In a recent speech, Ron DeSantis laid out his case for the presidency based on his performance as Governor of Florida. He said that in "fighting the woke mind virus," what you've seen is "surgical precision execution day after day after day." What we've seen from the media is, at worst, confirmation of those claims and, at best, tacit agreement.
What would we be hearing if they actually told the truth?
First of all, we'd learn that the whole DeSantis vs Disney battle was an example of a politician rushing to make headlines before he had any idea what he was doing. For example, a little more than a month after Disney spoke out against DeSantis's "don't say gay" bill, the governor signed a bill that would dissolve the company's special district status. Here's how the Florida Senate summarized SB 4-C (emphasis mine):
The bill provides for the dissolution of any independent special district established by a special act prior to...November 5, 1968...The bill provides that dissolution of the affected districts will occur on June 1, 2023.
Almost immediately, Disney let it be known that, if the special district was dissolved, Florida taxpayers would be on the hook for its $1 billion in bond debt. Run-roh! Time to scramble behind closed doors to fix that! Seven months later DeSantis had a solution. As governor, he would appoint the board of supervisors who oversee the district, but here's the final word on its status:
When it comes to the people DeSantis appointed to the board, the guy who said that homosexuality is the result of estrogen in our tap water sounds like a real winner.
But this sums things up pretty well:
It’s unclear what, if any, effect that board will have on how Disney behaves...Even on the level of administration of municipal matters, so far experts estimate that the board takeover isn’t necessarily going to change how things are run in Disney World’s district. “In terms of the day-to-day operation of the district, it doesn’t look like much is going to change,” Aubrey Jewett, associate professor at the University of Central Florida, told NBC News.
Surgical precision execution? Not so much.
What DeSantis has going for himself are Republican supermajorities in the state house and senate that are willing to pass any nonsense he proposes. So he goes on Fox News to tout his "so-called" accomplishments. What you don't hear much about is how many of those bills face serious court challenges - like his "Stop the Woke Act," which a judge compared to the "upside down" dimension in "Stranger Things." Here are some of the governor's other failures:
- The "free speech" law that was blocked for violating free speech.
- The "anti-riot" law that was deemed unconstitutional.
- The 15-week abortion ban that violates the Florida constitution.
- The myriad of civil cases being brought against the governor for his scheme to transport migrants from Texas to Martha's Vineyard.
In case after case, courts have scaled back, thrown out, or left in legal limbo rules and laws that impose restrictions on social media giants; limit voting; curb gender-related health care; influence speech in the workplace, college campuses and classrooms; and create new crimes for peaceful protests.
It's also worth noting that, in the process, DeSantis has not only aligned himself with people who think tap water creates homosexuality, he also pals around with liars and propagandists like Christopher Rufo and James O'Keefe.
None of that bears any resemblance to surgical precision execution. What we have with DeSantis is a fascist governor (with a totally compliant legislature) who conjures up enemies to shoot first and aim later.
Now run and tell that!
All this is why I refer to him as Gov. DeFascist.
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