Last Updated on November 16, 2022, 3:25 PM | Published: November 16, 2022
OPINION — In a misjudged effort to avoid indictment for stealing classified information and to shift the growing narrative that he is just a bored old criminal living in a hotel in Florida, former President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that he is seeking the presidency in 2024.
But that was not the only narrative coalescing around Trump as he announced his candidacy from Mar-a-Lago, his Florida douche duchy. The truth is that he is old news. It was hard to find anyone with real political careers who was genuinely excited apart from Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, and Graham is so riddled with Stockholm Syndrome that his senate office should be furnished by Ikea.
Rep. Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina was the only elected official to actually show up for the announcement, and he will not be in office much longer.
It feels like Trump is selling something that relatively few people actually want to buy right now. Following the worst showing by an out-of-power party at the midterms since the 1930s, conservatives have largely settled on blaming the “red trickle” on Trump, and they are not wrong — mostly.
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The Republicans seem to be making their move to a different Florida fascist, recently re-elected Gov. Ron DeSantis, but make no mistake — politically speaking, DeSantis sprang from Trump’s loins. Supporting DeSantis over Trump is like choosing Pepsi over Pepsi.
“In order to make America great and glorious again, I am tonight announcing my candidacy for President of the United States,” Trump mumbled in an unfocused, low-energy speech that Fox News’ Sean Hannity cut away from before it ended.
That is not nearly as surprising as it sounds: on Nov. 9, the day after the “red wave” failed to reach the shore, Fox News ran an opinion piece by Liz Peek with this headline: “Ron DeSantis is the new Republican Party leader. But it was the subhead that delivered a right cross: “Republicans are ready to move on without Donald Trump.”
What does that mean in Oklahoma? It depends on how long Fox News keeps its distance from Trump.
The former president is held in the highest regard by the large segment of Oklahomans who believe their children are forced to pee in classroom kitty litter. They think it’s cool for Gov. Kevin Stitt to claim “every square inch” of Oklahoma for Jesus Christ, like he is a Spanish inquisitor sizing up the Moors.
If Rupert Murdoch crumples in on himself and recommits to Trump, then Oklahoma conservatives who just voted to destroy public education will stick with Florida Orange. But if Fox News stays hitched to DeSantis, these Oklahomans will follow in lockstep – unless, of course, Trump decides to go third party and splits conservatives, leading to the most effective destruction of a U.S. political party since the Whig Party collapsed in the 1850s.
If that happens and Trump, appropriately enough, starts a new Know Nothing party – the nativist white supremacists that split from the Whigs — the possible outcome is a half-century in the political wilderness for American conservatives.
Progressives in Oklahoma — and across the country — should hope for that outcome but not depend on it.
Even if Fox News stays cold on Trump, CNN and Newsmax are hungrily lapping at the Trump trough, so Oklahomans who voted for Joy Hofmeister, Jena Nelson, Madison Horn and Kendra Horn must start organizing now for 2024.
Whether conservatives decide to travel with DeSantis or with Trump, they are on the same road to ruin, and Oklahoma progressives need to helpfully point out the off-ramp.
George Lang has worked as an award-winning professional journalist in Oklahoma City for over 25 years and is the professional opinion columnist for Free Press. His work has been published in a number of local publications covering a wide range of subjects including politics, media, entertainment and others. George lives in Oklahoma City with his wife and son.
