desantis really is your great grandfather's fascist

[Toy Revolver]

i understand why people might not think desantis is uniquely dangerous because his breed of fascist wannabes have been normalized in the republican party

some of you probably know i'm a georgia born floridian -

i hope it goes without saying i hate ron desantis

here's why i think he's different and more dangerous:

1) he's smarter
2) he's a workhorse
3) he's calculating
4) he specifically targets lgbt and especially trans
5) he has his finger on the pulse of the ugliest political undercurrent and effectively weaponizes it
6) florida is traditionally a purple state and he won in a landslide - he's extremely popular
7) he's especially mean spirited even among his republican peers
8 )he hints at southern separatism

worst than trump sounds hyperbolic but trump (and i'm not defending him so please don't go there) didn't start a war to fan the flames of nationalism- i guarantee to you desantis will - he'll also use keeping the military strong as an excuse to push his patriarchal hate ideologies - once you combine this with the possibility of conscription it could seriously be some sort of equivalent to the gulag for lgbt young adults

we are realistically looking at a desantis presidency with a republican congress and a far right supreme court - if this perfect storm happens nothing at all about what i'm saying is outlandish

[Psy-Fi]

[Toy Revolver]

it's almost enough to make me want to die

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/3849873-democrats-prop-up-harris-clinton-for-2024-if-biden-doesnt-run-poll/

it's not that hillary or harris wouldn't be much better than desantis but why can't the dems actually support anyone you wouldn't support unless it was between them and a full on fascist? it's disgusting

it's like choosing between getting shot in the face and having your pinky cut off

[Psy-Fi]

I was sort of joking with that fake button I made but American Presidential politics and elections being what they are, it wouldn't surprise me at all if that match-up actually comes to fruition.

[Toy Revolver]

AOC might run  🤞

[Lexi Darling]

A Desantis presidency would be a functional holocaust for trans people, and I do not say this lightly. I have no hate in my heart for him or anyone else. But as a trans woman I feel extremely unsafe in America, and as a Jew I know exactly what happens when the common people ignore or dismiss that unsafe feeling.

But of course that assumes that they see me as a human life worth saving. I don't think many do, and it's all because I committed the unforgivable crime of daring to have agency over my own body. Daring to be free.

America is a lie.

[Guybrush]

I'm not up to speed on Desantis at all, but maybe there's a Last Week Tonight episode I can watch.

[Toy Revolver]

I have no hate in my heart for him or anyone else

don't worry - i got enough for the two us

[Rubber Soul]

Desantis is essentially a populist and believe me, I'm not a fan of populism left or right. One of these days I'm going to write a post on Huey Long, the populist Louisiana Governor to the left who ultimately paid for his rhetoric and gestapo tactics with his life.

But Desantis is actually worse as is right wing populism. You saw the damage done by Trump. You might note that Desantis also had the advantage of a hurricane he managed not to screw up, thus his landslide victory.

But Desantis will only be a danger to those he disagrees with (basically anyone but white supremacists and the fundamentalist right) if ordinary people vote for him. Ordinary people have a habit at looking at their immediate needs and not looking at the big picture. It's how we got Nazi Germany and it's probably why we have to worry about Putin now.

So don't be scared at Desantis. Be scared of your next door neighbor instead. He could be holding your life in the palm of his hand without even knowing it.

[Toy Revolver]

You might note that Desantis also had the advantage of a hurricane he managed not to screw up, thus his landslide victory.

his biggest selling point was that he was brazenly thrilled to let tens of thousands of poor people die so they could keep selling hamburgers during covid

also he campaigns vigorously and non-stop on his anti-woke agenda which is mostly a method of fanning the flames of hate against lgbt but he throws in a bit at blacks and economic leftists and women to make sure every right wing weirdo has their favorite minority served up to them

i understand why you call him a populist but i don't think he's a populist in the same way trump was - trump could've been manipulated by the left and his administration was a lost opportunity to really get medieval on the 1% - we could've literally had the wealth hoarders (except trump himself) eliminated from society but we would rather continue to let them kill us and that probably won't change because we're so brainwashed to believe in the fairness of discriminating and segregating against the poor by not allowing them to have access to food shelter and medical care simply because they can't pay

the thing about his disaster response - he handles it well because he's legitimately competent like i was saying at the beginning- he's extremely smart and he's a workhorse but he's not a populist who moves with the wind he's a fascist that has used goon squads, wants florida to have an independent military, has his proverbial Jews to target (queers), and stays on point when it comes to hate

So don't be scared at Desantis. Be scared of your next door neighbor instead. He could be holding your life in the palm of his hand without even knowing it.

