DeSantis Keeps Serving Up the Red Meat to the MAGA Crowd - Horowitz

Tuesday, October 25, 2022

 

View Larger +

Governor DeSantis (R-FL) PHOTO: Public Domain

Apparently undeterred by any unfair damage to individuals that may result, Governor Ron DeSantis keeps delivering the red meat to the MAGA crowd. The Florida governor continues to stake his claim to a smarter, more disciplined, and more effective—if equally nasty and cruel--- form of Trumpism than Donald Trump himself has demonstrated the capability to produce.

 

Among DeSantis’ recent actions courting MAGA voters was using the power of the state to punish the Magic Kingdom for the unforgivable sin of publicly criticizing his “Don’t Say Gay Law,” abandoning any pretense of believing in the limited government that used to be an article of faith among conservatives.   In the lexicon of DeSantis and other politicians in the increasingly authoritarian-friendly right wing, it is ok to nakedly use state power to penalize people and corporations who have the temerity to disagree with your policies as long as you can get away with labeling them “woke.”

GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST

 

Far more egregiously, Governor DeSantis also employed state dollars and resources to under false pretenses fly migrants fleeing a harsh, communist government in Venezuela from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard without any notice to Massachusetts, which, if given a heads-up, could have been at least prepared to properly receive them. 

 

Jealous of Governor Abbott of Texas, who was at least transporting migrants now located in his own state to cities in the North, Mr. DeSantis made sure he got in on the using human beings, who were already living under difficult circumstances, as props action.  As the Florida governor likely anticipated, this transparent and cruel stunt was celebrated non-stop on Fox News and in the rest of the right-wing media that Republican presidential primary voters most frequently watch and read.

 

Now, Governor DeSantis is completing the MAGA trifecta, creating the “Florida Office of Election Crimes and Security.” He is employing this new state office to unfairly arrest and jail ex-felons who mistakenly voted, believing that a 2018 ballot referendum overwhelming approved by Florida voters, restoring the voting rights of people who were convicted of felonies once their sentences were completed, gave them the right to vote(The referendum excluded people who were convicted of murder or sex crimes).  

 

So far, 15 out of the 19 people arrested by this new election crimes unit are African American, according to The Palm Beach Post. Even the Republican sponsor of the state law that limited the reach of the successful ballot referendum by specifying that people convicted of felonies would only be eligible to vote after they had paid their fines and court costs-which often takes many years after release from prison-- remarked that the intent of the state law was to treat people who mistakenly voted anyway with some grace. This is only fair because right now there is no easy way for a Florida resident to check on whether they are eligible to vote or not and a fair amount of confusion about the specific eligibility requirements for people who were convicted of felonies remains.

 

Governor DeSantis is unsurprisingly neither troubled by these nuances nor the fact that his actions are unfairly punishing people who have put their lives back together—people who will suffer, along with their families.  Mr. DeSantis knows that this “crackdown” stirs the hearts of all the Republican presidential primary voters who mistakenly believe that the 2020 Presidential election was stolen because of Donald Trump’s persistent championing of the “Big Lie.” The Florida governor called a media conference to tout his new elections unit on the same day the arrests were made.

 

A shrewd politician, Governor DeSantis grasps that these well-publicized stunts and his take-no-prisoners governing style appeals to the large slice of the Republican primary electorate that remains fond of Donald Trump.   Showing that you can “own the libs,” treat immigrants as the other, and punish “voter fraudsters” no matter how unintentional their actions and small their numbers--especially if they are Democrats and Black to boot---is in today’s Republican party, unfortunately, smart politics.  Mr. DeSantis knows that these kinds of actions are arguably more important to winning the Republican nomination for President in 2024 than a record of effective governance of one of our largest states.

 Ronald Reagan must be rolling around in his grave.

Rob Horowitz is a strategic and communications consultant who provides general consulting, public relations, direct mail services and polling for national and state issue organizations, various non-profits, businesses, and elected officials and candidates. He is an Adjunct Professor of Political Science at the University of Rhode Island.


 

Related Articles

 

Enjoy this post? Share it with others.

 
 

Sign Up for the Daily Eblast

I want to follow on Twitter

I want to Like on Facebook