Trump vs. DeSantis: The rundown

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Our topic today is who is worse, President Donald Trump or Ron DeSantis?

Nonononofair! There is no way I would vote for either of them! Why should I care?

Hey, knowledge of public affairs is always important.

DeSantis made headlines over the weekend when he made a campaign appearance in Iowa as Trump canceled a rally due to bad weather.

Iowa is the Florida of the Midwest, Florida’s governor claimed at one point during his burger-flipping, speech-giving trek. Now this is obviously intended as a compliment, but Iowans, do you really want to be the Florida of the Midwest? The weather is certainly nice in January, but there are many downsides. Your Midwestern neighbors are whispering, What our state needs is more floods and sinkholes?

DeSantis and his wife/political advisor, Casey, have three young children, who once starred in a gubernatorial election ad in which he showed his devotion to President Donald Trump by showing one of his daughter how to make a toy wall and reading to his son Art of the Deal. (Then Mr. Trump says, You’re fired. I like that part.)

You may be seeing a lot more of little Madison, Mason and Mamie DeSantis in the coming months. But no one will read from Trumps collected works.

Trump has five children counting Ivanka, who has distanced herself from the clan. And Tiffany, who everyone, including her father, seems to have forgotten for so long. And Eric, who we often hear in riffs from late-night comics. And Barron, the youngest at 17, who lives quietly with his mother.

Donald Jr. is truly his father’s son. He will be in Australia this summer for a speaking tour that has fired up identity politics. Ranting against the woke is a DeSantis thing, but give Junior a break. He spent his entire life trying to please a father who was absent for most of his childhood and is said to have fought to name his firstborn after him, in case the boy turned out to be a loser.

Now Don Jr. also has five children. And he’s not shy about putting them in the news either. In the past, he posted a photo on Instagram of children publicizing a Trump-branded tie. (You can also get yours at the Trump Store.) Before that, Dad once tweeted that he planned to confiscate half of his 3-year-old daughter’s Halloween candy to teach her about socialism .

It’s hard to imagine the Trump and DeSantis families getting together for a cookout. But the gap between the two men widens even further if you look at personal behavior. Only one of them lost a $5 million verdict from a jury that found he sexually assaulted a woman in a department store dressing room.

Trump is trying to imply that DeSantis had some shady dealings with high school girls in his distant, distant past. And running an ad reminding the world that his likely Republican opponent has a history of eating pudding with his fingers.

But what about the issues? It’s a little hard to pin down because Trump is given to, um, free association on this matter. But he certainly ran to the left of DeSantis, accusing the Florida governor of wanting to cut Social Security and Medicare benefits.

When he was in Congress, DeSantis voted for Republican proposals along those lines. Hes on the no-changes-no-how bandwagon now. But let’s look at abortion which is easier to pin down. DeSantis, as governor, just signed a bill he supported that would have banned abortions in Florida after six weeks. During that time, many, many women especially very young, very poor, very traumatized have no idea that they are pregnant.

DeSantis has at least been consistent. A devout Catholic, he held the same position for his entire political career. Trump, on the other hand, is, um, adapting.

Trump made a big impact by appointing three anti-choice judges to the Supreme Court. But now he noticed that the electorate was coming down very strongly in favor of abortion rights, and he moved quickly. He says many people within the pro-life movement found Florida’s new law too harsh.

Our bottom line here, folks, is that you have two leading candidates for the Republican presidential nomination. DeSantis adheres to a strong, faith-based social conservatism. He is pro-gun, opposed to diversity and inclusion programs at public colleges. And it’s currently at loggerheads with Disney, one of Florida’s top employers, over a Disney CEO’s comments criticizing the DeSantis bill to ban classroom discussions of sexual orientation in the first grades.

It is hard to imagine a Gov. Donald Trump is taking the same road.

Unless it wins him an election. Trumps politics are deeply, deeply pragmatic. If an angel appeared promising him another term in the White House if he killed every puppy in America, those dogs would be toast.

The bottom line: Would you rather see Republicans nominate a candidate with an exemplary family life and an agenda based on long-held, deeply conservative beliefs? Or someone with a sordid personal history who is likely to go wherever the votes go?

Some days, it pays to be a Democrat.

Gail Collins is an opinion columnist for The New York Times.

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