With Ron DeSantis, we may finally be facing an all-American politician who has Mussolini’s guile, ruthlessness, and willingness to see people die to advance his political career
DeSantis is a Putin in the making. How can anyone with eyes and ears not see what an evil and anti-Democratic man he is? I really fear for my country and what we are leaving for our children.
Thom: not long ago you pointed out a major part of what happened to help DeSantis win the election.
It was mainly due to the fact that the Cuban and Venezuelan community's were frightened into thinking that the Democrats were Socialist and Communists. There are many reasons for this, which began back in the 60's. I lived in Miami and watched as the Cuban's began to arrive in the U. S. I HAD many Cuban friends and tried talking to them about DeSantis. No go. I cannot, for the life of me, understand how nor why they cannot see what DeSantis' polices are doing to our State and the nation. For God's sake he is doing pretty much the same thing that made them leave Cuba. Same for the Venezuelan's. There is much more to this story and it's history. However; the above is enough for now.
I doubt that DeSantis does much thinking on his own. He follows the same Koch script Glenn Youngkin used to win the Virginia gubernatorial race. First, you create an issue by lying. In Youngkin's case, he lied about Virginia's student performance, which ranks very high nationally. Yet, Youngkin equated performance with the standards implemented by a previous R governor, not the actual performance level of Virginia students.
Once a politician can get parents worried about their child’s education quality, the pathway to the next distortion becomes wider. That's when you throw in CRT, an elective college class that doesn't even exist in grade and high school. Once you have everyone's attention, you then promote the alleged benefits of privatizing their child's education via Charter Schools, or as the Florida R's call them, "public schools of choice," when their function and goal is to do away with public education. This is facilitated by ignoring all the downsides of charter schools:
As the Koch and cigarette companies financed and stirred up the Tea Party movement, now Koch and DeVos have successfully stirred up parents about the quality of their child's education, as if they have a solution, and even though the R Party is on record as being opposed to having an educated citizenry. In the U.S., 79% of adults are literate, but 54% are only literate below the 6th-grade level, which is why R's can get away with their BS. They only need Governor DeSantis to raise suspicion and distrust to achieve their tax, privatization, and deregulation objectives, for the wealthiest Americans and Plutocrats.. For those who really want to know what's going on, there's Fox News.
Charter schools, banning books, deregulation, privatization, gerrymandering, voter suppression. and calling climate change a hoax are all part of the Republican Road Map to Power. When they get control, it's about their enrichment and cutting services that people require to live, so there can be more tax dollars for them via Fed Debt Financing. The reason Trump never said the word democracy is because democracy threatens Republican Party power, and the only way to combat this threat is to eliminate it. Koch spent much money to get DeSantis elected, and they are counting on him to keep his followers focused on CRT and gender. What else do they have to offer?
Why is DeSantis so well-liked by billionaires? The answer is he stays on script advocating for extremely low taxes for the very wealthy, along with pushing privatization and deregulation. He runs a State that is threatened by climate change and literally ending up under water but DeSantis stays fully focused on race and gender and anti-democratic measures which result in expanding R power. Ironically, it will only take one more Ian to turn the tide against him.
The Florida State Budget is 105 billion dollars. The poorest Floridians pay the highest tax rates, and the wealthiest Floridians pay the lowest rates. Hurricane Ian caused an estimated 256 billion dollars of damages. As plan B and a consequence of running one of the lowest tax states, Florida’s despotic governor depends on mooching off the Federal government to provide adequate revenue to address its disasters after they occur or what may be called a shell game.
If coverage is available in the future, property and business insurance premiums are going up, and hurricanes aren't the only environmental issues that Florida mainly pays lip service to. Yet, a Koch-sponsored Republican governor must avoid any discussions that may lead to the need to raise taxes on the wealthy or limit the use of fossil fuels. Shouldn't DeSantis be talking to Floridians every day about what revenue changes he is proposing to help those suffering now from the ongoing environmental crisis Floridians are facing and future challenges their families will face? Apparently, the billionaires backing DeSantis agree that banning books and undermining education, or whatever will keep the rest of the people at bay and voting Republican is the best alternative for themselves?
DeSantis is a DESTROYER. This is what dictators do; they destroy. He places a few compliant people around him for photo-ops; image and appearances are still useful for his blather and con games to sound good to people who may want to be conned. Did voters really want him back in office to perpetuate destruction and death? Did dark money do its dirt with outright voter fraud? Some people look human but have chosen to be cruel destroyers in their hearts. Suffering and death mean nothing to them. They think enough people will be left alive to use and abuse. If the populace is ill and uneducated, the easier they will be to control. They don't think like normal people do. DeSantis and those like him are DESTROYERS in human disguise. They make sure dissenters and truth tellers will disappear.
