals, the former president knows how to make punitive vengeance fun.
Ron DeSantis, once a favourite among the Republican Party elite for the presidential nomination, has dropped out of the race after a dull and uninspiring campaign. This marks a moment of humility for those of us who thought the Florida governor, as a less flashy but more competent (and therefore more dangerous) reactionary conservative made in Donald Trump’s image, had every advantage—even over the original.
It turns out there’s no substitute for the real thing. A large majority of Republican voters like Trump’s policies, which DeSantis was ready to adopt. But what many of them truly love is Trump’s style, especially his recklessness and desire to inflict significant harm. They don’t just want a president who will improve their lives; they want one who will go to great lengths to destroy what they see as a fundamentally broken system and punish those they believe are responsible for it—liberals, feminists, racial justice activists, intellectuals, LGBTQ people, non-Christians, and Democrats broadly.
Moreover, they want to be entertained by cruelty; they crave a brutal leader who creates a spectacle, makes them laugh, and gives them permission to embrace their nastiest instincts.
DeSantis is a cruel bully. He used his power to target LGBTQ people and exploited vulnerable asylum seekers in sadistic political stunts. He signed an abortion ban that has nearly killed women facing pregnancy complications and forced others to carry pregnancies to term, knowing their babies would die. His Covid denialism likely cost lives. None of this is vastly different from what Trump has done or says he will do. But DeSantis wasn’t particularly fun about it.
Trump, on the other hand, has perfected the art of cruelty in a way that entertains as much as it punishes. He understands that his supporters don’t just want a president who aligns with their political views—they want a leader who makes the act of tearing down the system feel like a spectacle, something they can enjoy as they cheer along with every insult and provocation. Trump’s cruelty is not just punitive; it’s performative.
