Among the enigmatic politicians of the current crop, Ron DeSantis begs the question whether he really believes some of the things he says. If he is a hypocrite that is bad. If not, that is arguably worse. Not content with simply pandering to his aspirational MAGA base, he is pitching his divisive agenda to the American public. He looms, supposedly with the benefit of a Harvard diploma, like some ostensibly Trumpian avatar, minus the drama. But Trump fans like the drama, the excitement, the apprentice rancor. Rumor has it that DeSantis dislike index compares favorably (or unfavorably) with Ted Cruz, another darling of the extreme right. Apparently when DeSantis was at Harvard no one spoke to him, recognizing him as the martinet he was, thus rivaling Cruz’s reputation as stated by early (not the later version) Lindsey Graham, “that if someone shot Ted Cruz on the floor of the Senate, no one would care.” DeSantis is a Cruz fellow traveler.
DeSantis became governor of Florida in 2015, squeaking by Andrew Gillam, later implicated in a drug scandal from which he was recently acquitted, after spiraling downward in a vortex of shame and guilt. No one really knows whether he would have succeeded as governor, but he certainly failed in handling his loss. So much for picking yourself up when you are down. Well, we escaped Gillam’s dysfunctional persona, receiving an authoritarian wannabe instead. The important question, however, is why we are faced with such glum choices?
Politics is a shaky game, drawing, arguably, on those who do not have the ability to gain prominence in private life; H.L. Mencken’s aphorism aside—"no one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public.”
Loyally in the corner of DeSantis ( of course, only if Trump is not the MAGA nominee), Marco Rubio is evidence of that maxim, bashing the verdict of the New York jury finding his putative friend, Donald J Trump liable for defamation. As if either of them were capable of friendship to anyone.
Attorneys can be disciplined for generically denigrating the justice system. Attorneys should state that while they disagree with a verdict, they should not bash the system of justice after a disappointment. This is an ethical violation. The truth is, however, that Rubio failed in his attempt to gain a large salaried position anywhere, so he changed his mind and went back to Washington, courtesy of the Florida electorate. Being a mediocre lawyer apparently is no impediment in Florida to being a mediocre senator.
And let’s not forget DeSantis potential loyalist Rick Scott, that other jewel of the Senate whose company was fined billions for Medicare fraud, and who, as chairman, lost the GOP a bunch of seats in the last election.
Within this rogue’s gallery of panderers, DeSantis paradigmatically excels, attempting to woo Trump followers to his culture wars, conducting his own policies of grievance with a sycophantic, spineless legislature passing a six-week abortion ban, making it harder to sue extortionate insurance companies and businesses, eliminating licenses and training for concealed carrying of guns and virtually assuring us another shoot out, almost anywhere in our state. Florida already has suffered its fair share of tragedy. Perhaps a gun fight at the magic kingdom, home of the subversive mouse who refuses to harken to the demands of DeSantis’ cultural imperatives, including homophobia and nixing anti-gender affirming care. There are always Nobel prize-winning authors’ books to ban. There are always “thoughts and prayers,” I guess, to address the gun issue, and don’t forget, we haven’t the foggiest notion where the governor is going now that his travel itinerary has been sequestered.
There’s transparency for ya.
Already, DeSantis has done his best to destroy the academic freedom at highly respected New College, appointing right-wing Republican president of the University of Florida, the Governor assuming the role of education curriculum czar so students can be stripped of their secular and misguided liberal “woke” tendencies. The methodology for this is banning subversive history books like the Diary of Anne Frank and Tony Morrison’s “Beloved.” Apparently, real history is verboten in MAGA world.
Good luck encouraging hormonal college students at State Universities in abstaining from sex, forbidding abortion after six weeks, putting a state prison next to Disney World, banning books, removing the tenure of “woke” professors, denying black history, politicizing the education system, expecting a plethora of guns to not result in more deaths, inserting religious fundamentalism in the schools, and stoking the cultural divisions of Floridians. We have seen Donald Trump, we have known Donald Trump, and Governor DeSantis, you are no Donald Trump. But you are no Napoleon either.
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