RE: "But with Ron DeSantis, we may finally be facing an all-American politician who has Mussolini’s guile, ruthlessness, and willingness to see people die to advance his political career, all while being smart and educated enough to avoid the easily satirized buffoonishness of Trump."
Desantis is a real threat, especially domestically. But an even greater right-wing authoritarian threat, a "dark horse" building his team and funding, is Mike Pompeo:
John Dean has warned us of a much smarter, more dangerous, version of DJT in his book Authoritarian Nightmare.
For Pompeo, “ … the only safe course is preemptive warfare everywhere until all [internal and external] hypothetical enemies of the United States are vanquished." He believes in an all powerful "unitary executive."
"... Pompeo tacitly endorses limitless, unconstitutional presidential wars neither declared by Congress nor fought in self-defense. Neither as a member of Congress, nor as director of the C.I.A. nor as secretary of state did Pompeo ever protest unconstitutional presidential wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Yemen, Syria, and against non-state actors Al Qaeda and ISIS. He believes the president is crowned with limitless authority, among other things, to decide whether and when to attack China or Iran with nuclear or conventional weapons."
"Pompeo, an honorable man like the men who assassinated Caesar, is courting Trump’s violent mobsters for 2024.”
Desantis could ignite a new Civil War, but Pompeo will start WWIII, if we are not already there before 2024.
An American Mussolini for sure! This man is truly reprehensible. Responsible for the death of thousands due to Covid idiocracy and pushing a fascist, authoritarian agenda.
We're in real trouble if he becomes President - clearly worse than even Trump!
We all know he is a monster-bully and there is no shortage of followers, willfully ignorant but want to belong to the bullies club more than anything. Though followers are ignorant, it leaves no room for conversation that leads to common sense. I've never met someone who changed their mind, have you? I have zero hope for humanity. I'm glad I have no children.
Ron DeSantis looks perfect on paper. But, he has something to prove, could be something to do with outdoing his dad. He is of 100% Italian heritage---all four grandparents. Lucky him. I love Italy and the way the families are, but they are complicated.
The Human Rights Campaign gave DeSantis a score of zero, and it really should be minus-something. This happened according to GLAAD:
"Ron DeSantis...Issued a survey to Florida's 12 universities and 28 state and community colleges asking which of these institutions provide services to transgender students. DeSantis' director of budget and planning's memo to higher education reads in part, "our office has learned that several state universities provide services to persons suffering from gender dysphoria. On behalf of the Governor, I hereby request that you respond to the enclosed inquiries related to such services." The survey wants to know "what colleges and universities are spending on any transgender services, information including student ages, hormone prescriptions, and medical procedures including surgeries." An estimated 17,000 students at these institutions may be transgender or gender nonconforming."
We saw it with the voters he's trying to jail too. He's not happy with just being cruel, he's hunting people.
DeSantis is a Putin in the making. How can anyone with eyes and ears not see what an evil and anti-Democratic man he is? I really fear for my country and what we are leaving for our children.
I posted about DeSantis' disastrous failure in the Covid Delta wave last year. He was responsible for the loss of thousands of Floridian lives. The guy's a monster. https://politicsofthelastage.blogspot.com/2022/08/floridas-covid-19-catastrophe.html
Thom: not long ago you pointed out a major part of what happened to help DeSantis win the election.
It was mainly due to the fact that the Cuban and Venezuelan community's were frightened into thinking that the Democrats were Socialist and Communists. There are many reasons for this, which began back in the 60's. I lived in Miami and watched as the Cuban's began to arrive in the U. S. I HAD many Cuban friends and tried talking to them about DeSantis. No go. I cannot, for the life of me, understand how nor why they cannot see what DeSantis' polices are doing to our State and the nation. For God's sake he is doing pretty much the same thing that made them leave Cuba. Same for the Venezuelan's. There is much more to this story and it's history. However; the above is enough for now.