i hear you on this and literally the neighbor to one side of me is that type of white weirdo and he fights with the neighbors on the other side of me who are poor hip hop loving constant weed smoking blacks with constant people of all ages coming around making a ruckus at all hours - it's my black neighbors who make up by far the majority of this entire section of town that i trust - i believe if what synth is describing, a holocaust against queers went down they'll be first in line firing literal bullets at anyone from the government trying to disappear anyone in their tribe and despite the stereotypes they accept queerness- i mean they ostracize it within their subculture but they do not sell out to the white capitalist death machine that desantis will try to weaponize which is why i would never call the cops on them - i keep on good terms with them always forcing small talk whenever i see them - believe it or not i'm really good at it and black people like me, even those that hate whiteness and i make friends with gun happy rednecks real quick as well - i'm not saying i'm immune to ending up on the wrong side of either culture i mean it's a tightrope but i know how to work the south from almost any angle and it helps that i'm southern af and love the south but my point is i see my neighbors as mostly as revolutionaries not as fascists - they hate the police and that's good enough for me and people think the right has some kind of monopoly on guns but that is so false every household here keeps loaded weapons at the ready - especially the currently apolitical who i think are really untapped revolutionaries

[Lisnaholic]

I'm not up to speed on Desantis at all, but maybe there's a Last Week Tonight episode I can watch.

Yep, I bet John Oliver would do a good job of turning you into a genuine DeSantis hater !

To me, there are still too many "if"s and hurdles between DeSantis and the presidency, so I don't worry much about that. More alarming, and justifying what RS and Synth Lady suggest, is what DeSantis is already enacting or promoting on the ground in Florida. Without doing a fact check, there are:-
i) ban on abortions after 15 weeks
ii) the stunt of bussing immigrants miles away - not to solve problems, but to create problems
iii) turning "Critical Race Theory" into the new "Reds under the beds" menace, to justify clampdowns on college and school curriculums.

OK, some research on the education issue: this Florida news website is  commenting on two distinct laws now in effect:-

The law bars instruction that says members of one race are inherently racist, and that they should feel guilt for past actions committed by others of the same race or that a person's status as privileged or oppressed is necessarily determined by their race. It also bars the notion that meritocracy is racist, or that discrimination is acceptable to achieve diversity. Opponents say the law will have a chilling effect on teaching about subjects like slavery and segregation.

All elementary schools will have to provide a searchable list of every book available in their libraries or used in instruction. School boards must let the public know when they plan to consider approving new instructional books and allow anyone to comment. Any objections to the material, by a parent or not, must be reported to the state.

So much for "small government" Republicanism!
From my experience, school libraries are often quiet repositories of weird and wonderful books left over from previous generations/donations, etc. The idea that every book must be approved by a state-appointed official is truly alarming, as it is to this poor teacher who explains what she is now obliged to do:-

[Toy Revolver]

i) ban on abortions after 15 weeks
ii) the stunt of bussing immigrants miles away - not to solve problems, but to create problems
iii) turning "Critical Race Theory" into the new "Reds under the beds" menace, to justify clampdowns on college and school curriculums.

everything about all of this is real bad and we need solidarity so i don't want to sound like i'm hounding on his homophobia at the expense of his other evils but on the other hand we have to be the most vigilant about protecting the most vulnerable - you can make a good case that illegals are in fact the most vulnerable evidence by the multiple concentration camps we already have constructed that are commonly referred to as ice detention centers

that said my gut tells me the primary and most disturbing target is the lgbt

https://www.npr.org/2022/10/21/1130297123/national-dont-say-gay-stop-children-sexualization-bill

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/feb/11/desantis-disney-world-board-members-florida

i know i'm preaching to the choir but i'll say it anyway - the cultural infrastructure is already in place to brown shirt queers - it's still an american right of passage to bully lgbt youth in public schools - high suicide rates and so on - of course the coward's path is through the most vulnerable

and he's calculating like i said the entire strategy of passing hateful legislation under the "think about the children" K-3 supposed limitation is a great way to say hey i'm going to help you target lgbt while keeping his bases covered - he's smart

[Lisnaholic]

and he's calculating like i said the entire strategy of passing hateful legislation under the "think about the children" K-3 supposed limitation is a great way to say hey i'm going to help you target lgbt while keeping his bases covered - he's smart

Yes, he seems to be smart, relentless and effective: always has an almost reasonable-sounding explain-away excuse for each incremental move he makes against tolerance, inclusion, science etc.

I was interested to read about you and your neighbours, NSOH, how you need a balance to interact with them on both sides. That's very different from my own experience, which, English style, is to have nothing to do with neighbours except a superficially polite nod, then keep walking! This is also a non-discriminatory approach: I am prepared to nod to people of any colour, creed or orientation.

[Marie Monday]

Yeah this is all really depressing and frightening. I'm worried for you guys (and for myself and the rest of the world too of course)

[Guybrush]

I don't understand this side of American politics at all. Like I don't understand why they promote these policies or where they come from or what makes them so appealing to many people.