In an effort to revive his well-funded but unappealing presidential campaign, Florida governor Ron DeSantis (R) last week presented a faux-populist economic agenda he said would declare “our economic independence from the failed elites and policies that have harmed this nation’s middle class” — even though few of the items in his agenda and corresponding speech would threaten the sweeping economic power that the ultra-wealthy and corporations have over Americans’ lives.

“No more socialism for the wealthy and rugged individualism for small businesses, and for individuals, and for working class people,” said DeSantis, channeling the civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.

DeSantis is currently polling a distant second to Donald Trump, who was indicted on criminal charges last week for attempting to overturn the 2020 election.