I doubt that DeSantis does much thinking on his own. He follows the same Koch script Glenn Youngkin used to win the Virginia gubernatorial race. First, you create an issue by lying. In Youngkin's case, he lied about Virginia's student performance, which ranks very high nationally. Yet, Youngkin equated performance with the standards implemented by a previous R governor, not the actual performance level of Virginia students.
https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2022/jan/21/glenn-youngkin/youngkins-claim-about-virginias-low-k-12-standards/
Once a politician can get parents worried about their child’s education quality, the pathway to the next distortion becomes wider. That's when you throw in CRT, an elective college class that doesn't even exist in grade and high school. Once you have everyone's attention, you then promote the alleged benefits of privatizing their child's education via Charter Schools, or as the Florida R's call them, "public schools of choice," when their function and goal is to do away with public education. This is facilitated by ignoring all the downsides of charter schools:
http://interactive.sun-sentinel.com/charter-schools-unsupervised/about.html
https://www.tampabay.com/opinion/2020/02/27/why-floridas-charter-schools-need-more-scrutiny-paula-dockery/
https://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/koch-brothers-betsy-devos-tied-groups-are-promoting-florida-charter-school-funding-bill-hb-7069-9372449
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/sep/07/arizona-fight-koch-brothers-school-vouchers
As the Koch and cigarette companies financed and stirred up the Tea Party movement, now Koch and DeVos have successfully stirred up parents about the quality of their child's education, as if they have a solution, and even though the R Party is on record as being opposed to having an educated citizenry. In the U.S., 79% of adults are literate, but 54% are only literate below the 6th-grade level, which is why R's can get away with their BS. They only need Governor DeSantis to raise suspicion and distrust to achieve their tax, privatization, and deregulation objectives, for the wealthiest Americans and Plutocrats.. For those who really want to know what's going on, there's Fox News.
Charter schools, banning books, deregulation, privatization, gerrymandering, voter suppression. and calling climate change a hoax are all part of the Republican Road Map to Power. When they get control, it's about their enrichment and cutting services that people require to live, so there can be more tax dollars for them via Fed Debt Financing. The reason Trump never said the word democracy is because democracy threatens Republican Party power, and the only way to combat this threat is to eliminate it. Koch spent much money to get DeSantis elected, and they are counting on him to keep his followers focused on CRT and gender. What else do they have to offer?
https://readsludge.com/2018/10/19/koch-and-adelson-come-to-the-rescue-of-trump-devotee-ron-desantis-in-florida/
https://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/local/state/2022/05/25/florida-desantis-notable-billionaire-supporters-koch-publix/9745715002/
Why is DeSantis so well-liked by billionaires? The answer is he stays on script advocating for extremely low taxes for the very wealthy, along with pushing privatization and deregulation. He runs a State that is threatened by climate change and literally ending up under water but DeSantis stays fully focused on race and gender and anti-democratic measures which result in expanding R power. Ironically, it will only take one more Ian to turn the tide against him.
The Florida State Budget is 105 billion dollars. The poorest Floridians pay the highest tax rates, and the wealthiest Floridians pay the lowest rates. Hurricane Ian caused an estimated 256 billion dollars of damages. As plan B and a consequence of running one of the lowest tax states, Florida’s despotic governor depends on mooching off the Federal government to provide adequate revenue to address its disasters after they occur or what may be called a shell game.
https://www.preventionweb.net/news/how-costs-disasters-hurricane-ian-are-calculated-and-why-it-takes-so-long-add-them
If coverage is available in the future, property and business insurance premiums are going up, and hurricanes aren't the only environmental issues that Florida mainly pays lip service to. Yet, a Koch-sponsored Republican governor must avoid any discussions that may lead to the need to raise taxes on the wealthy or limit the use of fossil fuels. Shouldn't DeSantis be talking to Floridians every day about what revenue changes he is proposing to help those suffering now from the ongoing environmental crisis Floridians are facing and future challenges their families will face? Apparently, the billionaires backing DeSantis agree that banning books and undermining education, or whatever will keep the rest of the people at bay and voting Republican is the best alternative for themselves?
https://earthjustice.org/news/press/2012/report-finds-water-pollution-in-florida-costs-up-to-10-5-billion-annually
https://ideasforus.org/top-environmental-issues-in-florida/#:~:text=Pollution%20and%20Water%20Quality&text=Essentially%2C%20due%20to%20runoff%20and,access%20to%20sunlight%20and%20oxygen.
https://www.adaptationclearinghouse.org/resources/florida-and-climate-change-the-costs-of-inaction.html
https://www.economist.com/special-report/2022/03/30/florida-faces-a-triple-threat-to-its-environment?utm_medium=cpc.adword.pd&utm_source=google&ppccampaignID=17210591673&ppcadID=&utm_campaign=a.22brand_pmax&utm_content=conversion.direct-response.anonymous&gclid=Cj0KCQiA2-2eBhClARIsAGLQ2RkaUWqDoAUUcpoOnP7u6ySPGl3wZxdT-UEf2pCEDcPLvH6xLEhLv48aAqKpEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds
Ron DeSantis - Florida's fake governor and Koch honor roll member.
