A Democrat's Case for DeSantis

The President of the United States should be very competent. America has many such people. Millions even. And this basic litmus test shouldn't be controversial. Yet the current President doesn't pass. Joe Biden's recent onstage fall at the US Air Force Academy was yet another reminder of his declining physical and mental capacities.

Now Biden, to be sure, has had a storied political career. His intentions are in the right place. And his administration is brimming with intelligent and highly competent public servants. But the man at the top—POTUS himself—is well past his prime.

The main Republican contender, meanwhile, also fails the litmus test. But Donald Trump isn't just far from very competent. He's outright incompetent. He's also—in stark contrast to Biden—dishonest, disloyal, and concerned more with himself than America's interests. He also happens to be very popular among Republicans. Current polls point to another Biden-versus-Trump presidential showdown.

But what about the third most likely person to be inaugurated president in January 2025, Ron DeSantis? DeSantis is boring and stiff. He's mean. He's as likable as a stinky sock. And he's on the wrong side of numerous important policy debates—from immigration, to taxes, to judicial appointments.

But unlike Biden and Trump, DeSantis passes the litmus test. He's very competent. A Yale- and Harvard-educated lawyer, DeSantis served in the Navy (including on a tour in Iraq) before entering congress and then becoming Florida's governor. And he's effectively achieved his objectives in Florida—regarding both politics and policy.

DeSantis's competence matters. Why? Because the most important quality to have in a US President is competence. The biggest questions facing the country do not fall comfortably along some left-right axis but instead require prudent and empirically effective leadership to address. How should we approach our global rivalry with China? How should we regulate artificial intelligence? How should we participate in an international economy complicated by dysfunction and violence around the world? And so on.

Indeed, domestic issues matter less and less the more interconnected the world gets—and it's getting exponentially more interconnected as time marches on. This, in turn, decreases the relevance of a president's political party and increases the importance of a president's competence. Far better to get the culture wars wrong but get China right than vice versa. Same with taxation: better to tilt the code a little more toward the rich if it means we also get smarter regulations protecting humanity from the downside of artificial intelligence. Appoint conservative judges all day long if it means America's international effectiveness and leadership improves.

America's domestic squabbles just don't mean as much as they used to. And it's a sign of our national decadence and complacency that our political focus is nonetheless still insular and myopic. The world is a dangerous and complicated place and the President of the United States should be—above all else—very good at dealing with global challenges.

A simple question establishes the point. Which candidate would be better at the helm in a global crisis: an 80-year-old who can't walk straight (Joe Biden); a 76-year-old with the emotional intelligence of a ten-year-old (Donald Trump); or a 44-year-old Harvard-law-trained Navy vet who skillfully runs his home state (Ron DeSantis)?

This November American voters will likely once again be asked to choose the least-worst option for the nation's most important job. It would be much better if a highly competent, intelligent, and well-intentioned candidate replaced Biden on the Democratic ticket. Until then, DeSantis all the way.

William Cooper is the award-winning author of Stress Test: How Donald Trump Threatens American Democracy.