In the wake of his pathetic performance in the presidential primaries, coverage of Ron DeSantis, Governor of Florida, has faded from the national media. A recent exception was an article last week in The Guardian, explaining how he’s lost the support of many Florida Republicans
Ironically, that support didn’t diminish due to his appalling and seemingly endless assaults on civil liberties– some of which were enumerated in the first two paragraphs of the article.
In the end, it wasn’t culture war feuding over restricting LGBTQ+ rights, thwarting Black voters or vilifying immigrants that finally broke Republicans’ DeSantis fever in Florida.
Nor was it his rightwing takeover of higher education, the banning of books from school libraries, his restriction of drag shows, or passive assent of neo-Nazis parading outside Disney World waving flags bearing the extremist governor’s name that caused them to finally stand up to him.
It wasn’t even his bill scrubbing the term “climate change” from all Florida state laws. Evidently, none of those things upset Florida’s Republicans. The step too far was DeSantis’ effort to pave over the state’s parks.
It was, instead, a love of vulnerable Florida scrub jays; a passion to preserve threatened gopher tortoises; and above all a unanimous desire to speak up for nature in defiance of Ron DeSantis’s mind-boggling plan to pave over thousands of unspoiled acres at nine state parks and erect 350-room hotels, golf courses and pickleball courts.
Thousands of environmentalists, former allies and GOP elected officials denounced the plan. Even the Republican state legislators who have dutifully rubber-stamped anything DeSantis proposed, denounced the projects. Many pointed to the evidence of intended corruption, since the plans–devised in secret– contemplated “no-bid contracts destined for mysteriously pre-chosen developers outside the requirements of Florida law.”
Faced with that blowback, DeSantis copied Trump, pretending that he was unaware of the proposal.
Desperately trying to pin blame elsewhere for a misadventure that was very demonstrably his own, he continued: “This is something that was leaked. It was not approved by me, I never saw that. It was intentionally leaked to a leftwing group to try and create a narrative.”
Tsk tsk. Those pesky “left-wing” groups…..
The rest of the article details the fallout in Florida, and speculates that DeSantis is “losing his grip” on Florida’s voters. While that’s interesting (although not as interesting as the question “why did this awkward fascist ever have a grip”), the article was far more intriguing for its parallels with Donald Trump and the national GOP. The opening recitation of DeSantis’ priorities mimics the agenda of today’s Republican Party and Project 2025. His effort to distance himself when it became obvious that those priorities were unpopular (to say the least) mimics Trump’s insistence that he knows nothing about Projecct 2025.
Take a good look at those priorities.
DeSantis and Trump and today’s No-Longer-Grand Old Party are one big hate-fest. It isn’t simply the war on women’s autonomy. The party wants gays back in the closet. It wants Black Americans returned to a subservient status, and Brown immigrants deported. It exalts Hitler for his effort to eradicate Jewish people. And today’s GOP has an incredible, seething animosity to the life of the mind–seen in its determination to turn higher education into indoctrination, to dictate what can and cannot be taught in public schools, and its persistent efforts to prevent people from accessing books of which its White Christian Nationalists disapprove.
The devolution of the Republican Party into the party of racial grievance and nostalgia for a past that never existed has occurred gradually over a period of time. For that reason, a lot of people have failed to recognize the GOP’s transformation into a neo-fascist movement–a hodge-podge of chauvinist, xenophobic, theocratic, racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, and reactionary views.
What struck me about the opening paragraphs of the cited article was the enumeration of those very unAmerican goals as DeSantis has pursued them in his state–with the acquiescence (nay, the enthusiasm) of that state’s GOP.
It is telling that the break between DeSantis and the state’s Republicans came only when his authoritarianism threatened the parks they enjoy. Only then, evidently, did Florida’s “good Germans” recognize that an autocratic agenda eventually targets everyone.
A Martin Niemoller paraphrase seems apt–if a bit awkward and with a less tragic ending:
First they came for the intellectuals, and I did not speak out—because I was not an intellectual.
Then they came for the gays, and I did not speak out—because I was not gay.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for my parks—so I finally spoke up.
id say desatin is taking a buisness venture,ala trumpian lago. trumps idea was to cut the size of natl parks to, his double talk. when one sees how people fall all over themselves when money is no object,and that view is eternal to forever be mine,until i can make a profit and sell it when im tired of it. or, my fantasy about being something im not,becomes old in front of my so called firends. theres no regard for the citizen who pays the taxes and spends a life savings just to drive thru and enjoy a few hours/days with family. many times,its one time visit. ive been to alot of Amercas parks, and places that you only see if you hike,walk,boat,ride a horse to get there. the best is a clear stream over boulders and rocks,whereas one can sit and enjoy some clean fresh water running over your head. waking up freezing cold,begging a camp fire to warm up and breathe air that some foul politician (who,opened their mouth)hasnt screwed up yet. dont trust any real estate people,their next to used car sales people..
This was the lead paragraph from the front page of the Naples Daily News today:
“The whistleblower who says he leaked details on the state’s plans to add golf courses, pickleball courts and lodges at state parks says he was fired last week from his job at the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) but doesn’t regret making the proposals public.”
