I’ve never watched the show “Survivor,” but I’m reliably informed that one of the main strategies their contestants use is to form alliances.
Two or three often like-minded (or at least similarly motivated) people work together to defend against other serious threats, so they are more likely to outlast other participants, at least for a while. Of course, if the alliance is successful, it must eventually dissolve, and its members realize that they are also competitors;
I wouldn’t say that analogy perfectly characterizes the current relationship between the political leaders of Texas and Florida.
State executives have their own fiefdoms and are relatively independent of each other.
But as we can see from the current crisis along the southern border, states are not, in fact, islands (figuratively speaking, anyway).
Sometimes they serve their residents best when they band together as a bulwark to solve a problem or take on a rival.
And the recent news that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has responded to Governor Greg Abbott’s plea for help. sending resources to Texas to help protect the Texas-Mexico border from an expected increase in migrant crossings (thanks to the end of the Biden administration’s Title 42) has all the makings of an alliance move.
DeSantis said Tuesday he was prepared to commit 1,100 National Guard troops and law enforcement personnel, as well as five planes, 17 drones and 10 ships from Florida.
Of course, Texas and Florida have a lot in common politically.
They are two of the most populous states, both with strong conservative leaders at the helm and Republican legislatures in tow.
Both have growing populations, thanks to economic, regulatory and political policies that have broad appeal.
And from pandemic policies to abortion and immigration, both have been a thorn in the side of the Biden administration.
Nothing like good teamwork.
Or maybe it’s more like a sibling rivalry.
After Abbott’s politically astute decision to offer bus rides to incoming migrants to sanctuary cities like Chicago, New York and Washington, he angered big-city leaders who seemed to think small border communities were better equipped to handle the rise of humanity than its bloated bureaucracies, DeSantis. upped the ante.
The story continues
He chartered a pair of flights that took about 50 migrants to Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, a vacation haven for Democratic politicians and wealthy coastal elites.
For a while, DeSantis’ provocative move, which was quite a spectacle, eclipsed even Abbott’s. more robust effort to legitimately relieve some of the stress on border towns struggling to cope with the never-ending onslaught of migrants.
Maybe DeSantis was showing his support for Texas and Abbott; perhaps he thought he was taking Abbott’s idea and improving upon it.
Maybe DeSantis was just thinking about how to make himself another nuisance for the president.
A common adversary, so to speak, can do it.
But DeSantis’ decision to enter the immigration space is clearly indicative of more than just his desire to help his friend and stick it to Biden.
With little doubt that the Florida governor will enter the 2024 presidential race, it is clear that he wants to appear as a heavyweight on immigration policy. Abbott already is.
What is less clear is whether Abbott also has presidential aspirations.
If it does, the Texas-Florida alliance will have an interesting future.
In the short term, that could mean setting his sights on Donald Trump instead of Biden, and that wouldn’t be a terrible thing.
But at some point, one of them will have to be voted off the island.
