DeSantis Declares for the GOP Nomination

DeSantis Declares for the GOP Nomination

First Florida; Is the United States Next?

On May 24th at a glitch-laden Twitter Event with Elon Musk, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis officially placed his name in the running to be President of the United States. After a landslide reelection in 2020, Governor Ron was feeling his oats. Believing that no matter the polling, the GOP would soon realize that Donald Trump would be so clearly unelectable – from existing and almost certain future criminal and civil actions against him – that number two would just slip into number one, regardless of the balance of the GOP field. Under current polling, even with Trump firmly leading, DeSantis is the only other candidate with double digit support in a substantial GOP field.

Despite a quick reversal in his momentary statement that Ukraine was not a foregone priority, after a number of established, higher-ranking Republicans in Congress poopooed his position as a reflection of his lack of international chops, DeSantis set the rest of his platform in motion. With a full left-over campaign chest, his vector was to use the model of his anti-woke, anti-immigrant litany of statutes in Florida as what America under DeSantis would look like. His posture would out-MAGA even Donald Trump.

DeSantis and his team have so created an anti-“people of color/gender bias” that major minority organizations issued travel alerts. “The NAACP, long an advocate for Black Americans, joined the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), a Latino civil rights organization, and Equality Florida, a gay rights advocacy group, in issuing travel advisories for the Sunshine State, where tourism is one of the state’s largest job sectors.” Associated Press, May 22nd. There’s not much that DeSantis is for… but lots of stuff he is against.

Lacking enough documented immigrants from Latin America in his home state, Governor Ron brought his anti-immigrant policy home by using Texas border-crossers, paying for them to be flown and dumped into northern blue areas… like Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts… to give those far from the southern border a taste of their own medicine. Except those puzzled immigrants, who were misled to get them to travel, were warmly greeted and provided with food, clothing and shelter.

Quick to remove vaccine mandates – even inoculations for childhood diseases that had been in every school district for well over half century – and willing to sign a severe anti-abortion bill despite a clear indication that the majority of his constituents opposed it (signed in the dead of night with no one watching) – Governor Ron also took on Disney because it succumbed to its Disney World employees’ shock at his anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, his war on diversity… and openly challenged his efforts. Even though there are about 100 business-friendly special districts in Florida, DeSantis fomented legislation in his “whatever Ron wants” GOP-dominated legislature to strip Disney of its special district status and benefits. Disney then secretly signed a deal with the outgoing regional board, before the DeSantis evangelical-heavy board took office, that negated Governor Ron’s efforts.

DeSantis and his new board filed suit to reverse that deal and then railed against the judge assigned to the case because of what DeSantis said was a string of biased liberal rulings. Apparently, it was OK to judge shop to find “wherever we can find them” conservative judges among conservatives, but getting a judge in the same jurisdiction who did not tow the DeSantis line was not acceptable. The subtext is all of this was not well-received by many major companies: a Governor was willing to attempt to decimate corporations in his state that did not agree with his political ideology. They believed that regardless of which party a governor might belong to, companies should not be micromanaged by the ideological whims of the governor in office. DeSantis believes, however, that the MAGA GOP prioritizes “culture wars” over business needs.

Teachers, professors and healthcare professionals were beginning to leave Florida in droves. Medical students facing residency choices were retracting applications to Florida hospitals. Teacher, nurse and doctor shortages redefined Florida’s future. DeSantis’ book-banning and severe limitations on what could be taught in schools and universities – particularly gender, race, religious and ethnic discrimination regardless of the truth – were implemented under the notion of “parental control,” even though there was a wink-wink understanding among many that “anti-woke” really meant support for a White Christian nationalist mandate for America. Florida became the leader in the great red state dumb-down, as education fell victim to censorship and punishing teachers and professors for not accepting the “right thinking” mandated by DeSantis and his crew.

DeSantis bragged that by banning all sorts of COVID-related restrictions early in the game, he saved his state’s economy. But the whole nation recovered without that effort. Refusing to accept an expansion of Medicaid (even though the federal government would have covered 90% of the cost), Florida currently has the third highest percentage of adults under 65 without healthcare coverage. Florida is only one of ten states (all red) that has refused to expand Medicaid. Unless someone is Florida is homeless or virtually homeless, sick or injured adult Floridians without insurance were closed out of the healthcare system. As Noah Bierman, writing for the May 22nd Los Angeles Times notes: “The same adult who qualifies for insurance help in California might not in Florida…

“[DeSantis] has spoken less about the issue since becoming governor. In his recent memoir, ‘The Courage to Be Free,’ DeSantis mentioned Obamacare in passing; almost all of his healthcare references related to his opposition to vaccine requirements, school closures and other pandemic restrictions. The governor signed a series of ‘medical freedom’ bills this month that prevent businesses, employers, schools and other government entities from requiring COVID-19 testing, masks or vaccinations.” Florida at least expanded some coverage for children, and Medicare covers elders, but the rather significant number of uninsured Floridians is seen as a fiscal badge of courage rather than the shame it actually reflects. But DeSantis’s misuse of the word “Free” is tragic and very reflective of his catering to the worst in us.

In the end, will America… and even Florida… accept the dictates of an autocrat wannabe as their leader? Will Biden’s advanced age be enough of a DeSantis edge to tilt the 2024 election in his favor? Is America truly ready for that accelerating rise towards minority rule? Is the GOP “culture war,” led by Ron DeSantis, our communist China’s “Cultural Revolution” autocratic equivalent? Questions that if not answered correctly spell the end of American democracy, already fiercely eroded.

I’m Peter Dekom, and in the last 100 years – right into the present – think about how many dictators were initially duly elected in what were ostensibly democratic elections.