The article describes how the former employee was a cartographer in the Office of Park Planning who was tasked with drawing up the plans to add “amenities” to the state parks. The article quotes him as saying, “What I am mapping out here is too bad and to egregious and I can’t take this anymore.” He continued by saying that he was worried for the safety of himself and colleagues who were tasked with presenting plans at the simultaneously scheduled, one hour meetings, throughout the state.
Desantis is quoted as saying that the park plans were “half baked” and “nowhere near ready for prime time.” The article also explained that his office provided guidance and edits to the plan throughout August.
Republicans are caught in a closed loop of Trump/Murdoch propaganda that keeps tightening like a noose, making the party smaller and smaller in both numbers and ideas, but that is only noticeable from outside of the loop. It’s a problem not just for them but for the whole country because democracy needs competition among parties as much as Capitalism does. We hope that historians studying these times also record them so future liberal democracies can learn from our mistakes.
This comes as no big surprise to me regarding Republican “initiatives” and policies. OF COURSE, they lie about everything. OF COURSE, there’s always a grift. OF COURSE, the exploit the land, the wildlife, the small pleasures of anyone not rich. It’s who and what they’ve been since Lincoln was killed.
For Republicans, it’s always been and will always be about money and power over people. And, as always in history, some screeching idiot ends up being SO offensive to civilization that the general population rises up and rebels. For these jerks, it’s ALWAYS a step too far. It’s how they roll. Why anyone really thinks that voting for a Republican is good for the country is beyond my explanation other than what I posted yesterday.
The Republican party has, for the most part, always been some sort of cult for the rich.
When I read Sheila’s post this morning about the leaked resort plans for Florida’s coastal parks, I couldn’t help thinking about Trump and/or Jared Kushner. Jared said the same thing about coastal land in Gaza. He and his ilk want to build luxury condos and hotels along the coast in Gaza off the backs of dead Palestinians. This is during a genocide. How brazen can you be?
Real estate developers can’t make money unless they build something. And if they do, they’re grifting. They grift as the project takes place because they will sell the project to another owner and a bank once it’s finished. In this case, they can make a fortune because they don’t have to pay for the coastal property. The people own the land.
Apparently, the landowners weren’t willing to give up the wildlife for the profiteers. I am utterly surprised. Generally, the louder the environmentalists scream, the more Republicans want to go against them.
I sense that DeSatan was looking toward his retirement from public office and thought he should pad his retirement plan like the boys and girls in Washington with the help of Trump and Kushner.
A better proposal is for the state park system (the people) to build the resorts and collect the revenue from the condos and hotels. That’s assuming the home of the gopher tortoises can be moved. 😉
p.s. One of the exceptions to developers selling off after the development phase is Donald Trump. I ran across Barbara Walters’ interview with Trump in 1990. Compare it to today’s media handling of Trump. It doesn’t take long before she rips into him:
https://vimeo.com/388909273
On target, Vernon!
DePutz has is in his last term as gov’r, and rather has nothing to loose by trotting out still more idiocy, like his park plan.
So, the former employee is a left wing cabal, all by himself?
Do not forget that DePutz was the lawyer who approved of the torture at Abu Ghraib (sp?) He is a brighter version of tfg, maybe as scuzzy, just not as sick, it appears.
In what now seems like the remote past Joe Scarborough asked the rhetorical question, how long do Republicans think they can exist by simply being the party of “no”?
For years, Republican leaders focused on blocking the government from doing anything positive and they not only got away with it, they managed to convince millions of Americans that the subsequent failings of government were somehow the fault not of their obstruction, but of the Democratic Party.
Now their true objectives are seeing the light of day in the 900 page Project 2025. At this point, a vote for any Republican is a vote for that agenda. Sad, but true.
now, trump becomes prez,(scary eh) and ya have to look at this as his admins plan for the U.S. dont ask questions, just sell off America..these people really dont care…
Perhaps of interest, from today’s NYT – “In American elections, a candidate runs unopposed in half of all races for partisan offices, an analysis found. Republicans win most of those uncontested seats.”
Why do you suppose those uncontested seats go unopposed? In almost every case, those seats are in rural, majority white population counties. Locals who might think about running for office as a Democratic candidate find zero support from businesses in those counties. The wealth is in the hands of a few old families or have been sold off to outside corporations who have no interest in anything but profit. The social consequences for those progressives affect not just themselves in their jobs but impacts their families as well. It is vicious and mean cloaked in righteous religion and rugged individual mythology but truly racist and misogynist at the core.
As long as money is always the ultimate goal to power and control, insuring that it stays in the hands of those who think they are the “ruling class”, things won’t change.
Repealing Citizens United would be a good start. Full disclosure of all contributors, no exceptions for PACs, would be a second step. Set a time limit on political campaigns (so we don’t have a convicted felon using candidacy as a legal shield). Better yet, fund campaigns with taxes that would be limited in amounts depending on the office being elected, local, state or federal.
Of, course, the MSM would have a fit as the cash flow from political ads would be significantly reduced. The billions being spent on media advertising by political campaigns is estimated to hit about $12B this year. Guess who reaps the majority of that money?
Our dear governor, Dementis, is worse than tfg in so many ways, it’s hard to see how anyone could support him. He’s just upended the First Amendment, ignored the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments. The Florida judiciary is controlled by the governor, and the federal judiciary is controlled by tfg’s appointments. That makes it hard to get a rational decision on too many of his anti-people laws.