Update: DeSantis moves public money to charter schools:
https://inthepublicinterest.org/defunding-public-schools-defunds-democracy/?emci=47101333-eaa3-ed11-994d-00224832eb73&emdi=a74e8556-0aa4-ed11-994d-00224832eb73&ceid=9110918
The "real" issue?
The Mentally Disordered Psyches of Ron-O-Lini's constituents.
They seem utterly Lost in Bitterness.
DeSantis is a DESTROYER. This is what dictators do; they destroy. He places a few compliant people around him for photo-ops; image and appearances are still useful for his blather and con games to sound good to people who may want to be conned. Did voters really want him back in office to perpetuate destruction and death? Did dark money do its dirt with outright voter fraud? Some people look human but have chosen to be cruel destroyers in their hearts. Suffering and death mean nothing to them. They think enough people will be left alive to use and abuse. If the populace is ill and uneducated, the easier they will be to control. They don't think like normal people do. DeSantis and those like him are DESTROYERS in human disguise. They make sure dissenters and truth tellers will disappear.
RE: "But with Ron DeSantis, we may finally be facing an all-American politician who has Mussolini’s guile, ruthlessness, and willingness to see people die to advance his political career, all while being smart and educated enough to avoid the easily satirized buffoonishness of Trump."
Desantis is a real threat, especially domestically. But an even greater right-wing authoritarian threat, a "dark horse" building his team and funding, is Mike Pompeo:
John Dean has warned us of a much smarter, more dangerous, version of DJT in his book Authoritarian Nightmare.
For Pompeo, “ … the only safe course is preemptive warfare everywhere until all [internal and external] hypothetical enemies of the United States are vanquished." He believes in an all powerful "unitary executive."
"... Pompeo tacitly endorses limitless, unconstitutional presidential wars neither declared by Congress nor fought in self-defense. Neither as a member of Congress, nor as director of the C.I.A. nor as secretary of state did Pompeo ever protest unconstitutional presidential wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Yemen, Syria, and against non-state actors Al Qaeda and ISIS. He believes the president is crowned with limitless authority, among other things, to decide whether and when to attack China or Iran with nuclear or conventional weapons."
"Pompeo, an honorable man like the men who assassinated Caesar, is courting Trump’s violent mobsters for 2024.”
Desantis could ignite a new Civil War, but Pompeo will start WWIII, if we are not already there before 2024.
https://consortiumnews.com/2023/01/30/pompeo-a-monster-slaying-monsters-abroad/
An American Mussolini for sure! This man is truly reprehensible. Responsible for the death of thousands due to Covid idiocracy and pushing a fascist, authoritarian agenda.
We're in real trouble if he becomes President - clearly worse than even Trump!
Him wanting to be president does not bode well for the country.
We all know he is a monster-bully and there is no shortage of followers, willfully ignorant but want to belong to the bullies club more than anything. Though followers are ignorant, it leaves no room for conversation that leads to common sense. I've never met someone who changed their mind, have you? I have zero hope for humanity. I'm glad I have no children.
Ron DeSantis looks perfect on paper. But, he has something to prove, could be something to do with outdoing his dad. He is of 100% Italian heritage---all four grandparents. Lucky him. I love Italy and the way the families are, but they are complicated.
The Human Rights Campaign gave DeSantis a score of zero, and it really should be minus-something. This happened according to GLAAD:
"Ron DeSantis...Issued a survey to Florida's 12 universities and 28 state and community colleges asking which of these institutions provide services to transgender students. DeSantis' director of budget and planning's memo to higher education reads in part, "our office has learned that several state universities provide services to persons suffering from gender dysphoria. On behalf of the Governor, I hereby request that you respond to the enclosed inquiries related to such services." The survey wants to know "what colleges and universities are spending on any transgender services, information including student ages, hormone prescriptions, and medical procedures including surgeries." An estimated 17,000 students at these institutions may be transgender or gender nonconforming."
We saw it with the voters he's trying to jail too. He's not happy with just being cruel, he's hunting people.