Perspective 100. DeSantis: Better Than Trump?

In a recent survey, about three-quarters of Republicans opted for either Donald Trump or Florida Governor Ron DeSantis as their preferred 2024 Presidential nominee. Given that Trump tried to overturn the 2020 election results by fraud and violence, surely DeSantis would be less of a threat to American democracy?

No. Trump is a clown, but DeSantis is Machiavelli on steroids. Trump was a danger to the republic because of his ignorance, while DeSantis would be a more insidious threat because of his shrewd understanding of the weak points of American governance.

In perspective: DeSantis spent seven years in top Ivy League schools where, as he puts it, he successfully resisted “indoctrination.” He graduated from Yale magna cum laude and got his law degree from Harvard. He came to the governor’s office well equipped to locate and exploit “the pressure points in the system” (his words). As he states in his recent memoir, his focus Is “how to leverage my authority to advance our agenda.”

DeSantis also keeps his finger to the wind, making adept adjustments to shifts in public moods. Thus his recent pullback from aid to Ukraine, in tune with declining public support behind that aid.

With a pliant legislature behind him, DeSantis is illustrating how “tyranny of the majority” can be a threat to authentic democracy (as also currently in Israel). He pushes a Floridian “blueprint for America’s revival” that is chilling in its implications for free speech, fair elections, and the integrity of educational institutions. It is a recipe for creeping authoritarianism, à la Victor Orban’s Hungary (a model openly admired on America’s far right).

This “thought policing” begins with broad restrictions on what can be taught in public schools, particularly on issues of race and sexual orientation. Public school libraries have been ransacked for anything the Governor might find distasteful. Extending this to Florida’s state universities, DeSantis had already taken over one institution (New College) and a new law requires “annual assessments” at public colleges, presumably to see if conservative viewpoints are represented to the liking of conservatives – and if not, to withhold funding?

DeSantis also wants to intimidate the media; he is campaigning to give public officials greater rights to sue journalists and publishers for “defamation.” The broad right to excoriate public officials rests on the 1964 Sullivan case in which the Supreme Court ruled that officials must prove actual malice or falsehood before free speech can be punished. Many others – particularly Trump – have long wanted to broaden libel laws so they can silence critics. Unfortunately, some current Supreme Court Justices have indicated interest in re-examining Sullivan.

So it is no surprise that another bill on the Florida legislative agenda would widely broaden the definition of defamation to include any allegation of discrimination per se. This would substantially inhibit journalists from covering, let us say, voter suppression clearly aimed at minorities. But it would have widespread support: 43 percent of Republicans in a recent survey agreed that the President “should have the authority to close news media engaged in bad behavior.”

Florida under DeSantis has also, like many red states, enacted measures to make voting more difficult. Among other things, there will now be a police force just for elections. Will such a force tend to intimidate less favored groups? Only diehard optimists would dismiss that likelihood.

Another “anti-riot” draft bill would severely inhibit public protest by setting strict rules on demonstrations and stiff penalties for presumed violations. Yet another would make it harder for public initiatives to make it onto the ballot.

DeSantis consistently backs the expansion of executive power. He fired an elected prosecutor; the act was ruled illegal in federal court, but only a state court could reinstate the prosecutor, and this has not happened. Another draft bill would give the governor power to bypass his own independently-elected cabinet. He has expressed the view that the President should be free to fire many or most federal employees, never mind the civil service.

But the prize piece of proposed legislation would even eliminate the Democratic party, at least under its current name. It would outlaw any party that “has previously advocated for, or been in support of, slavery or involuntary servitude.” Alas, the Democratic party cannot deny its pre-Civil War record.

Clearly this particular flatulence is a bad joke. But unfortunately we cannot regard DeSantis as a joke.