Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, seemingly the favorite candidate of Philadelphia’s Union League leadership, announced his candidacy for president this week. Whether you’re for him or against him and whether you vote Republican, independent, or Democrat, one of the keys for those of us in this all-important swing state is to understand when a candidate is trying to win our vote fairly based on principled policy positions or manipulatively based on divisive dog whistle politics.
The former is fair game; the latter is intended to divide us by using coded language to appeal to the worst of our tribal us vs. them instincts.
DeSantis has recently given us a prime case study in dog whistle politics. In case you missed it last week, as part of his presidential campaign strategy, DeSantis jumped into the public conversation about Daniel Penny and Jordan Neely. Daniel Penny is the man who killed Jordan Neely on a NYC subway on May 1. In response to a perceived threat of violence that Jordan Neely posed to fellow passengers, Penny put an apparently mentally ill Jordan Neely in a chokehold for several minutes that medical examiners say resulted in Neely’s death.
According to DeSantis, if you’re a Christian, you understand the reference to the New Testament moral parable of the good Samaritan, and you applaud the Good Samaritan who put himself at risk to protect innocent bystanders from an unhinged and violent criminal in a public space.
A court of law will ultimately determine what, if any, legal accountability Penny will bear for Neely’s death. Penny was charged with second degree manslaughter on May 12.
The court of public opinion is already in session. As with many public conversations in the U.S. about public safety, this conversation is racially charged, as Penny is White and Neely is Black.
Some conservative media like the National Review are correct to point out that some progressive media are too quick to label Penny as a vigilante and his behavior as an example of a resurgent and violent culture of White supremacy. The Review’s Rich Lowry wrote, “What progressives are doing is taking praise for someone who stepped up in a difficult circumstance and twisting it into something perverse, dangerous, and racist.” When progressive media does that it isn’t helpful if our objective is to listen to and learn from each other.
Who is the “We” DeSantis talks about?
But I’m more interested in what DeSantis said about Penny because DeSantis wants your vote for President.
DeSantis made a powerful opening argument for the defense when he Tweeted, “We stand with Good Samaritans like Daniel Penny. Let’s show this Marine … America’s got his back.”
We must defeat the Soros-Funded DAs, stop the Left’s pro-criminal agenda, and take back the streets for law abiding citizens. We stand with Good Samaritans like Daniel Penny. Let’s show this Marine… America’s got his back.
https://t.co/uQXZuT19Mo— Ron DeSantis (@RonDeSantis) May 13, 2023
So, let’s unpack what DeSantis seems to have been saying, and to whom, in his statement about Daniel Penny.
Who is the “We” to whom DeSantis is speaking?
“We” are Christian. “We” honor the military. “We” are Americans.
“We” are willing to do what it takes to preserve law and order. “We” are ready to rally behind each other and answer DeSantis’ call earlier in that same statement “to take back the streets for law-abiding citizens.” “We” will fight against the moral decay and “pro-criminal agenda” that threatens our safety and our country. “We” are willing to do what others are afraid to do.
According to DeSantis, if you’re a Christian, you understand the reference to the New Testament moral parable of the Good Samaritan, and you applaud the good Samaritan who put himself at risk to protect innocent bystanders from an unhinged and violent criminal in a public space.
According to DeSantis, if you honor the military, you are proud that a former Marine honored the code and used his training to subdue a violent criminal threatening law-abiding citizens.
If you’re an American, does the story of a mentally ill and homeless man slipping through the cracks of a failing public safety and public health system for eight years make you feel more or less proud to be an American?
According to DeSantis, if you’re an American, you show your patriotism by standing by our fellow Christian, military veterans who do what it takes to make sure we’re all safe and that lawlessness doesn’t continue to overrun our out-of-control cities.
According to DeSantis, if you’re a Christian, honor the military, and are an American patriot, you know that the liberal media is afraid to tell the truth that the deranged man on the subway was a clear and present danger. They are afraid to tell the truth that the man apparently had an outstanding warrant for his arrest, and a history of more than 40 prior arrests, including, according to one report, an alleged assault after punching an elderly woman in the face and breaking her nose. Telling these truths would complicate the narrative that the good Samaritan, the military veteran, the patriot, who subdued this man before he could cause more harm was not a racist White man seeking vigilante justice.
“We” know this man embodies not the worst, but the best of us: Christian, military, American.
DeSantis is saying all these things when he says, “We stand with Good Samaritans like Daniel Penny. Let’s show this Marine … America’s got his back.”
DeSantis is saying that because he needs to beat Trump in a Republican primary that will likely hinge on which of them can better convince the Republican base that he speaks their mind. DeSantis, perhaps more than Trump, might also be thinking he needs to do this while still seeming more palatable to independents and moderate Democrats soft on Biden so that he can win a close general election.
DeSantis is sounding a dog whistle, to signal to these voters that he sees them and shares their concerns as Christians, supporters of the military, and American patriots.
Here are some questions I have for those whom I believe DeSantis is trying to reach with his dog whistle:
If you’re a Christian, what would Jesus do if he encountered a mentally ill and likely homeless man on the NYC subway?
If you’re a Christian, what would a good Samaritan do while someone chokes another human being to death in front of them?
If you’re a Christian, what would you say about the values, conscience, ethics, and morality of a society that allows a mentally ill and homeless man to remain uncared for despite more than 40 encounters with public safety and health officials?
If you’re a Christian, do you believe that all human beings — including mentally ill and homeless human beings — are made in the image of God?
If so, how does this make you feel about this incident and the media coverage about it?
If you honor the military, do you honor the rules of engagement regarding appropriate and excessive use of force to neutralize a threat?
If you honor the military, when do you take matters into your own hands or seek out and follow the chain of command?
If you honor the military, when is it honorable to take a life?
If you honor the military, how do you reconcile ‘this Marine’s’ actions with the code to “respect human dignity?”
If you’re an American, does the story of a mentally ill and homeless man slipping through the cracks of a failing public safety and public health system for eight years make you feel more or less proud to be an American?
If you’re an American, does this story make you feel like we’re moving towards more liberty and justice for all? For the mentally ill and homeless man?
What about justice for the Marine who is also being tried in the court of public opinion?
DeSantis says, “Let’s show this Marine … America’s got his back.”
Whose America? Who is included in DeSantis’ America that has the back of “this Marine?”
Does anyone in DeSantis’ America have the back of the man who was killed on a NYC subway for saying things riders found threatening?
Would DeSantis, or DeSantis’ America, say the same thing if the mentally ill and homeless person who was choked to death on the subway floor was a former Marine and White, and the good Samaritan was a Black man?
DeSantis is speaking to you. What do you think about what he is saying?
Jay Coen Gilbert is the co-founder and former CEO of B Lab and founder of IMPERATIVE 21.
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