2/4/23

Ron DeSantis
THE ENEMY OF MY ENEMY
IS ... NOT MY FRIEND

RON DESANTIS - The Sunshine State's governor, with his hands full, suggesting the danger he poses to American democracy. PHOTO CREDIT: Florida governor's office.

RON DESANTIS is a vile, dangerous leader.
   He is not preferable to Donald Trump.
   Ron DeSantis will not rescue America from Donald Trump.
   They are equally terrible.
   As a president, DeSantis would be just as destructive as Donald Trump, just as mean, cruel, racist and divisive.
   If DeSantis were to win the White House, the particulars would be different from those of the terrible four years of Trump's presidency.
   But the effect would be the same. DeSantis,  in his first term, like Trump in his second, would destroy democracy in America – at least he’d give it a really hard try.
   There is one major difference between these two worst-case scenarios: there would be no surprise about how a President DeSantis would govern.
   When Trump took office in 2017, there was an element of mystery as to what he’d really do.
   Since Trump had never held political office, we –  I should stop  using the “we” word, since I can speak only about what is/was in my brain  – I had no idea what Trump would be like once he actually was president..
   We – I – knew little about him, other than that he’d been a grotesque candidate.
   Up to then, Trump mainly was just a name. A name on buildings, airplanes and other of his “businesses,” some of which weren’t his. A name in the tabloid newspapers, meaning he was a largely fictitious character. He’d been a name in a scripted TV “reality” show; a name as author of ghost-written books; and  name without much ideological shape on forums like the Don Imus in the Morning radio show.
   But I hoped that, deep down, there might be something of substance. Maybe he’d be better than his various disguises; maybe the awesome responsibilities and traditions of the presidency would weigh on him - in a good way. Possibly, he’d listen to wise women and men in his orbit and turn out to be a pragmatist when the dreadful, unexpected challenges confronted and bedeviledhim, just as they always have, no matter whom the presidents are.
   Stupid me.
   
BUT THERE’LL BE NO GUESSING about a would-be President Ronald Dion DeSantis.
   DeSantis is just another in a long, long, long line of leader/monsters. History tells us that God – if She exists and does this sort of thing - never creates just one awful head of state.
   How do we  know– how do I know –  if DeSantis is just one more of those?
   The proof is the noxious output of Ron DeSantis’ Florida “Laboratory.”
   Which he bragged about in his second inaugural address on Jan. 3 following his huge re-election win as governor. He remarked:

It is often said that our federalist constitutional system – with fifty states able to pursue their own unique policies – represents a laboratory of democracy.

Well, these last few years have witnessed a great test of governing philosophies as many jurisdictions pursued a much different path than we have pursued here in the state of Florida.  

  The Florida Laboratory might resonate with fans of horror movies, in which a mad scientist –  a mad political scientist – operates a dungeon, well-equipped with the tools of torture, wherein he conducts various demented experiments, utilizing as handy test subjects  vulnerable inhabitants of his personal island – or peninsula.
   The DeSantis lab in the last four years has been developing various strains of cultural hatred, such as Florida's attack on transgender kids – outlawing transgender girls from completing on girls’ and women’s sports teams, and Florida's “Don’t Say Gay” law, which bars teaching of gender issues in lower grades.
   For his work on “Don’t Say Gay,” DeSantis used an actual lab rodent, namely Mickey Mouse, punishing the Disney corporation for its opposition to the bill by revoking the Mouse empire’s privileged control of its vast Disney World theme park.
   Sometimes DeSantis has conducted teachable moments  outside the lab, to give “sanctuary” communities a taste of Florida's immigration troubles, as he did last September by sending two airplanes to Texas – that’s right, Texas – to pick up about 50 mostly Venezuelan immigrants and fly them to Martha’s Vineyard, an island off the deep blue Massachusetts mainland.

