Peter Bart: Golden Globes And “Top Gov” Reveal Depths Of The Culture Chasm

17.01.2023 - 00:27 / deadline.com

In his new ad campaign, former Navy prosecutor Ron DeSantis dons an aviator outfit replete with goggles, billing himself as “Top Gov” and spoiling for a dogfight against the liberal-leading media. Those who disagree with his positions are promptly dis-invited to future speeches or press conferences. 

Will this strategy appeal to a broad audience or will it limit the Florida governor to a “niche”? Top Gov has his eyes on the widest niche — the  presidency — and hence has set his campaign on a political version of Cruise control. Says his top communications aide: ”We know the media hates us and hates everything we stand for.”

Does DeSantis honestly believe he can unite the Republican Party by being even more polarizing than Donald Trump was before he was voted out and, many charge, fomented an attempt at a government overthrow by his unruly hardline base, the Proud Boys and Oath Keeper crowd?

His strategy is the opposite of the one employed by the Golden Globes and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, a dubious enterprise that is trying to crawl out of banishment for not having a single Black voter for years, and for other misdeeds by the hundred or so journalists/parasites who are stringers for offshore publications. Given a position of importance with a weighty vote for a popular awards broadcast known to be more irreverent and fun than the stuffy Oscarcast, these journalists grew a rep for supplementing meager incomes with lavish gifts and junkets to glamorous places. They held interview sessions big stars were told by awards handlers they had to attend, often enduring rude and personal questions from these nobodies. And former HFPA president Philip Berk allegedly pawed at Brendan Fraser’s down under – the actor