(Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Last week, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis came out with a new campaign ad trying to gin up his Navy career with the Hollywood glitter of the latest Top Gun movie.
The Boston Globe’s description of the ad, for those unwilling to sully their YouTube profile by watching the ad:
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[T]he Republican governor is sporting a bomber jacket and a pair of aviator sunglasses before zipping up a flight suit as he walks onto the tarmac.
He then briefs an unseen team on its mission (“dogfighting” with the aim of “taking on the corporate media”) as a guitar track plays in the background. DeSantis later climbs into the cockpit of what appears to be a fighter jet and dons headgear labeled “Top Gov.”
I’m not Gen Z, but I know cheugy when I see it.
Because this is not DeSantis reliving glory days — no, this is a lot closer to playing dress up. You see, DeSantis’s military service mostly consisted of being a lawyer. And as every Above the Law reader knows, similarities between being an attorney and a fighter pilot are scant.
As reported by Jezebel, DeSantis had a number of positions while in the Navy, but none were fighter pilot — but he was a piss coordinator (for real, real)… sorry, *assistant* piss coordinator:
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DeSantis shared few details about his military career while campaigning for governor in 2018, but the Florida Phoenix filed a public information request and learned that he “served as a prosecutor, defense attorney, international law attorney and a Judge Advocate General’s Corps Officer.” Yes, JAG, like the TV show. The records also show that DeSantis’s duties also included being a physical fitness coordinator, a recruiting officer, an assistant urinalysis coordinator (a program related to drug screening), and an awards officer.
Also, low key way to diss your actual service as a military attorney. JAG officers get no end of pop culture love — from A Few Good Men, to the JAG show and all of it’s spin offs: NCIS, NCIS: Los Angeles, NCIS: New Orleans and NCIS: Hawaiʻi. But rather than lean on any of those reference points he’d rather get dressed up in tough guy regalia and jump in a fighter jet.
Of course, this isn’t the first time that a political candidate tried to toughen up his image by cosplaying as a warrior. Mike Dukakis famously had a photo op in a tank during the 1988 presidential election. Referred to as the worst campaign photo op ever, it… did not go well for the candidate. And the internet is making the comparison.
https://twitter.com/theliamnissan/status/1562239020398149632?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1562239020398149632%7Ctwgr%5Ea85957c540ee1be331cc6cb90b866abaf575b398%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bostonglobe.com%2F2022%2F08%2F24%2Fnation%2Fdesantis-fighter-jet-ad-draws-comparisons-dukakis-tank-photo-op%2F
First as tragedy, then as farce pic.twitter.com/cXxLN8BLES
— Kevin Gannon (@TheTattooedProf) August 23, 2022
TFW all of your campaign consultants are too young to remember Mike Dukakis. https://t.co/pLpaicbTsl
— Randall Eliason (@RDEliason) August 24, 2022
when u learned nothing from mike dukakis pic.twitter.com/k2kTsczK3S
— andy™ (@andylevy) August 23, 2022
I thought this was a Joke
He just had his Dukakis tank ride with a side of
Bush Mission Accomplished and topped it off with a Howard Dean Eagle scream all in one https://t.co/VZkfsjCAoM— John Barber (@jonrob718) August 23, 2022
A brief history of candidates looking like total dorks.
Dukakis in a tank.
DeSantis in a plane. pic.twitter.com/3jeb8kloRS— Jason Selvig (@jasonselvig) August 23, 2022
Sometimes the internet is a glorious thing.
Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).