IF THERE'S A UNIFYING THEME to the Florida Lab’s work, it's to stamp out the contagious liberal virus known to laypersons as “woke.”
   Indeed, in his Second Inaugural, DeSantis explained how non-Floridian jurisdictions, besotted with wokism, have coddled criminals, corrupted public education, burdened taxpayers and practiced “medical authoritarianism.”
    Which, thankfully, has not been the case in the Sunshine State:  

We reject this woke ideology.
We seek normalcy, not philosophical lunacy!
We will not allow reality, facts, and truth to become optional.
We will never surrender to the woke mob.
Florida is where woke goes to die! 

   I CAN'T THINK of a modern instance since George Wallace declared “segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever" at his 1963 inauguration as Alabama governor, in which a Southern governor has sounded so intentional about perpetuating oppression of its black citizens.
   “Woke” started out as a positive word, conveying racial awareness, consensus and healing. But it's also been repurposed by right-wing alchemists like DeSantis as a racial slur.
   Woke entered my brain late in the game  – it’s an old brain, and a slow one – during the George Floyd incident, in which a policeman murdered a man in plain view, in plain daylight – and the nation came to an understanding of what it means to be black in 21st Century America.
   Woke made it into Florida law as the ‘Stop WOKE Act” - Stop Wrongs to Our Kids and Employees Act, later renamed the Individual Freedom Act – outlawing teaching of racial topics in a way that would make students feel guilt or “distress” about the sins of our forebears. The legislation, partially blocked for now by a federal judge, aims to protect purported victims of classroom brutality in instances of this kind of  classroom scenario:

 A person, by virtue of his or her race, color, sex, or national origin, bears personal responsibility for and must feel guilt, anguish, or other forms of psychological distress because of actions, in which the person played no part, committed in the past by other members of the same race, color, national origin, or sex.

 THE FLORIDA LAB'S WORK also includes thought control. A recent legislative proposal would forbid colleges and universities from spending money on programs that promote “diversity, equity and inclusion programs,” often labeled by the acronym,“DEI.”  Among other provisions would be an attempt to weaken tenure for professors, which protects academic freedom.
    Then there's the recent move by Florida education officials to throw out a new national College Board Advanced Placement course for high school students on African American history, saying that “as presented, the content of this course is inexplicably contrary to Florida law and significantly lacks educational value.” The officials later explained they were offended by discussions of Black Lives Matter, black homosexuality and black feminism.
   Last week, the College Board issued a revised version of the course, which included removal of a section on Black Lives Matter from the main “framework” of the course, suggesting only that the Black Lives Matter movement might be a subject of an individual student's research project. College Board officials said the changes predated the Florida assault on the course; but DeSantis’ fellow right-wingers had their knives out much earlier, too, so the College Board’s defenses sounded hollow.
  However,  the course remained a powerful powerful review of black history – and Florida’s move to cancel the course seemed another example of “where woke goes to die.” You can see the scope of the course at this link to understand what Florida students will be missing if state officials stick to their decision.

DESANTIS PRETENDS that  his woke attacks are not anti-black, but a call to common sense. Indeed, he disguises his racist experiments  in various ways – promoting a state art and essay contest for Black History Month, and populating  his website with photos of the governor standing side-by-side with black National Guard soldiers and other persons of color.
   But you don't have be woke to realize  that’s just camouflage for what’s underway in the  Florida laboratory.
   On paper, DeSantis has a formidable resume for a practicing political scientist: graduate of Harvard and Yale; legal advisor to the Navy's legendary Seal Team One; federal prosecutor; Congressman, and at 44, not objectionably too young or too old.
   Donald Trump's alarming presidency - the only one to try to overturn an election - tempted some people to welcome DeSantis as one Republican who might break the GOP's fever for Trump.
   But DeSantis' record says otherwise: it's a warning as to what to expect if Ron outflanks Don in the next race for the White House, and replaces him at the Resolute Desk.
   So, there's no reason for wishful thinking, no chance for pleasant surprises if DeSantis becomes The One.
   There will be nothing to cheer, and plenty to fear.